Types of Diabetes

Most people are familiar with three main types of diabetes but researchers are now able to identify not only more types but also what causes them.

Since diabetes, in its many forms, can affect anyone in the family, we should know as much as we can about all these various kinds of diabetes.

The three most common and identifiable kinds of diabetes are:

• Type 1 Diabetes -- an autoimmune disease.
  
• Type 2 Diabetes -- most common form of diabetes
  
• Getational Diabetes -- developes late in pregnancy.
  

A fourth type is:

• Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA)...shows signs of both type l and type 2 diabetes. Also called 'double diabetes' or '1.5 diabetes'.

You may not be aware of these not so familiar forms of diabetes and what their causes are:

• genetic defects of the beta cell. These cells are the part of the pancreas that makes insulin. These defective cells cause maturity-onset diabetes in young children (MODY) or neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM).
• genetic defects in insulin action. This results is the body's inability to control blood glucose levels, as seen in leprechaunism and the Rabson-Mendenhall Syndrome.
• diseases of the pancreas or conditions that damage the pancreas, such as pancreatitis and cystic.
• an excess amounts of certain hormones resulting from some medical conditions such as cortisol Cushing's Syndrome. These hormones work against the action of insulin
• medications that reduce insulin action, such as glucocorticoids, or chemicals that destroy beta cells
• infections, such as congenital rubella and cytomegalovirus rare immune-mediated disorders, such as stiff-man syndrome, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system genetic syndromes associated with diabetes, such as Down Syndrome and Prader-Willi Syndrome.

One thing about diabetes, regardless of what it is called or what causes it, the result is the same. It's a disease that affects the panceas' inability to produce insulin or the body's inability to use insulin efficiently.

No doubt, as researchers continue to study these various types of diabetes, they will find improved ways to treat them, or better yet, help avoid getting them in the first place.