Understanding Diabetes

To manage diabetes, it helps to understand how it affects your body. In healthy people, the body turns food into glucose (blood sugar) to use for energy. Insulin, produced by the pancreas, is the hormone responsible for shuttling glucose into the body's cells where it is either used right away or stored for later use.

With diabetes, however, high levels of glucose build up in the blood because either the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin or the body can't use the insulin it produces. Your treatment will depend on which problem you have.

Diabetes is broken down into three categories: type 1 or type 2 or gestational.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, usually leading to a total halt in insulin production. Insulin shots or the use an insulin pump to keep the blood glucose within normal range is a daily activity.

Insulin - stimulates the entry of glucose into fat cells. Glucose is a simple sugar that normally enters the cells of liver, fat and muscle to be stored or converted into energy. Because insulin is one of the "major" hormones, it's also impossible for your body to balance its "minor" hormones until your insulin metabolism is balanced first.

Without insulin, blood glucose rises to dangerously high levels, if not treated it can lead to a coma or death. Type 1 most often occurs in children or young adults. Type 1 diabetes is usually referred to as insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes. Type 1 diabetes often appears suddenly. Knowing the symptoms of diabetes can help you determine what steps to take. Here are some of the symptoms:

	High levels of sugar in the blood
	High levels of sugar in the urine
	Frequent urination
	Extreme hunger
	Extreme thirst
	Extreme weight loss
	Weakness and fatigue
	Moodiness and irritability
	Nausea and vomiting

In type 2, the pancreas produces some insulin, but the body in unable to use it properly. This leads to high levels of glucose in the blood. Because people with type 2 diabetes are often overweight, treatment usually includes weight loss. Until recently, type 2 diabetes was called non-insulin dependent or adult-onset diabetes. Often, type 2 diabetes develops slowly, and symptoms are mild:

	Increased thirst
	More frequent urination
	Edginess, fatigue, and nausea
	Increased appetite accompanied by weight loss
	Repeated or hard-to-heal infections (for example, skin, gum, vaginal, or bladder)
	Blurred vision
	Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
	Dry, itchy skin

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