What Is Diabetes?

What is diabetes? It's not a new disease...in fact, it has been around since the time of the pharaohs.

Diabetes has been described as a silent and savage disease.

Silent because the signs are so vague and savage because the complications are so devastating.

Simply put, it is the body's inability to handle sugar. The body either does not produce insulin (type 1 diabetes) or the cells are not able to use the insulin the body produces (type 2 diabetes).

The food you eat gets changed by the body into glucose or sugar. This glucose is the source of energy for our cells. Insulin is the key to how well the body can use this glucose.

Diabetes is a balancing act...much like trying to keep a teeter-totter parallel to the ground.

If any of the following three things happen diabetes occurs:

1. the pancreas does not produce any insulin - type one diabetes
2. the pancreas produces insulin but not enough - type two diabetes
3. the cells become insensitive or resistant to insulin - type two diabetes

Diabetes is a very complex disease. Most connect it with diet (which of course plays a large part in controling sugar levels) but there are so many factors involved that it can be frustrating trying to figure out how people get diabetes.

Because of research done into the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus we can take steps that could lessen the impact and avoid many of the complication from diabetes. This research has also helped minimize the dangers for women with diabetes during their pregnancies.

We are now better able to understand what diabetes is, what causes it, and what medications can be used to treat illnesses as well as ways to minimize complicstions.