Health article on Diabetes to give you information and basic knowledge about diabetes. Please go through the article and bookmark it.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes, medically known as Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disorder characterized by high blood glucose concentration (Hyperglycemia). This disorder is caused due to inability of the person to use or produce insulin. It is also one of the leading causes of deaths due to the damages it incurs on the cardiac health. The hallmarks of diabetes mellitus are the three “Polyps”, namely:
- Polyuria: Excessive urine production.
- Polydypsia: Excessive thirst.
- Polyphagia: Excessive eating.
What are the causes of Diabetes mellitus?
The causes of Diabetes remain very much uncertain, however both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the onset of diabetes. In general a person with diabetes mellitus suffers with high levels of blood glucose which could be due to various reasons. Diabetes is categorized into two types:
- Type I Diabetes: This is also known as Insulin Dependent Diabetes or Juvenile onset Diabetes. This is usually caused due to genetic predisposition and environmental factors such as viral infections.
- Type II Diabetes: This is also known as Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes or Maturity onset Diabetes. And this is mainly caused due to genetic defects running along the families for acquiring diabetes. The other less common factors include: High blood pressure, High fat intake, High alcohol intake and sedentary lifestyle.
Types of Diabetes
Type I Diabetes: In this type of diabetes there is absolute deficiency of insulin due to destruction of B cells of Pancreas caused from autoimmune reactions. It is also called as Insulin Dependent Diabetes mellitus (IDDM) because the person suffering from Type I Diabetes would require insulin injections frequently.
If insulin is not administered to such patients, then there could be good chances of that patient acquiring a condition called Ketoacidosis (Build up of Ketone bodies due to excess fat metabolism in body). If this condition is left untreated then it may lead to patient’s death. Type I Diabetes usually develops in patients younger than age of 20 years and this is the reason it is also known as Juvenile onset Diabetes.
Type II Diabetes: This is much more common form of diabetes than the above form. It is characterized by Insulin resistance (Usually precedes over the heart disease) and deficiency in Insulin secretion. Type II diabetes is also called as Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). It usually develops in obese people who are above the age of 35. It is also found that even teenagers who are obese are acquiring Type II Diabetes.
Although some of the type II diabetes patients need insulin, many of them have sufficient amount of insulin. In these people the diabetes does not arise from shortage of insulin but because the target cells become less sensitive to insulin to show any response. Type II Diabetes can be controlled by exercise, diet control, and medication.
