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GOOD HEALTH & WELLNESS

Diabetes Awareness Month

Using Glucometer at Home

Diabetes is a condition that happens when your blood sugar (glucose) is too high. It develops when your pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin, or any at all, or when your body isn’t responding to the effects of insulin properly. Diabetes affects people of all ages. Most forms of diabetes are chronic (lifelong), and all forms are manageable with medications and/or lifestyle changes.

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Glucose (sugar) mainly comes from carbohydrates

in your food and drinks. It’s your body’s source of energy. Your blood carries glucose to all your body’s cells to use for energy.  When glucose is in your bloodstream, it needs help reaching its final destination. If your pancreas isn’t making enough insulin or your body isn’t using it properly, glucose builds up in your bloodstream, causing high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).

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Having consistently high blood glucose can cause health problems, such as heart disease, nerve damage and eye issues.  Some common symptoms of diabetes are: Increased thirst and frequent urination.

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There are several types of diabetes. The most common forms include:

  • Type 2 Diabetes: With this type, your body doesn’t make enough insulin and/or your body’s cells don’t respond normally to the insulin (insulin resistance). This is the most common type of diabetes. It mainly affects adults, but children can have it as well.

  • Prediabetes: This type is the stage before Type 2 diabetes. Your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be officially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

  • Type 1 diabetes: This type is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in your pancreas for unknown reasons. 

  • Gestational diabetes: This type develops in some people during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after pregnancy. However, if you have gestational diabetes, you’re at a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life.

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  • Type 3c Diabetes: This form of diabetes happens when your pancreas experiences damage (other than autoimmune damage), which affects its ability to produce insulin. Pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, cystic fibrosis and hemochromatosis can all lead to pancreas damage that causes diabetes. Having your pancreas removed (pancreatectomy) also results in Type 3c.

  • Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA): Like Type 1 diabetes, LADA also results from an autoimmune reaction, but it develops much more slowly than Type 1. People diagnosed with LADA are usually over the age of 30.

  • Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY): MODY, also called monogenic diabetes, happens due to an inherited genetic mutation that affects how your body makes and uses insulin. There are currently over 10 different types of MODY. It affects up to 5% of people with diabetes and commonly runs in families.

  • Neonatal diabetes: This is a rare form of diabetes that occurs within the first six months of life. It’s also a form of monogenic diabetes. About 50% of babies with neonatal diabetes have the lifelong form called permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus. For the other half, the condition disappears within a few months from onset, but it can come back later in life. This is called transient neonatal diabetes mellitus.

  • Brittle diabetes: Brittle diabetes is a form of Type 1 diabetes that’s marked by frequent and severe episodes of high and low blood sugar levels. This instability often leads to hospitalization. In rare cases, a pancreas transplant may be necessary to permanently treat brittle diabetes.

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What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Symptoms of diabetes include:

It’s important to talk to your healthcare provider if you or your child has these symptoms.

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Diabetes can lead to acute (sudden and severe) and long-term complications — mainly due to extreme or prolonged high blood sugar levels.

Acute diabetes complications

Acute diabetes complications that can be life-threatening include:

  • Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state (HHS): This complication mainly affects people with Type 2 diabetes. It happens when your blood sugar levels are very high (over 600 milligrams per deciliter or mg/dL) for a long period, leading to severe dehydration and confusion. It requires immediate medical treatment.

  • Diabetes-related ketoacidosis (DKA): This complication mainly affects people with Type 1 diabetes or undiagnosed T1D. It happens when your body doesn’t have enough insulin. If your body doesn’t have insulin, it can’t use glucose for energy, so it breaks down fat instead. This process eventually releases substances called ketones, which turn your blood acidic. This causes labored breathing, vomiting and loss of consciousness. DKA requires immediate medical treatment.

  • Severe low blood sugar (hypoglycemia): Hypoglycemia happens when your blood sugar level drops below the range that’s healthy for you. Severe hypoglycemia is very low blood sugar. It mainly affects people with diabetes who use insulin. Signs include blurred or double vision, clumsiness, disorientation and seizures. It requires treatment with emergency glucagon and/or medical intervention.

Long-term diabetes complications

Blood glucose levels that remain high for too long can damage your body’s tissues and organs. This is mainly due to damage to your blood vessels and nerves, which support your body’s tissues.

Cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) issues are the most common type of long-term diabetes complication. They include:

Other diabetes complications include:

Living with diabetes can also affect your mental health. People with diabetes are two to three times more likely to have depression than people without diabetes.

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One of the best ways to test for Diabetes is asking your doctor to conduct an A1c test on you.

  • A1c: This test, also called HbA1C or glycated hemoglobin test, provides your average blood glucose level over the past two to three months.

To screen for and diagnose gestational diabetes, providers order an oral glucose tolerance test.

The following test results typically indicate if you don’t have diabetes, have prediabetes or have diabetes. These values may vary slightly. In addition, healthcare providers rely on more than one test to diagnose diabetes.

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Diabetes affects everyone differently, so management plans are highly individualized.

The four main aspects of managing diabetes include:

  • Blood sugar monitoring: Monitoring your blood sugar (glucose) is key to determining how well your current treatment plan is working. It gives you information on how to manage your diabetes on a daily, and sometimes even hourly basis. You can monitor your levels with frequent checks with a glucose meter and finger stick and/or with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). You and your healthcare provider will determine the best blood sugar range for you.

  • Oral diabetes medications: Oral diabetes medications (taken by mouth) help manage blood sugar levels in people who have diabetes but still produce some insulin, mainly people with Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. People with gestational diabetes may also need oral medication. There are several different types. Metformin is the most common.

  • Insulin: People with Type 1 diabetes need to inject synthetic insulin to live and manage diabetes. Some people with Type 2 diabetes also require insulin. There are several different types of synthetic insulin. They each start to work at different speeds and last in your body for different lengths of time. The four main ways you can take insulin include injectable insulin with a syringe (shot), insulin pens, insulin pumps and rapid-acting inhaled insulin.

  • Diet: Meal planning and choosing a healthy diet for you are key aspects of diabetes management, as food greatly impacts blood sugar. If you take insulin, counting carbs in the food and drinks you consume is a large part of management. The amount of carbs you eat determines how much insulin you need at meals. Healthy eating habits can also help you manage your weight and reduce your heart disease risk.

  • Exercise: Physical activity increases insulin sensitivity (and helps reduce insulin resistance), so regular exercise is an important part of management for all people with diabetes.

Due to the increased risk for heart disease, it’s also important to maintain a healthy:

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You can’t prevent autoimmune and genetic forms of diabetes. But there are some steps you can take to lower your risk for developing prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes, including:

  • Eat a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet.

  • Get physically active. Aim for 30 minutes a day at least five days a week.

  • Work to achieve a weight that’s healthy for you.

  • Manage your stress.

  • Limit alcohol intake.

  • Get adequate sleep (typically 7 to 9 hours) and seek treatment for sleep disorders.

  • Quit smoking.

  • Take medications as directed by your healthcare provider to manage existing risk factors for heart disease.

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By Dietra Myers

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