Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic disease that ruins the body’s ability to process blood glucose, also known as blood sugar. Commonly referred to as diabetes mellitus or simply blood sugar this group of endocrine diseases describes a set of common diseases characterized by long-term high blood sugar levels. It results from the inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin or from becoming less responsive to the hormone’s action
. The classic symptoms of the disease are thirst, polyuria, weight loss, and blurred vision. If left untreated, it may cause numerous diseases, namely cardiovascular system disorders, eye disorders, renal disorders, and neural disorders. It is the primary cause of about 4.2 million deaths per year, of which 1.5 million are due to untreated blood sugar.
Symptoms of diabetes
The characteristic symptoms of untreated diabetes are polyuria, thirst, and weight loss. However, a number of other signs and symptoms may present, which are not specific these include fatigue, blurred vision, smelly urine, and genital itching due to Candida infection. About half of those affected may also be asymptomatic. Type 1 blood sugar mellitus appears suddenly after a preclinical stage, whereas type 2 blood sugar mellitus has a more insidious onset; patients may be asymptomatic for many years.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a classic medical emergency that occurs most often in type 1 blood sugar mellitus. Still, it can occur in type 2 diabetes mellitus if it is long-standing or if the person has significant beta-cell dysfunction. Excessive production of ketones leads to signs and symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, an acetone odor on the breath, deep breathing called Kussmaul breathing, and in severe cases, a decreased level of consciousness. The hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state is another emergency caused by dehydration due to severe hyperglycemia, which often leads to hypernatremia, resulting in an altered mental status and coma.
A well-known side effect of insulin therapy in the treatment of blood sugar is hypoglycemia. The acute presentation may range from mild symptoms, such as perspiration, tremors, and palpitations, to more severe effects, such as confusional states, seizures, coma, and rarely death. Repeated episodes of hypoglycemia reduce the glycemic threshold at which symptoms appear meaning milder symptoms may not appear until cognitive impairment begins to occur.
Complications of diabetes
Macro and microvascular complications are kinds of long-term complications of blood sugar that result in problems because of damage to blood vessels. Diabetes doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease, and nearly 75 percent of deaths due to heart diseases in people with blood sugar are attributed to this disease. Other macrovascular diseases include stroke and peripheral arterial disease.
Besides all that, the eyes, kidneys, and nerves are equally afflicted by microvascular disease. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in people of working age. The eyes are also affected by the development of cataracts and glaucoma, and people with blood sugar should have an annual examination by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of chronic kidney disease and accounts for more than 50% of patients undergoing dialysis in the United States. Diabetic neuropathy, or nerve damage, presents in several ways, including sensory loss, neuropathic pain, autonomic dysfunction, orthostatic hypotension, diarrhea, and erectile dysfunction. Lack of pain sensation puts the patient at risk for trauma that may lead to diabetic foot problems: the most frequent reason for non-traumatic lower extremity amputations. It also leads to other chronic complications, such as an inability to hear.
Causes of diabetes
Diabetes is divided by the World Health Organization into six different categories type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, hybrid forms of blood sugar, including adult-onset immune-mediated blood sugar, type 2 diabetes with ketosis, hyperglycemia first diagnosed during pregnancy, other specified types, and unclassified blood sugar. It has been found that diabetes is more variable than once considered, and patients can have more than one type.
Type 1
Type 1 accounts for 5 to 10% of blood sugar cases and is the type most commonly diagnosed in patients less than 20 years of age. The older term juvenile-onset blood sugar is now abandoned because adult-onset is used very infrequently.
This disease is essentially characterized by the destruction of insulin-producing beta cells from the pancreatic islets, leading to a severe deficiency in insulin, and it can be divided mainly into immune-mediated or idiopathic blood sugar with no known cause.
Most blood sugar cases fall into the immune-mediated category, in which a T-cell-mediated autoimmune attack results in the loss of beta cells and the consequent insulin deficiency. Low levels of insulin and impaired hypoglycemic response lead to erratic, unpredictable levels of blood sugar.
Autoimmune attack in type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is partly hereditary, with several genes, including several HLA genotypes, known to contribute to the risk of developing blood sugar. In susceptible individuals, the initiation of disease is triggered by one or more environmental factors, the most common being a viral infection and diet. More viruses have been implicated but, to date, no rigorous proof of this hypothesis in man exists.
Type 1 diabetes often develops in any age group, and a large number are diagnosed in adult life. Latent autoimmune blood sugar of adulthood is the term used when type 1 diabetes develops in adults it’s a variant with a more insidious onset than the same condition in children. Some people use an unofficial name type 1.5 blood sugar for this condition due to the distinction. Adults with LADA are typically initially misdiagnosed as having type 2 diabetes, based on age rather than cause. LADA leaves adults with higher levels of insulin production than type 1 diabetes, but not enough insulin for blood sugar levels.
Type 2
Decreased secretion or impaired insulin action at its receptor results in elevated blood glucose levels.
This is insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes mellitus may be related to relatively decreased insulin secretion. The altered response of body tissues to insulin is believed to be associated with the insulin receptor, but the specific defects are not known.
A known defect results in conditions that are classified as separate cases of blood sugar mellitus. Type 2 diabetes mellitus accounts for 95% of blood sugar mellitus and is the most common form of blood sugar.
The major causes of type 2 blood sugar are lifestyle and genetic factors. Lifestyle-related factors associated with the causation of type 2 blood sugar include obesity, as defined by a body mass index exceeding 30, lack of physical activity, a poor diet, stress, and urbanization.
Excess body fat is responsible for 30% of cases in Chinese and Japanese populations, 60 to 80% of cases in European and African populations, and 100% of cases in Pima Indians and Pacific Islanders. Even nonobese individuals may have an elevated waist-to-hip ratio.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes is related to type 2 diabetes in some ways, based on relatively inadequate insulin secretion and response. It occurs among 2 and 10 percent of all pregnancies and usually resolves after delivery. All pregnant women are recommended to be tested between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. It is most commonly diagnosed during the second or third trimester due to the increase in levels of the insulin-antagonist hormone at this time.
Prevention of diabetes
There are no established preventive measures for type 1 blood sugar, however, islet autoimmunity and elevated antibodies can be a good indicator of the development of type 1 diabetes. Type 2 blood sugar, which accounts for 85 to 90 percent of all diabetes worldwide, can often be prevented or delayed by maintaining a normal body weight, exercising, and eating a healthy diet.
More than 90 minutes of physical activity every day reduces the risk of developing diabetes by 28 percent. Dietary modification that has proven to inhibit diabetes onset is consuming a diet that is high in fiber and whole grains, or choosing good fats such as monounsaturated fats, which are present in nuts, vegetable oils, and fish.
Cutting out sugary drinks and reducing the intake of red meat and other saturated fats are also ways to prevent blood sugar. Smoking has also been associated with the increased risk of complications that develop in association with diabetes, hence quitting smoking now appears to be one of the preventive interventions in the community.
the main modifiable risk factors are associated independently across regions. There is increasing evidence that the main causes of blood sugar are manifestations of major forces driving social, economic, and cultural change globalization, urbanization, aging populations, and the overall health policy environment.