Diabetes Overview

Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. The food you eat is broken down into sugar (also called glucose) and released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals to  your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy.

If you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use the insulin properly. When there isn’t enough insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as kidney disease, heart disease, vision loss and many more complications. 

There isn’t a cure yet for diabetes, but losing weight, eating healthy food, and being active can really help. Taking medicine as needed, attending diabetes education, and keeping health care appointments can also reduce the impact of diabetes on your life.

There are 3 main types of diabetes:

Type 1

• Type 1 is caused by an autoimmune reaction that prevents the body from making insulin.
• Using insulin therapy and other treatments can make living with this condition manageable.

Type 2

• Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes.
• It is the result of your body not using insulin properly.
• While some people can control their blood sugar levels with healthy lifestyle choices, others may need assistance from insulin and other medication.

Gestational

• The cause of gestational diabetes is unknown.
• It causes the mother to have high blood sugar and can affect the pregnancy and the baby's health.
• Millions of women have gestational diabetes.
• As a result of the mother's hormones blocking the action of insulin in the body, this can create the problem of insulin resistance and results in the mother needing insulin three times a day to compensate.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/diabetes.html