November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. Diabetes is a growing concern in the United States as a chronic disease. The percentage of the population that is diagnosed with Diabetes has grown over the last 25 years to being almost 1 in 10 people having the disease. In some states it has doubled since 1990. It is also the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, both as a contributing or underlying cause. It isn’t always diagnosed right away, and many people remain uninformed about Diabetes as a whole and what causes it and how to manage it once you are diagnosed.
It is a chronic disease, so it is a disease one must manage throughout their life. Some people are born with it, others develop it over the years. There can be genetic as well as lifestyle contributions to Diabetes as well. Diabetes deals with your body’s ability to process insulin, a hormone that processes sugar in the blood into usable energy. There are two main types of Diabetes.
Type 1 is often diagnosed in childhood, and used to be called juvenile diabetes. This is a rarer type of diabetes and mainly deals with genetic causes. In the cause of Type 1 your body doesn’t produce insulin at all, and usually requires insulin management.
Type 2 is more adult oriented and varies from insulin treatment to other medication to manage your sugar levels. With Type 2, your body does not create enough insulin or is unable to use it effectively. This can develop due to genetic reasons as well as lifestyle. Like with Type 1, it requires active management, but the ways are more varied in nature.
If you would like to know more about Diabetes, or find a way to help in researching for its cause/treatment, I’ve provided some links below with more information.
I am of course not a medical professional, and you should always trust someone who is a medical professional over someone you read on the internet. Doctors are your best references on this and other medical topics.
For more information:
The American Diabetes Association
The Mayo Clinic on Diabetes
Sokorra Lewis 