To Your Good Health
Living With Diabetes
By Leslie Byrne
Control Your Condition, Control Your Life A diabetes diagnosis can feel like a life sentence. However, with the right care, the latest medical advancements, and a can-do attitude, diabetes can be just one part of a busy and active life. In some cases, diabetes can be avoided or even reversed. Understanding the causes and treatment of the disease is the key to controlling diabetes…instead of letting it control you. Diabetes affects the way the body regulates blood sugar (also known as glucose). Glucose is the sugar that is found naturally in blood. It creates energy and helps provide nutrients to the body. To support the body, glucose needs insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates the body’s metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. In people who have diabetes, insulin is not doing its job, and blood sugar is not sufficiently controlled. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. With type 1 diabetes, the body simply does not produce insulin. It is often called juvenile diabetes, as it is usually diagnosed in childhood or young adulthood. It is an autoimmune disease. That means the body’s immune system attacks healthy body tissue. Heredity, certain viruses, and race or ethnicity can increase the risk of type 1 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes can produce insulin. However, their cells have become resistant to this insulin, and the pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to overcome this resistance.
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Without sufficient insulin, sugar builds up in the bloodstream instead of moving into the cells, where it is needed for energy. Type 2 diabetes often develops in patients older than 35 and is sometimes referred to as adult onset diabetes. African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and many patients have a family history of the disease. Lifestyle risks include being overweight and sedentary. In 2018, 34.2 million Americans, or 10.5 percent of the population, had diabetes. Of that number, only 1.6 million have type 1 diabetes—type 2 is much more common. Approximately 88 million Americans have what is known as pre-diabetes. That is when someone’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to meet the threshold of a diabetes diagnosis. Without lifestyle and dietary changes, pre-diabetes often develops into diabetes. A blood test at an annual physical is usually how people learn they have pre-diabetes. It is an opportunity for them to make
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