It is a chronic or long-lasting condition, a set of metabolic disorders, that affects how a body turns a meal into energy.
Most of our diet is high in sugar which is processed (also known as glucose) and is absorbed into our bloodstreams. As blood sugar rises, insulin releases with the help of the pancreas. For energy, insulin acts as a key to allow blood sugar to enter the cells of a body.
Type of diabetes
There are three main types of diabetes,
- Type 1
- Type 2
- Gestational diabetes(in pregnancy)
What is type 2 diabetes?
It is a lifetime disorder that makes a body produce lesser insulin than needed. People having type 2 diabetes start to have insulin resistance. People who are older or middle-aged are more likely to have this type of diabetes.
Also it is used to be known as manmade diabetes. However, diabetes affects children and adolescents, largely because of the problems of unhealthy diets and obesity.
Symptoms and signs of diabetes type 2
Type 2 diabetes symptoms might be so slight that people won’t notice them. About eight million people having type 2 diabetes do not know the actual symptoms they’re having. They may include:
- Mostly feeling thirsty
- Peeing again and again
- Blur vision
- Weird or agitated behavior
- Feeling numbness in their feet and hands
- Feeling tired most of the time
- The healing process of wounds is too slow
- Fungus infections
- Mostly feeling hungry
- Loss of weight without doing anything
- Gets infections without any reason
Causes of diabetes type 2
The pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin, which enables cells to convert glucose (a sugar) from food into energy. People having type 2 diabetes produce insulin, however, their cells cannot use it properly. The pancreas first makes extra insulin in an attempt to transport glucose to the cells, but ultimately cannot maintain it, and glucose will accumulate in the blood. Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by a combination of many factors:
Genes. Science experts have determined one-of-a-kind bits of deoxyribonucleic acids that affect how your body makes hormones. (1)
Obesity: Being obese or heavyweight can cause insulin resistance, especially when a person gets those extra kilos around their center or abdominal area.
Metabolic syndrome: Individuals with insulin resistance might have other problems such as excessive blood sugar, more fats across the waist, excessive blood pressure, and excessive triglycerides and cholesterol.
Liver with an excessive amount of glucose: When the blood sugar is low, the liver produces and sends glucose. After eating, the level of blood sugar rises, and the liver is usually slowed down and stores glucose for later use, but some people’s livers do not work properly so they continue to produce sugar.
The communication between the units is bad: Sometimes cells send out the wrong signal or receive the wrong information. This might result in a chain reaction of wrong signaling and ultimately affects the absorption of production of blood glucose and cause diabetes.
Broken beta cells: When insulin-producing cells send the wrong quantity of insulin at a bad time, blood sugar level drops. A high blood rate of sugar can also harm these cells.
Treatment of diabetes type 2
To manage type 2 diabetes, a mixture of lifestyle modifications and medicine is needed. Lifestyle changes might make a person capable to reach a rate of blood sugar within the normal range with a balanced eating regimen and exercise on their own.
Weight loss: Losing extra kilos can assist in treating blood sugar. Losing a body mass up to 5 to 7%, and maintaining it will help people to reach normal sugar levels. This means a person weighing one eighty pounds can easily maintain its sugar level by reducing its weight with healthy food and diet.
Healthy consuming: There is no particular eating regimen for a patient having type 2 diabetes but a diet expert can help them by giving a balanced diet in their daily lifestyle to maintain blood sugar levels.
- Calories but low in amount
- Cutting on carbs
- Adding vegetables and fruits
- Adding more fiber to your diet
Physical activity: Do more physical activity at least one and half-hour every day. People can do different types of physical activity like they can walk, swim; run anything that can take your heart pulse upward. They can also join a yoga class or gym but make sure if you are eating tablets to lower the level of blood sugar then they might take some snacks earlier than any physical activity.
Check your blood sugar rate: Watching the level of a sugar is important depending on the treatment people are taking. If the person is using insulin then it is even more important to monitor it. The doctor will teach a person how and when they have to check their blood sugar level.
Medication: Following are some of the medications prescribed for diabetes.
Metformin with brand names Glucophage, Fortamet, Riomet, Glumetza is an important anti-diabetic. These are commonly the first medicinal drug used to deal with diabetes type 2. They lower the quantity of glucose and allow the liver to act optimally in producing glucose.
Sulfonylureas – A group of these drugs allows your body in making more insulin. They consist of glimepiride (Am aryl), glyburide (DiaBeta, Micronase) and glipizide (Glucotrol, Metaglip)
Meglitinides: They act quicker than sulfonylurea and allow the body to create more insulin. Person may take repaglinide (Prandin) or Nateglinide (Starlix).
Insulin: Some people might require shots of insulin to manage their glucose levels.
Even when a person changes his lifestyle and takes the medication, his blood sugar may worsen over time. This does not mean he has done something wrong.
Diabetes is a revolution, so many patients might require more than one medicine. If a person takes more than one medicine to control their diabetes type 2, it is called mixed therapy. (2)
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