What Do You Know About Diabetes?

When the body produces lesser amounts of insulin than is actually required, a person's blood sugar tends to shoot up. This could be an indication of a metabolic disease such as Diabetes Mellitus. Mainly diabetes is classified into 3 types which are

1. Type 1 Diabetes which is the same as juvenile diabetes and insulin dependent diabetes. The main concern here is to replenish the insulin content in the body due to inadequate production. Regular infusions of insulin will have to be administered at specified intervals.

2. Type 2 Diabetes is a condition in which the cells in the body fail to utilize available insulin appropriately thereby leading to deficiency.

3. Gestational diabetes occurs in pregnant women whose blood sugar levels shoot up during this phase.

Some other forms of diabetes has also been found to be common such as

• Diabetes caused by Cystic fibrosis.
• Steroid induced diabetes.
• Insulin secretion in the body could be defective due to the genetic makeup of a particular individual thus leading to congenital diabetes.
• Another variant is the monogenic diabetes that assumes various forms.

Though diabetes does not have definite cure, the advent of Insulin has made significant progress in controlling the disease. Various oral hypoglycemic drugs have also been evolved to control type 2 diabetes. A proper diet and exercise plan is also recommended to control the disease. An affected person should visit a diabetic clinic regularly, get his blood sugar checked to keep track of the disease and alter the medications accordingly. Proper care should be taken of the pregnant woman as well as her fetus and in order to prevent complications, insulin may have to be administered. People who are overweight are more prone to this disease, so is the case of those with a family history of diabetes.