Diabetes: What Is It?

Let’s define the terms:

Diabetes: A chronic, or lifelong, metabolic disorder characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood.  Both genetics and environment seem to factor in its development; that is, Type I diabetes occurs when some factor in the environment acts as a trigger in someone who is predisposed toward the disorder.

Type I Diabetes:  Happens when the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed or mostly destroyed.  It is characterized by sudden onset and quick progression, appearing most often in children and young adults, especially in persons with a family history of diabetes.  People with Type I diabetes must receive insulin artificially, either by injection or by implanted pump.

Type II Diabetes:  Happens when the muscle, fat, and liver cells fail to respond properly to insulin.  Over time, a Type II diabetic may also suffer from decreased production of insulin by the pancreas.  Type II diabetes is treated with diet and exercise, along with oral medications; and may eventually require insulin injections as well.

Gestational diabetes:  Characterized by high blood sugar levels that develop at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes.  It is a high-stakes risk factor for the development of Type II diabetes later I life.

Glucose: The compound that results when food is digested.  It is considered a sugar, and is the body’s main source of energy.

Insulin: A hormone created in the pancreas which enters the bloodstream and acts as a key to ‘unlock’ individual body cells and allow glucose to enter.

Type I and Type II Diabetes are two separate disorders; one does not develop into the other.

When you eat, the amount of glucose in your blood increases and your pancreas gets the signal to release insulin.  Most of the glucose then enters the cells and is used for energy; some glucose is stored in the liver for later use.  Your blood glucose levels rise and fall within a ‘normal’ range during the day and night; that is, the level is higher after you have eaten and lower as your body uses up the blood glucose provided by the food you ate.  When your blood glucose levels start to rise, your pancreas releases insulin, which then does its job and opens the cells to receive the glucose.  When your blood glucose level is low, the liver senses the drop and releases some of the stored glucose to prevent your blood sugar levels from dropping to a dangerous point.

In a person with diabetes, the transfer of glucose from the bloodstream to the cells is impaired.  The body’s cells are starving, as it were, while a rich supply of the glucose they must have remains just out of reach.  This unused glucose builds up in the bloodstream.  Over time, the resulting high levels of blood glucose can cause damage throughout the body, from brain cells to skin cells, from the heart muscle to the body’s networks of blood vessels and nerves – all of the body’s systems are at risk.

In a person without diabetes, blood glucose levels fluctuate within a medically acceptable range.  In a person with diabetes, both the fluctuation and the range are unacceptably large: that is, if you were putting blood glucose levels on a graph, you would see greater and more frequent peaks and valleys in a person with diabetes than in a person without it.

It stands to reason, then, that the focus of treatment for diabetic patients centers in smoothing out the highs and lows in blood sugar levels and lowering overall levels to a healthier range.  Diabetes can’t be ‘fixed’; it’s not going to ever go away; and it does most of its damage silently.  Knowing this, the individual needs to develop a plan of vigilance and a team of helpers in order to do what can be done: manage it.