Diabetes

What is diabetes?

Sugar is your body’s primary source of energy, and diabetes is a metabolic condition that affects your body’s ability to absorb sugar.

Sugar, or glucose, comes from your liver and is supplemented by the food you eat. Your pancreas creates a hormone called insulin that moves glucose from your blood to your cells for energy.

Diabetes inhibits the way your body utilizes insulin. Either you don’t make enough insulin to effectively convert sugar into energy, or your body can’t use the insulin that it has. Your blood sugar rises, as a result, leading to a range of health complications.

There are more than 100 types of diabetes, but the most common are type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that often develops in childhood and requires insulin treatment. 

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form, and it typically develops later in life as a result of genetics and lifestyle factors.

What are the risk factors for diabetes?

While the exact cause of diabetes isn’t clear, certain factors may make it more likely that you’ll develop this common chronic condition. Risk factors include:

• Being overweight or obese
  
• Inactive lifestyle
  
• Being older than 45
  
• Family history of diabetes
  
• African-American, Asian-American, or Hispanic descent

Certain factors, like race and family history, can’t be changed. But making lifestyle changes, like increasing your activity level and losing extra weight can reduce your risk of developing diabetes.

In addition, high cholesterol is linked to diabetes. Type 2 diabetes lowers your HDL, or “good”, cholesterol levels and raises your LDL, or “bad”, cholesterol levels. People with diabetes often have high LDL and triglycerides, which increases your risk of heart attack and stroke. 

Prediabetes is a medical condition that often develops before a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. If you have prediabetes, your blood sugar level is high, but you don’t have diabetes yet. You can reverse prediabetes, but diabetes is a life-long condition.

How can I manage my diabetes?

Having diabetes doesn’t mean your quality of life has to suffer. With expert care, you can manage diabetes and minimize your risk of developing complications. Uncontrolled diabetes is linked to a range of serious health problems, including:

• Heart disease
  
• Nerve damage
  
• Kidney damage
  
• Eye damage
  
• Non-healing wounds
  
• Alzheimer’s disease

These conditions often develop over time, and controlling your diabetes long-term is vital to preserving your health. Monitor your blood sugar level closely, and have a diabetes care plan that works for you.

The team can help you find the right medication, lifestyle changes, and nutrition plan for you. Eating healthy food and getting regular exercise can help keep diabetes symptoms at bay and reduce your risk of complications.

Partner with Mercy Family Clinic for your diabetes management and improve your wellness. Learn more about diabetes care by calling the clinic today.