For more information on Type 1, Type 2, or Gestational diabetes, the resources given below can help to provide you with the answers you're looking for to the questions about these diseases.
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What is Diabetes Mellitus?
Diabetes Mellitus is a bodily disorder in which the body is not able to properly produce, or use, insulin. Insulin is quite simply a hormone that is secreted by the pancreas into the bloodstream in order for the body to properly deal with sugar in the blood.
What is Insulin?
When we eat food, the food is absorbed into our blood stream through the digestion process, thus raising the levels of sugar in our blood (via the carbohydrates in the food we just consumed). When the body detects this increase in sugar, it triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas and the insulin helps to convert the sugars in the blood to usable energy for the body.
Who's Affected by Diabetes?
Diabetes knows no age limit - children from birth, adolescents, middle-aged men and women, and seniors all are suseptible to either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Many factors have been determined to play a role in who develops the disease: from genetics to lifestyle. While there can be no absolute certainty that someone will not or will develope diabetes, there are preventive measures that can be taken to help decrease the likelihood.
How is Diabetes Treated?
As you might imagine, when a diabetic cannot use or produce the insulin required to process these sugars, and thus the energy contained in those sugars, there is a problem. Insulin is a requirement, not an option. Type 1 diabetics must have this deficiency in insulin replenished either by a injection or pumps.
For Type 2 diabetics, typically in middle-aged individuals, the body has a problem with efficiently using the insulin produced by the pancreas, which is known as insulin resistance. This may be effectively treated by drastic changes in eating and exercise habits if caught early enough, or medication may be prescribed to assist the body's usage of insulin in the bloodstream.
Additional Resources
Partners
Organizations for a Cure
Organizations fighting to find a cure for diabetes.
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