Type 2 diabetes is a disease that prevents your body from producing enough insulin to function normally. Insulin resistance is the term used to describe people with type 2 diabetes. People in their fifties or beyond are most likely to develop diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is the technical name for it. Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, affects children and adolescents due to increasing obesity levels.
The most prevalent kind of diabetes is Type 2. About 29 million people in the United States have type 2 diabetes. Another 84 million people have prediabetes, which indicates that their blood sugar (or blood glucose) levels are excessive but not high enough to be declared diabetic.
Symptoms and Indicators of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes symptoms are often so mild that you don’t notice them. Around 8 million individuals have it but aren’t aware of it. The Symptoms include:
- High urine levels
- Being very thirsty
- Blurry vision
- Mood swings
- Your hands and feet can feel tingly or numb.
- Fatigue
- Wounds that don’t heal
- Yeast infections that resurface repeatedly
- Feeling hungry
- Rapid weight loss
See your doctor if you have dark rashes on your neck or armpits. Acanthosis nigricans is a condition in which the skin appears darker than usual.
The Causes of Type 2 Diabetes
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas to help your cells convert glucose, a kind of sugar, from the food you eat into energy. People with type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but their cells don’t use it as efficiently as they can. Your pancreas releases more insulin to try to get glucose into your cells at first. Eventually, the pancreas can’t keep up, and the glucose in your blood builds up instead. Type 2 diabetes is, however, treatable and manageable.
Several factors most often cause type 2 diabetes. They include:
- Genes. Scientists have discovered various sections of DNA that influence how your body generates insulin.
- Extra weight. Obesity and overeating can cause insulin resistance, especially if you carry extra pounds on your hips or stomach.
- Metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance can be described as a disease that includes high blood sugar, abdominal fat accumulation, hypertension, and cholesterol and triglycerides.
- High levels of glucose in your liver. When your blood sugar levels are low, your liver generates and sends out glucose. Your blood sugar rises after you eat, and your liver will usually slow down and save its glucose for future use. Some people’s livers, on the other hand, operate at a faster pace.
- Faulty communication between cells. Cells sometimes send the wrong signals or fail to receive messages. When these difficulties affect how your cells generate and utilize insulin or glucose, a chain reaction can result in diabetes.
- Damaged beta cells. When the insulin-producing cells send out too much of it at inappropriate intervals, your blood sugar levels are disrupted. High blood sugar can also harm these cells.
Type 2 Diabetes Risk Factors
Type 2 diabetes is more likely to occur if you have a particular combination of risk factors. You’re more likely to get it if any or all of the following apply:
- Are 45 or older.
- Have close family members with diabetes.
- Have mixed ethnic backgrounds.
Health and medical history-related risk factors include:
- Prediabetes
- Heart-related ailments
- Suffer from high blood pressure
- Low HDL cholesterol
- Elevated triglycerides
- Being overweight or obese
- Having a 9-pound or more baby
- Experienced Gestational diabetes
- Have Polycystic ovary syndrome
- Depression
Certain factors in your lifestyle, such as nutrition and exercise, may affect your risk of diabetes. Here are the ones over which you have some control:
- Do not exercise sufficiently
- Smoking
- Stress
- Oversleeping or not getting enough sleep.
Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis
Your doctor can check your blood for signs of type 2 diabetes. To confirm the diagnosis, they’ll generally conduct two days’ worth of testing on you. However, if your blood glucose level is extremely high or you have a lot of symptoms, a single test may be sufficient.
- A1c. It’s similar to a 2- or 3-month average of blood sugar levels.
- Fasting plasma glucose. This type of blood sugar test involves fasting for 8 hours. Your blood sugar is tested on an empty stomach. You won’t be able to eat or drink anything except water for 8 hours before the test.
- Oral glucose tolerance test. The sugar test is a little more detailed. It measures your blood glucose levels before and after you consume anything sweet to see how your body handles sugar.
Mr. Edward Letko is a type 2 diabetes researcher and device innovator, providing hope to millions living with diabetes daily. His work on early detection methods and better treatment options for those with type 2 diabetes can potentially improve the quality of life for sufferers worldwide. If you or someone you know is at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, please visit Mr. Letko’s website to learn more about diabetes.
