What are the different types of diabetes mellitus?

If a person has diabetes, regardless of the type, it means that they have too much glucose in their blood, although the reasons may be different. Excess glucose can lead to serious health problems.

Glucose is vital to our health because it is an important source of energy for the cells that make up muscles and tissues. And it is also the main source of energy for our brain.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that arises when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body does not use the insulin it produces effectively.

Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar. The types of potentially reversible diabetes include prediabetes - when blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not enough to be classified as diabetes - and gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy.

What are the different types of diabetes mellitus?

 

 

There is diabetes mellitus type 1 where the problem lies in the inability of the body to produce the hormone insulin. This condition is more frequent in adolescents and young adults under 25 years of age.

That's why before, type 1 diabetes was called childhood. However, it can occur at any age, although it is more common in children, adolescents and young adults. So patients suffering from this disease need insulin, and today it is provided by injection or many times by infusion using an insulin pump.

In type 2 diabetes, which is more frequent in adults, the problem is not the production of insulin, but the body does not respond to it; It is resistant to the action of this hormone and for that reason the sugar goes up.

The risks to develop it are often environmental: diet, physical activity and weight. What is happening recently is that we are getting fatter.

The frequency of diagnosing type 2 diabetes has increased. What worries us is that more young people, adolescents and children are suffering from this condition.

And what is gestational diabetes?

Again we are facing the problem of blood sugar control. What happens during pregnancy is that the change of hormones tends to hinder the action of insulin. So a person with a family history of diabetes may notice an increase in sugar during pregnancy.

The important thing about controlling sugar is to ensure the wellbeing of the mother and the baby. If the sugar is not controlled, it increases the risk that the baby is quite large. Although we think big is synonymous with healthy, in this circumstance can predispose the baby to complications during delivery.

What is important to emphasize is that if the mother did not have diabetes but developed it during pregnancy, she needs to control the sugar during pregnancy.

In a high percentage of women, it is observed that diabetes disappears after childbirth. However, gestational diabetes increases a woman's risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. If the mother has improved the habits of food and exercise, maintaining these changes in the long term is essential to protect their health.

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