Diabetes mellitus which is commonly known as diabetes is a condition in which a person suffering from it has high blood sugar level. This is either because the body do not produces enough insulin or the cells do not react to the insulin being produced by the pancreas. The high level of blood sugar results in three classical symptoms. The first one is frequent urination, the second one is increased thirst and the third one is increased hunger. Other symptoms include blurred vision, smell of acetone from the breath, weight loss, nausea, lethargy, vomiting, abdominal pain, scarring of skin etc. The symptoms of diabetes are different for the different types of this disease.
There are three main types of diabetes mellitus. Type-1 diabetes is a condition in which the human organ called pancreas is unable to produce the hormone insulin which is important to keep the blood sugar level low. This requires the patient to inject required amount of insulin directly into their body. Type-2 diabetes is a condition in which the cells in the body have become resistant to the hormone insulin which results in cells failing to use this hormone effectively. This type of the disease requires the patient to take oral medication but the need to inject insulin might be required inevitably in some patients. Gestational diabetes happens to pregnant women when they experience an increase in their blood sugar level during the development of fetus.
Type-1 of this disease is inherited and is started by certain infections in the environment. Type-2 of this disease is party caused by inheritance and partly by lifestyle factors, such as the type of food eaten. To diagnose this disease, there are three main type of tests available namely fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test, oral glucose tolerance test (OGIT) and random plasma glucose test. These tests use different methods to diagnose the disease. Although this disease is chronic, there are many steps a patient can take to manage his/her blood glucose level. Patients are advised to manage their diets, exercise regularly and use proper medication for each type.
