What is Diabetes?
Having diabetes means your body doesn't make enough insulin or doesn't use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone made by a gland near your stomach called the pancreas. Your body uses insulin to carry sugar from your bloodstream to your cells. Sugar is the fuel your body needs for all your activities — whether it's eating, reading, walking or running. Your body changes the food you eat into a sugar called glucose.
If you have diabetes, sugar isn't carried properly to your cells so too much sugar stays in your bloodstream. This is called hyperglycemia or high blood sugar. Left untreated, high blood sugar can cause a lot of damage to your body.
There are three common types of diabetes:
- Type 1 Diabetes - A condition that usually occurs in children and young adults, and causes your body to make little or no insulin. Also called Juvenile Diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, which means that the body makes antibodies against itself.
- Type 2 Diabetes – A condition that usually occurs in people over the age of 40, and causes your body to make less insulin or your cells to resist the insulin that it makes. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease, which means it affects how energy is used in the body.
- Gestational Diabetes – Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that occurs only in pregnant women who have never been diagnosed with diabetes. Pregnancy itself can cause insulin resistance and, therefore, a small number of women develop gestational diabetes because it is more difficult for their body to use insulin during pregnancy.
You can help gain control over your diabetes by educating yourself with
tools from this site, combining a balanced diet with regular exercise and following the testing and insulin or medication plan prescribed by your healthcare team. Gestational Diabetes usually goes away once the baby is born.
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Source: American Diabetes Association