Diabetes occurs when the blood sugar level in the human body is too high, developed when the pancreas is not making insulin at all or the body is not responding to the effects of the insulin properly. The glucose intake is mainly from the carbohydrate that people consume. In fact, many people are experiencing health problems related to diabetes which are type 1 or type 2. Diabetes is caused by a few factors, including genetics, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Type 1 or type 2 are different in that they are caused by different factors.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease that prevents the pancreas from making insulin. Insulin, the important hormone, has functions of breaking down food you ate into glucose, which is the brain’s main source of energy. Glucose entering the body signals pancreas to release insulin, and insulin can be stored for later use. After the process of insulin is over, making the sugar levels of the bloodstream decrease, the pancreas stops producing insulin. However, what would happen if you do not have enough insulin? Serious health problems and even death can be provoked by this matter. Thus, people who cannot produce insulin by themselves need synthetic insulin every day in their lives.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes might include excessive thirst, frequent urination, excessive hunger, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, and blurred vision. Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed by blood glucose test and glycosylated hemoglobin test, adding antibody test, basic metabolic panel, urinalysis and arterial blood gas. To be specific, blood glucose is about checking the amount of sugar in the blood, and if the results tell you that you have a very high blood sugar, it typically means that you have type 1 diabetes. If the blood glucose indicates that you have diabetes, you would probably be provided with A1c test, which is the glycosylated hemoglobin test. After these two, your healthcare provider would check if you have diabetes-related ketoacidosis, meaning that might also have a serious acute complication of undiagnosed or untreated type 1 diabetes. Unfortunately, type 1 Diabetes is actually known to have no particular cure, but scientists are working on the possible methods.
Diabetes of type 2 is a disease with chronic conditions of having persistently high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia) because they cannot use their insulin properly, making it hard for their bodies to function well. Unlike type 1 diabetes, people have the insulin, but they are not able to use it. The main cause of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. Insulin resistance happens when cells in the muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond as they should to insulin. Since the insulin doesn’t respond properly, the pancreas will try harder to make more insulin in order to overcome the high blood levels. Nevertheless, if the cells end up becoming too resistant to insulin and incapable for the pancreas to generate an enough amount, it leads to type2 diabetes. Several factors such as genetics, excessive body fat, physical inactivity, and eating highly processed carbohydrates can be the reasons for type 2 diabetes.
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes might include symptoms that are similar to type 1 diabetes, but usually the onset of type 1 diabetes is sudden, whereas type 2 diabetes appears gradually.
Diabetes is a disease related to the disability of managing the blood sugar level. Even though diabetes has two types with different basic principles, it is sure that people should be aware of the disease and that prevention is important as much as the process of curing.
By. Jeonghwa Oh
Works Cited
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/7104-diabetes
https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/diabetes-mood-swings#stress