By Madison Mings
Editor
Madison Mings can be reached at [email protected].
SPRINGFIELD — November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and for me, being a Type 1 diabetic since December of 2011, it has its highs and lows — literally.
But what is diabetes you may ask? And no, it not what you get if you ate a large piece of cake and had a Coke with it. C’mon people, you won’t get it if you have a lot of sugar!
Diabetes is a disease that affects your body’s ability to produce or use insulin. Insulin is a hormone. When your body turns the food you eat into energy (also called sugar or glucose), insulin is released to help transport this energy to cells. Insulin acts as a “key.” Its chemical message tells the cell to open and receive glucose. If you produce little or no insulin, or are insulin resistant, too much sugar remains in your blood.
Blood glucose levels are higher than normal for individuals with diabetes.
There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.
The number for both are getting higher each day.
According to www.diabetes.org.
Nearly 30 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes. Another 86 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for Type 2 diabetes.
Prediabetes is when the blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnoses for diabetes. People with prediabetes are at risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
Another name for prediabetes is impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glucose.
Type 1 is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. Only 5 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease. In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. The body breaks down the sugars and starches you eat into a simple sugar called glucose, which it uses for energy.
Insulin is a hormone that the body needs to get glucose from the bloodstream into the cells of the body. Type 1 is life-long. You can do injection through needles, which I do, or insulin pumps.
Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes. If you have type 2 diabetes your body does not use insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance.
At first, your pancreas makes extra insulin to make up for it. But, over time it isn’t able to keep up and can’t make enough insulin to keep your blood glucose at normal levels. Type 2 is normally with your weight, so healthy eating and taking medication prescribed by your doctor, and being active can have it go away, it’s not for life.
You have to check your blood sugar and you will get highs and lows, which mean High numbers with your blood sugar, I have been 554 before it is crazy, and lows are Low numbers with your blood sugar like 55 which is really bad, and would need some sugar to spike your blood sugar back up.
But the goodness out of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is that you are not alone, others are struggling just like you. I have been diagnosed for 4 years and still have problems and I share the same problem with Nick Jonas (Celebrity crush since forever) but I would love to make Type 1 to Type none and for Type 2 diabetics to not have type 2 either.
How does diabetes affect my body?
Over time, high blood sugar levels (also called hyperglycemia) can lead to kidney disease, heart disease, and blindness. The excess sugar in the bloodstream can damage the tiny blood vessels in your eyes and kidneys, and can harden or narrow your arteries.
What are signs of diabetes?
If you have these symptoms, go to your doctor and have a checkup.
I found out I had diabetes while being sick with the flu, it was the same symptoms.
- Extreme thirst
- Frequent urination
- Blurry vision
- Extreme hunger
- Increased tiredness
- Unusual weight loss