Diabetes Is A Disease

There are many invisible killers that are alive today. These invisible killers involve bacteria, diseases and some have still not been determined. In today's society, many are faced with diseases and problems that they are unavailable to explain. Unfortunately there are numerous amounts of people who have a disease but are unaware that they possess it. One of these is diseases is called diabetes, in which there are more than 20 million people who have it, and nearly one in three are unaware of having it. Diabetes is a disease that is commonly found in today's world and affects many people including all races in all parts of the world.

There are four types of diabetes, each having a distinct difference from the other. Each stage produces complications to the body that are similar but different in the way that they perform. There are many factors that cause the development of diabetes but some are still not found. Our world today are uneducated about reasons, causes and how diabetes happens to them. People need to be aware of diabetes, how the disease works and how it is able to be contained only to a point before other major complications develop and how these complications are inevitable.

The disease called Diabetes is medically known as Diabetes Mellitus. It is the defect of insulin production in the body. Blood glucose or sugar levels in the blood stream become extremely elevated. When this happens there is only one reason it can be explained, it happens because the body is not properly generating insulin. Insulin is a hormone that converts glucose into energy. It does this after extracting the glucose from the blood and then inserting it into cells. Cells use the created energy to function and reproduce properly. The pancreas is the organ in the body that releases insulin into the blood. If the pancreas is defective or working slowly, then the blood glucose levels in a person are going to be high causing one's cells to fail. It is unhealthy to have high blood glucose levels and many people are unaware that they have the disease called diabetes. In 2002 it was estimated that there were more than 20 million people in the United States who had diabetes ("What Diabetes Is" 1). With more than 14 million people diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, it was estimated that more than 6 million people were completely unaware that they this disease ("What Diabetes Is" 1).

Some people find out that they have diabetes but they do not understand how they could have developed the disease. What most people do not know is that the true reasons for developing diabetes still have not been determined by scientists. Even so, doctors believe that there are some things that could be linked to development of diabetes. A few factors for developing diabetes involve being overweight or obese and not exercising correctly or at all. There is another factor that could lead to the development of diabetes, it is genetics or being born with the DNA code for developing diabetes. Though it has not been officially proven to be a direct link to diabetes, it does seem to increase the chance of diabetes developing. Being born to one or two parents who have diabetes certainly increases one's risk of being diagnosed with diabetes at a relatively young age. Doctors believe that these seem to play a major role into someone developing diabetes.

There are many symptoms of diabetes. Some of these include being excessively thirsty, losing weight when not trying to, having dry skin and having blurry eye sight. If one is having any of these problems, he is encouraged by the American Diabetes Association, to see a doctor ("All About Diabetes" 1). When health care providers believe that a patient might have diabetes, they will provide the patient with one of two tests. Both tests have been proven to be successful so it does not matter which test one takes. The first is the Fasting Plasma Glucose Test, (a fast is when someone goes without food for a certain amount of designated time), which the American Diabetes Association recommends because it is easier, faster, and less expensive ("All About Diabetes" 1). With the Fasting Plasma Glucose test, a fasting blood glucose level between 100 and 125 mg/dl signals pre-diabetes, and a patient with a fasting blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher has either type 1 or type 2 diabetes ("All about Diabetes" 1). The second is the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test. With the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test, the glucose blood level is measured after two hours after drinking a glucose-rich beverage which is preceded by a fast ("All About Diabetes" 1). If a patient's blood glucose level is between 140and 199mg/dl then he/she has pre-diabetes, and a person with a blood glucose level of 200mg/dl or higher, then he or she has either type 1 or type 2 diabetes ("All About Diabetes" 1).

Diabetes Mellitus works in four different stages. The first is Gestational Diabetes. Gestational Diabetes is a short-lived diagnosis in the later stages of pregnancy for a female. If not serious, then the diagnosis lasts only through pregnancy and goes away after the baby is born ("What Diabetes Is" 3). If it is serious then something awful happens. Unfortunately, babies have been lost due to the complication of gestational diabetes which affects about 4% of all pregnant women ("All About Diabetes" 2) . There are about 100,000 cases in the united states each year ("All About Diabetes" 2).

The first stage of an actual diagnosis of diabetes is Pre-diabetes. Before diabetes is diagnosed, many are diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is where the glucose levels are high, but not high enough for diagnosis. Nearly 41 million Americans ages 40 to 74 have pre-diabetes ("Pre-Diabetes" 1). People who have pre-diabetes are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease or a stroke. One of the ways to prevent pre-diabetes from getting worse and becoming type 2 diabetes is by changing one's diet and increasing his physical activity. Thirty minutes a day of complete bodily exercise is said to be sufficient ("How to Prevent or Delay Diabetes" 1). Pre-diabetes does not need the assistance of injecting insulin into the body.

The next stage of diabetes mellitus is type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is also known as "adult onset diabetes" or "non insulin-dependent diabetes". It is when the body is deficient in making insulin, or insulin is cut off from getting to the rest of the body. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, it is most commonly found in Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, African Americans,