What is Diabetes?
Is diabetes contagious?
No, diabetes is not contagious. However, a person may develop Type 2 diabetes due to obesity or family history. Like for example, a family member may have it and him and you share similar genes which should indicate that you might be at risk of having diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is auto-immune disease, so it depends on your own immune system.
Curable or no?
Diabetes is not curable, but it can be treated with care and with proper treatment, people can live longer and healthier. Treatments may involve one to follow specific diet, medications and, or insulin shots.
What are its symptoms?
- Thirsty
- Frequent Urination
- Hungry all the time
- Slow healing wounds
Excessive thirst and frequent urination is due to the kidney. When there's a high sugar level, the kidney tries to get rid of the extra glucose by flushing it out or filling up with more water. Even if one is eating what he/she normally eats on a daily basis, he/she will continue to be hungry and lose weight. It is because of the insulin hormone in your body that isn't getting glucose in the cells.
What can a person do to prevent having this disease?
This is specifically for type 1 and 2 diabetes since it can be avoided and treated.
- One can exercise regularly to maintain a healthy weight.
- Make right choices regarding healthy diet. (more green, grains, good fat, etc.)
- No smoking.
Statistics:
8.3% of the population or 25.8 million people have diabetes in the United States.
About 90% of those who have diabetes are type 2 diabetes.
10.9% of Philadelphians have diabetes.
There are three types of diabetes; Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational Diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes:
Type 1 Diabetes is common amongst adolescents, children/teenagers. More than 1 million children in America deal with this disease every day. About 13,000 newborns are diagnosed with it every year. People with this disease cannot make insulin because their immune system destroys the beta cells. The beta cells, as mentioned earlier, are used to produce insulin. Current researches show no indication as to why it happens the way it does. However, scientists believe it is due to genetics or something to do with the person being exposed to a virus.
Type 2 Diabetes:
Type 2 Diabetes is more common in people who are over 40 years old and are overweight. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are more than 26 million Americans who have type 2 diabetes and 79 million at pre diabetes. During the past centuries, the numbers have shown steady increase in United States. The funny thing about this disease/disorder is that many people who have it are unaware because its symptoms are not distinctive. It is stated that Type 2 diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, as well as people of age 40 and up. It is also stated that weight loss of 5 to 7 percent of body weight and 30 minutes of exercising 5 times a week can reduce the risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 58 percent.
In contrast to type 1 diabetes, people who have type 2 diabetes has insulin. However it is either not enough insulin or the body cannot recognize its existence and therefore, unable to function.
Gestational Diabetes:
This type of diabetes is a temporary condition and is common amongst pregnant women. During the 24th week of pregnancies, women develop gestational diabetes. A woman may never have had diabetes in her entire life or have a family member who has diabetes, she can still get the gestational diabetes. As mentioned earlier, it is a temporary condition so it usually goes away after giving birth. However, it may cause complications for the mother and the offspring. The baby may have birth defects, or is abnormally large, etc. According to American Diabetes Association, about 18% of the pregnancies in the United States are affected by gestational diabetes.
In Gestational Diabetes, the type of hormones that keep the baby growing (development of the baby) blocks the function of the woman's insulin. Now the woman's body is resistant to insulin and that's when the problem starts. As explained earlier about how important insulin is in our bodies, the pregnant woman will build up the intake of glucose in her body and near the end of her pregnancy, she'll start developing gestational diabetes, which will cause her trouble. It is also believed that women who have gestational diabetes during her pregnancy have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
