Diabetes Specialist

What’s diabetes?

Though it takes several forms, diabetes is a condition involving insulin. Think of insulin as the gatekeeper for the body’s cells. It’s insulin that allows sugar in the blood into the cells to fuel their operation. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops making insulin, and the patient needs injections to replace what the body no longer makes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body builds resistance to insulin. The pancreas may still make insulin, but not enough to fuel the body properly. The Type 2 diabetes patient either needs additional insulin or another drug to control how blood sugar gets processed in the body.

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Initially, there may be no symptoms at all. Generally, symptoms vary by how the high blood sugar is, but patients with prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes often have no symptoms until the conditions progress. Type 1 diabetes patients usually have more serious symptoms that come on much faster. Some symptoms of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes include:

• Increased thirst and frequent urination
• Unexplained weight loss
• Extreme hunger and continued weight loss even with increased food consumption
• Fatigue, mood changes, and irritability
• Frequent infections and sores that are slow to heal
• Blurred vision or eyesight changes
• Ketones are present in the urine. These indicate tissue breakdown due to lack of available insulin.

What complications does diabetes create?

Diabetes patients gradually develop long-term health complications. The longer a patient has the disease and if they do not seek to control it, the greater the risk of complications. Complications that arise from diabetes include:

• Cardiovascular disease, including coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, angina, and atherosclerosis — the narrowing of blood vessels.
• Neuropathy, or nerve damage, particularly in the feet and legs. This causes numbness, tingling, or pain.
• Kidney damage leading to kidney disease, dialysis, or transplant.
• Long-term eye damage, including glaucoma and cataracts.