Type 2 diabetes

Normal metabolism means our bodies break down foods (especially carbohydrates) into sugars which are carried throughout our body to the cells which need the sugar to operate properly. These sugars provide important energy to most cells in our bodies.  For example, without simple sugars, our brains don’t think well.  We would become confused and unable to focus. When our blood sugar levels rise, our pancreas releases insulin.  Insulin helps sugars enter the body cells and keeps our blood sugar level under control. 

In type 2 diabetes, also called insulin resistance, this balance of sugar and insulin regulation is impaired or lost.  Blood sugar levels can become low early as the pancreas makes extra insulin, but as the pancreas fails to make enough insulin, the blood sugar levels become high and stay high, bathing the body in sugary blood.  The body quietly begins to suffer damage. 

But notice I said quietly.  Many people do not know they have diabetes.  

In 2012, 29.1 million Americans have diabetes, but 8.1 million do not know they have diabetes.
Do you wonder if you have developed type 2 diabetes?  The American Diabetes Association gives a risk test which tells you if you are at risk.  Check it out at http://www.diabetes.org/assets/pdfs/at-risk/risk-test-paper-version.pdf

What puts us at risk for developing type 2 diabetes?

When doctors talk about risk factors, these are health and lifestyle issues which can affect whether we develop a certain disease.  Usually there are two categories of risk factors:  those we cannot change and those we can change. 

Risk factors we cannot change include our genetics (our inherited genes which may be good or bad).  If your blood relatives (parents, siblings) suffer from diabetes, you face an increased risk.  Age and gender (which we cannot change) may increase our risk of developing diabetes. 

Risk factors we can change involve being overweight, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, having unhealthy eating patterns, high blood sugar results on blood tests, and being physically inactive.  These behaviors may be contributing to type 2 diabetes and they can be changed with lifestyle changes. 

What are symptoms? The classic symptoms of diabetes are poly dipsia (abnormal thirst), poly phagia (hungry even when you have eaten) and polyuria (have to urinate more than normal).  Other symptoms are extreme fatigue, slow healing cuts/bruises/injuries, and tingling/numbness in hands and feet.  With the gradual onset of these symptoms, many people do not recognize they have developed type 2 diabetes. 

The high sugar content in our blood causes damage to our blood vessels .  That means every blood vessel from our coronary (heart) circulation to our tiny blood vessels which bring circulation to our eyes and nerve endings.  That explains why type 2 diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, nerve damage, and vision problems.  But there is much we can do to keep our blood sugar levels under control and prevent/delay the damage type 2 diabetes can cause. 

The American Diabetes Association gives this good news:  “keeping blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol on target can help prevent or delay problems.”  American Diabetes Association, Taking Care of Type 2 Diabetes.  Find this patient education booklet under Facts About Type 2 diabetes at http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/facts-about-type-2.html?loc=db-slabnav  

 

Next week I will talk about what we can do to protect our health after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.