What is Diabetes?
Diabetes mellitus, typically referred to as diabetes, is really a group of different diseases that are characterized by elevated circulating blood glucose. Elevated blood glucose can occur by different mechanisms within the body, but once it is happening, there is damage caused to many different organs and tissues of the body. Most serious and common among these are damage to the small blood vessels that can affect the entire body, but are often most critical in their adverse effects on the heart, the retina, the kidneys, and the toes and feet. Additionally, nerve damage or neuropathy occurs, which can affect many different types of nerves, but most commonly the sensory nerves of the toes, feet and hands.
About 95% of all diabetes is called Type 2 diabetes, the kind that used to be known as “adult-onset diabetes”. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by elevated blood glucose and a resistance in the tissues to the effects of circulating insulin. About 80% of type 2 diabetes is related to excess weight and obesity. Approximately 26 million Americans have type 2 diabetes today. It is believed that 75 million people in the United States have type 2 diabetes that is yet undiagnosed.
Type 2 diabetes becomes more common as we gain weight and as we age. Some genetic predisposition to earlier development of type 2 diabetes also plays a role.
Type 1 diabetes, or what has been referred to as “juvenile diabetes” occurs in 5% or less of total diabetes cases. This typically stems from an autoimmune type condition resulting in the failure of the specific cells in the pancreas, the beta cells, which produce insulin. The lack of insulin production leads to elevated circulating blood glucose. It is not known exactly why some individuals develop an autoimmune attack on their own pancreatic beta cells (the insulin producing pancreas cells), but it is thought to occur in part due to genes and in part due to some environmental factors.
The third type of diabetes is called gestational diabetes and this is a special type of diabetes that occurs only during pregnancy.
Gestational diabetes occurs because another form of insulin resistance takes place that is related to the hormones of pregnancy and placental growth. There is an overlap with obesity-related type 2 diabetes as well during gestational diabetes. In most cases, after delivery, the gestational diabetes resolves. A woman who develops gestational diabetes is at higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later on.
Types of Diabetes
- Type 1 autoimmune disease affecting the pancreatic beta cells
- Type 2 related to weight gain, obesity and insulin resistance
- Gestational, occurring in pregnancy
Similar Recent Posts
Does Bariatric Surgery Shorten Your Life? Overwhelming Data and Large Studies Say The Opposite
Sometimes a medical treatment just seems odd, and people wonder if it might have adverse effects. This is a question some raise with respect to bariatric surgery, a minimally invasive surgical procedure to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. The most common form of the procedure today is a 45-minute procedure with four to five bandages, Read More…
Which Weight Loss Surgery is Most Effective?
With different procedures available, and some centers favoring one over the other, how does one learn which kind of weight loss surgery is most effective? We will look at some comparative studies, but it is important to keep in mind that the wisest approach is to balance both “effectiveness,” which usually defined as pounds lost and Read More…
Dr. Sasse’s Team Shares 10 Steps to Vastly Improve Safety & Efficacy of Sleeve Gastrectomy
Leaks from the tissue staple line have long been the most serious potential complication of gastric surgery, and one that continues to occur in between 1% and 2% of sleeve gastrectomy cases worldwide. When a leak occurs, more surgery is required and further complications can arise. Now, Dr. Sasse, along with Dr. Jonathon Gevorkian, reports Read More…