Diabetes is a long-term illness that affects 30 million Americans and 422 million people around the world. It’s a condition characterized by the body’s inability to effectively convert food into energy. As a result, you have too much (and sometimes too little) sugar in your bloodstream. This condition not only deprives you of needed energy, but also puts you at risk for other serious damage.
Two Kinds of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes normally first appears in childhood when the body can’t produce insulin. Insulin is the chemical that allows cells to use sugar in your bloodstream for energy. Symptoms of type 1 diabetes typically come on quickly and severely.
Type 2 diabetes is much more common. It tends to be detected when you’re in your 30s or older. In this case, your body may not produce quite enough insulin, or the insulin it produces may not work effectively enough to allow your cells to be fed by blood sugar. This type usually of diabetes develops very slowly, over years.
Risk Factors and Warning Signs
In both kinds of diabetes, your cells don’t get enough sugar, but at the same time, there’s also too much sugar, or glucose, floating around in your bloodstream. It’s unable to enter your cells. If you live in this state, it eventually results in many problems, such as:
- Chronic fatigue
- Nerve damage
- Kidney failure
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Decreased blood flow
Early detection and treatment are essential for both types of diabetes. Early detection and diabetes management make a big difference in how the condition affects you. The symptoms for both are almost the same, and usually they include:
- Being tired all the time
- Unexplained, extreme hunger
- Weight loss
- Blurred vision
- Irritability
- Weakness
- Increased urination
Diabetes type 2 typically comes on more slowly. It gives you a chance to begin a critical prevention plan. With sufficient changes, you’ll stop type 2 diabetes and even reverse the symptoms.
Prevention Is Possible
