Diabetes

Selecting a diabetes specialist to manage your diabetic condition successfully is an important decision and requires various considerations.  A competent and qualified diabetes medical doctor will meet the criteria set forth by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).  The ADA will have the most up-to-date information on the most common diseases and disorders associated with the endocrine system.  There are two types of diabetic diseases.  Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, which is caused by an interruption in the production of insulin in the body.  Type 2 is the most common form of this disease affecting 90% to 95% of patients.   

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at the time diabetes afflicted seven percent of the population of the U.S. or 20.8 million people.  In the one-year study, 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people 20 years of age or older.  The CDC believes that 6.2 million people have the disease but are undiagnosed. 

• Two Forms – Type One and Type Two
• Type 1 – Body Requires Daily Insulin Medication
• Type 2 – Body Still Produces Some Insulin

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin.  This form of the disease it is typically caused by an autoimmune disorder.  The person’s own immune system devastates the cells of the pancreas.  This assault impedes the production of insulin.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot respond to the amounts of insulin the body is producing.  Persons afflicted with this condition are likely to be overweight.  Doctors believed that excessive body fat contributes to the body’s incapacity to absorb the insulin being produced.

People with type one form of the disease constitute about 5 to 10 percent of diabetic patients who require daily insulin medication.  Patients of any age can be affected with this type of diabetes.  The symptoms of type one diabetes include thirst, frequent urination, and hunger, loss in weight, vision blurring, and intense fatigue.  Patients with type one conditions face the possibility of entering into a diabetic coma which is life threatening.  Almost 80% of people with the type two form of this disease are overweight and symptoms include fatigue, thirst, nausea, fuzzy or blurred vision, frequent urination and loss of weight.  Infections may frequently happen and while type two symptoms are similar to type one, the onset of symptoms is more gradual.

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