Type 2 – Diabetes
Uploaded by mumsa1 on Jun 01, 2012
Type 2 – Diabetes develops when your body does not make enough insulin for its needs.
In this article:
What is Type 2 - Diabetes?
Symptoms
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
How Chemist Online can help
Advice & Support
What is Type 2 - Diabetes?
Diabetes has two types:
Type 2 – Diabetes: This condition occurs in people over 40 years of age and develops gradually over time. Cells resist (or reject) the sufficient amounts of insulin the pancreas creates, and so therefore fail to be stimulated by it. This has a knock-on effect which causes the insulin generating cells in the pancreas to become exhausted and stop functioning properly.
Type 1 – Diabetes: Although it is much less common than Type 2 – Diabetes, Type 1 – Diabetes still affects over 2 million people in the UK alone.
We get glucose (sugar) from food. It gives us energy and helps our cells to function properly. Type 1 – Diabetes develops when there is an excessive amount of glucose in the blood (and your body stops making insulin which keeps your blood glucose levels under control). Too much glucose can damage your blood cells over time, make you feel ill, and lead to extremely serious medical problems.
Type 1 – Diabetes generally occurs in children or young adults.
This article will focus upon Type 2 – Diabetes and seek to explain the impact it has on people’s lives.
Symptoms
Symptoms of Type 2 - Diabetes include:
A persistent raging thirst
Continually needing to go to the toilet to pass urine
Passing urine in unusually large amounts
Loss of appetite & weight loss
Tiredness
Blurred vision
Causes
Risk factors of developing Type 2 – Diabetes:
Increasing age
Living a sedentary lifestyle combined with a high-sugar diet
Obesity
Smoking
Excessive alcohol consumption
Certain medication
Pregnancy (in rare cases)
Ethnicity – if you are of South Asian, African Caribbean or Hispanic origin.
Note: Some people have a genetic predisposition to developing Type 2 – Diabetes. That is, they have a family history of it and the propensity to developing it is passed down.
Diagnosis
If you are suffering from the aforementioned symptoms and think that you may be diabetic, arrange to make an appointment with your GP. After taking your medical history, they will ask you some questions about your symptoms and then make a confirmed diagnosis by requesting a urine sample from you. You will then be referred to a specialist diabetes care team.
Treatment
Despite worldwide medical research into Type 2 – Diabetes, as yet the condition cannot be cured.
Try to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet...