Tackling Type 2 diabetes
You feel increasingly tired. You are always thirsty. You have to urinate more than average. You may have type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is defined as an impairment in the way the body regulates and uses sugar as fuel, according to Mayo Clinic. This can lead to too much sugar in the bloodstream. High sugar levels could lead to problems with circulatory, nervous, and immune systems.
In type 2 diabetes, there are two related problems at work. Your pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin, a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells, and cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.
Type 2 diabetes once known as adult-onset diabetes, can happen at any age. Type 2 diabetes is more common in adults, however, there has been an increase in children with obesity, which has accounted for a rise in cases.
There is no cure for type 2 diabetes, but losing weight, eating well, and exercising can make the disease manageable. And of course, if diet and exercise aren’t enough to manage it, then diabetes medication or insulin therapy are at your disposal.
Some symptoms of diabetes include increased hunger, frequent urination, unintended weight loss, increased thirst, fatigue, blurred vision, slow healing sores, frequent infections, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, and areas of darkened skin.
Type 2 diabetes results from cells in the muscle, fat and liver becoming resistant to insulin and the pancreas not being able to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that comes from the gland located behind and below the stomach. Insulin regulates how the body uses sugar such as sugar in the bloodstream triggers the pancreas to secrete insulin; insulin circulates in the bloodstream, enabling sugar to enter the cells; the amount of sugar in your bloodstream drops; once the drop occurs, the pancreas releases less insulin.
The role of glucose is very important. Glucose, a sugar, is the main source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and other tissues. Glucose comes from two sources: food and your liver. Glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream and enters cells with the help of insulin. When your glucose levels are low, for instance when you haven’t eaten for a while, the liver breaks down stored glycogen into glucose to keep glucose within a normal range.
In type 2 diabetes, sugar builds in the bloodstream. As the blood sugar levels rise, the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas release more insulin. These cells become defective and don’t make enough insulin to meet the body’s demands.
Some factors that increase your risk of type 2 diabetes are weight, fat distribution (fat in your abdomen rather than your hips and thighs means a greater risk), inactivity, family history, race and ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander people are vulnerable to the disease). Other concerns are blood lipid levels, age, prediabetes, pregnancy-related risk, polycystic ovary syndrome, and areas of darkened skin.
Factors that increase the risk for diabetes also increase the risk of other chronic conditions. Managing diabetes and watching your blood sugar can lower your risk of complications or coexisting conditions. Potential complications of diabetes and other comorbidities include heart and blood vessel disease, nerve damage in the limbs, other nerve damage, kidney disease, eye damage, skin conditions, slow healing, hearing impairment, sleep apnea, and dementia.
Lifestyle changes may mean the difference between prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Eat healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Try to do 150 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity such as running, swimming, biking, or walking. Losing a modest amount of weight and keeping it off can prevent prediabetes turning into type 2 diabetes. Avoid inactivity for long periods of time.
For people with prediabetes, metformin, an oral diabetic medication, may be prescribed to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed with the glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test. This blood test measures your average sugar level for the past two or three months. When interpreting results, note that below 5.7 percent is considered normal, 5.7 percent to 6.4 percent is prediabetes, 6.5 percent or higher on two separate tests is diabetes.
If the A1C test is unavailable or you have a condition that might interfere with the A1C test, then your doctor may diagnose you by using a random blood sugar test, a fasting blood sugar test, an oral glucose tolerance test, or a routine screening. After diagnosis, your doctor may repeat the A1C test twice a year when there are changes in treatment. You will also receive diagnostic tests to screen for complications of diabetes or comorbid conditions.
As far as treatment goes, managing diabetes means healthy eating, regular exercise, weight loss, diabetes medication and insulin therapy, and blood sugar monitoring. People with diabetes face numerous barriers to health including access to care and equitable care. The good news is that there are now a wide range of treatment options available to the average diabetic patient.
To improve on lifestyle, doctors should embrace more culturally appropriate recommendations giving people individualized advice on how best to self-manage their diabetes through a better understanding of the disease and knowledge about healthy nutrition, to meet their own individualized goals.
