Diabetes Information
Diabetes Risk Test
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes
Gestational Diabetes
Pre-Diabetes
Just Diagnosed
Diabetes Risk Test
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Type 1 Diabetes
Also called: Insulin-dependent diabetes, Juvenile diabetes
Diabetes
means your blood glucose, or blood sugar, is too high. With Type 1 diabetes, your
pancreas does not make insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps glucose get into
your cells to give them energy. Without insulin, too much glucose stays in your
blood. Over time, high blood glucose can lead to serious problems with your heart, eyes, kidneys, nerves,
gums and teeth.
Type 1 diabetes happens most often in children and young adults but can appear at
any age. Symptoms may include
- Being very thirsty
- Urinating often
- Feeling very hungry or tired
- Losing weight without trying
- Having sores that heal slowly
- Having dry, itchy skin
- Losing the feeling in your feet or having tingling in your feet
- Having blurry eyesight
A blood test can show if you have diabetes. If you do, you will need to take insulin
for the rest of your life.
Information provided by: U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike,
Bethesda, MD 20894
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Type 2 Diabetes
Also called: Adult onset diabetes, Non-insulin dependent diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease in which your blood glucose, or sugar, levels are too high.
Glucose comes from the foods you eat. Insulin is a hormone that helps the glucose
get into your cells to give them energy. With Type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin. With Type
2 diabetes, the more common type, your body does not make or use insulin well. Without
enough insulin, the glucose stays in your blood.
Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause serious problems. It can damage your eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Diabetes can also cause heart disease,
stroke and even the need to remove a limb. Pregnant women can also get diabetes,
called gestational diabetes.
Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes may include fatigue, thirst, weight loss, blurred vision
and frequent urination. Some people have no symptoms. A blood test can show if you
have diabetes. Exercise, weight control and sticking to your meal plan can help
control your diabetes. You should also monitor your glucose level and take medicine
if prescribed.
Information provided by: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases- Information Provided by: The NDIC is a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases,
National Institutes of Health.
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
1 Information Way
Bethesda, MD 20892–3560
Phone: 1–800–860–8747
Fax: 703–738–4929
Email: ndic@info.niddk.nih.gov
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Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes, also known as gestational diabetes mellitus, GDM,
or diabetes during pregnancy, is a type of diabetes that only pregnant women get.
If a woman gets diabetes when she is pregnant, but never had it before, then she
has gestational diabetes.
Normally, your stomach and intestines digest the carbohydrate in your food into
a sugar called glucose. Glucose is your body’s main source of energy. After digestion,
the glucose moves into your blood to give your body energy.
To get the glucose out of your blood and into the cells of your body, your pancreas
makes a hormone called insulin. If you have diabetes, either your body doesn’t make
enough insulin, or your cells can’t use it the way they should. Instead, the glucose
builds up in your blood, causing diabetes, or high blood sugar.
Gestational diabetes happens in about 5 percent of all pregnancies, or about 200,000
cases a year in the United States.
Health care providers will test most women who have average risk for gestational
diabetes when they are between 24-28 weeks pregnant. If your risk is higher-than-average,
your health care provider may test you earlier, possibly as soon as you know you
are pregnant.
Most women who have gestational diabetes give birth to healthy babies, especially
when they control their blood sugar, eat a healthy diet, exercise, and keep a healthy
weight. In some cases, though, gestational diabetes can affect the pregnancy and
baby.
Many women with gestational diabetes have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies
because they follow a treatment plan from their health care provider.
Each woman should have a specific plan designed just for her geatational diabetes
needs.
Some women with gestational diabetes will also need to take insulin to help manage
their diabetes. The extra insulin can help lower their blood sugar level. Some women
might also have to test their urine to see if they are getting enough glucose.
For most women, blood sugar levels go back to normal quickly after the baby is born.
Six weeks after the baby is born, you should have a blood test to check your blood
sugar levels. The test also checks for your risk of getting diabetes in the future.
If you know you want to get pregnant again, have a blood sugar test up to three
months before becoming pregnant to make sure your blood sugar level is normal.
Children whose mothers had gestational diabetes are at higher risk for obesity,
abnormal glucose tolerance, and diabetes.
Women who have had gestational diabetes and children whose mothers had gestational
diabetes are at higher lifetime risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes. It may be
possible to prevent type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes. Talk to your health
care provider about diabetes and increased risk from gestational diabetes.
Information provided by: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
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Pre-Diabetes
If you have insulin resistance, your muscle, fat, and liver cells do not use insulin
properly. The pancreas tries to keep up with the demand for insulin by producing
more. Eventually, the pancreas cannot keep up with the body's need for insulin,
and excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Many people with insulin resistance
have high levels of blood glucose and high levels of insulin circulating in their
blood at the same time.
People with blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet in the
diabetic range have “pre-diabetes.” Doctors sometimes call this condition impaired
fasting glucose (IFG) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), depending on the test
used to diagnose it. Pre-diabetes is becoming more common in the United States,
according to new estimates provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
About 40 percent of U.S. adults ages 40 to 74—or 41 million people—had pre-diabetes
in 2000. New data suggest that at least 54 million U.S. adults had pre-diabetes
in 2002.
If you have pre-diabetes, you have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes,
formerly called adult-onset diabetes or noninsulin-dependent diabetes. Studies have
shown that most people with pre-diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes within
10 years, unless they lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weight—which is about 10
to 15 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds—by making modest changes in their
diet and level of physical activity. People with pre-diabetes also have a higher
risk of heart disease.
Physical activity and weight loss make the body respond better to insulin. By losing
weight and being more physically active, you may avoid developing type 2 diabetes.
In fact, a major study has verified the benefits of healthy lifestyle changes and
weight loss. In 2001, the National Institutes of Health completed the Diabetes Prevention
Program (DPP), a clinical trial designed to find the most effective ways of preventing
type 2 diabetes in overweight people with pre-diabetes. The researchers found that
lifestyle changes reduced the risk of diabetes by 58 percent. Also, many people
with pre-diabetes returned to normal blood glucose levels.
The main goal in treating insulin resistance and pre-diabetes is to help your body
relearn to use insulin normally. You can do several things to help reach this goal.
Information Provided by: The NDIC is a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases,
National Institutes of Health.
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
1 Information Way
Bethesda, MD 20892–3560
Phone: 1–800–860–8747
Fax: 703–738–4929
Email: ndic@info.niddk.nih.gov
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Just Diagnosed
Your Guide to Diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2
Introduction
Your doctor says you have diabetes. This guide will help you learn how to take care
of your diabetes and how to prevent some of the serious problems that diabetes can
cause. We wrote this guide with help from people like you, people who have diabetes
and wanted more information about it. We hope Your Guide to Diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2 will answer many
of your questions. You may want to share this booklet with your family and friends
so they too will understand more about diabetes and how they can help you live a
healthy life. And remember, you can always ask your health care team any questions
you might have.
The NDIC is a service of the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health.
National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
1 Information Way
Bethesda, MD 20892–3560
Phone: 1–800–860–8747
Fax: 703–738–4929
Email: ndic@info.niddk.nih.gov
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