Thread: What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a metabolism disorder. The food that we eat is broken down into glucose, our bodies main source of energy. Glucose enter our cells with the help of insulin, a hormone produced by pancreas. The glucose level of a person with diabetes is too high since the cells does not respond to insulin or the body does not produce enough insulin or no insulin at all. Thus, the cells are not getting the energy it needs.

There are three types of Diabetes:

Diabetes Type 1 - The body produces no insulin at all.
Diabetes Type 2 - The body does not produce enough insulin, or insulin is not working
Gestational diabetes - a temporary condition that occurs during pregnancy but goes away after the baby is born.

There are no known cure for Diabetes Type 1 and Type 2. If diabetes is not controlled, it could develop into serious complications like nonketotic hypersosmolar coma, ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia. Long term complications could be retinal damage, nerve damage, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney failure.

Some signs that you might be diabetic:

Unquenchable Thirst
Extreme hunger
Frequent urination
Sudden weight loss (without even trying)
Feeling weak and tired
Numbness of hands, legs and feet

If you are frequently experiencing any of these symptoms, go see your doctor.

Is it true that if your wounds don't heal right away, it means you have diabetes? I hear that a lot but I'm not sure if it really is true.

If there are no cure for diabetes, what will the diabetics do then? I mean, are the medicines just to keep their condition from getting worst and they don't have any chance of getting better?

Oh okay, it must be hard to have diabetes. I have to ask my question again mikaela. About whether it's true that if wounds don't heal right away, you could have diabetes.

Hi..!!
Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects as many as 16 million Americans. For reasons that are not yet clear, diabetes is increasing in our population to the point where public health authorities are calling diabetes an "epidemic" that requires urgent attention.