My mother, my husband, my sister, my daughter and I have diabetes I decided to do as much research as possible to help them and myself and anyone else that is carrying this disease. My diabetes is pretty much under control but as for the rest of my family it is a daily struggle to keep their blood sugar in the range it should be. It is a constant battle and one that is not going away so maybe knowledge will make us all better candidates when it comes to coping with this illness.
Understanding diabetes goes hand in hand with understanding what is taking place in your body. Your first priority is the understanding of how food is broken down inside your body and transferred by the body into energy. When you digest food there are several things taking place such as a sugar called glucose goes into the blood stream and is an important fuel for your body. The organ called the pancreas makes the insulin, this insulin's main function is to move glucose from the bloodstream and deliver it to the muscle, fat, and liver cells where it can be turned into fuel.
People that are diagnosed with diabetes have high blood sugars. This is due to their pancreas not producing enough insulin or the muscle, liver cells and fat don't respond to insulin the way they do normally.There are 3 types of diabetes that can occur in the body. Type 1 diabetes, is usually found in your childhood but some are diagnosed at the age of 20 and over. This type of diabetes is where the body makes very little or no insulin at all. This is when patients have to take insulin needles when they need it which is usually prescribed by a physician. The causes are not known but can be genetics, a virus, or an autoimmune problem. This is what our daughter suffers from and is on five needles a day
Type 2 diabetes is more common than type 1. Type 2 is most of the diabetes diagnoses that we find today. This is the diabetes that occurs when you're an adult but more young people are being diagnosed with this type of diabetes every day. In this type of diabetes the body doesn't make enough insulin to keep the glucose levels normal. This is usually because your body is not responding well to the insulin. This type of diabetes is sneaky as many people don't realize they have it. This is what the rest of the family has and we all take medication in pill form.
Gestational diabetes is another type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy. A woman that normally doesn't have diabetes can develop this type while she is pregnant and go back to normal after the baby is born although it has been known to stay in some cases. My daughter suffered from this during her pregnancies she was one of the rare ones where it stayed.
Type 2 diabetes have many risk factors such as anyone that is 45 years or older, a sibling with diabetes, delivering a baby that weighs more than 9 pounds, heart disease, high cholesterol, ovary disease in women and a previous glucose intolerance. When I look at this list I can relate to all of the factors but we are all trying harder to keep our blood sugars down by diet and medication. Our goal is to keep our blood sugars down by diet alone and this can be done.
So far we are feeling extremely healthy (my daughter is the exception). She has to struggle a little harder than we do but she will get it under control eventually.Those of us that have been diagnosed with this disease know that it takes a lot of vigilance to keep control over your blood sugars but it can be done. Exercise and weight loss is the best thing you can do to overcome diabetes along with any medication prescribed by your physician. The exercise part is easy for us we have two dogs that demand to be taken for a walk everyday and I'm so happy we have them. I'm not so sure I would be so determined about walking without them.
