There is so much that you need to know about when it comes to diabetes. Diabetes is defined as a group of diseases that are metabolic in nature which cause a person to have high blood sugar either because the pancreas is not producing adequate amounts of insulin or because the cells of the body do not respond to the insulin produced.

Diabetes is divided into three different categories, that is, Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and Gestational diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is characterized by insulin deficiency that is caused when insulin producing beta cells are destroyed. This type of diabetes can further be classified into two, which are idiopathic and immune-mediated. Immune mediated Type 1 diabetes is where the destruction of the beta cells takes place due to an auto immune attack that takes place due to T-cell mediation. Unfortunately, we have not yet invented a preventive measure against this particular kind of syndrome. Because it represented a majority of diabetes cases in children it was also known as Juvenile diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes has the characteristic of insulin resistance which could or could not be combined with relatively reduced insulin secretion. It is not really known as to why there is a defective responsiveness in this syndrome. Some however believe that it involves insulin receptors in the body. At the early stage of Type 2 diabetes, hyperglycemia can be reversed by taking medication and carrying out measures that reduce the amount of glucose that is produced by the liver or improve the sensitivity of the liver.

Gestational diabetes can be likened to Type 2 diabetes because they share certain properties, which involve a combination of inadequate responsiveness and insulin secretion. This kind of diabetes is known to occur in a small percentage of pregnancies not exceeding 5%. It could either get worse or better after delivery of the baby. The good news that applies to this syndrome is that it could be treated. However, a great amount of care has to be taken in the medical supervision that takes place in the period during the pregnancy. A huge percentage of women who suffer from this particular form of diabetes(not less than 20% of them) end up suffering from Type 2 diabetes later on in life

These three major divisions are among the various kinds of diabetes that exist. Other forms of diabetes include, Pre-diabetes which is a type of diabetes that is characterized by a high amount of glucose levels in the blood but that is not high enough for the condition to be termed as Type 2 diabetes. Another case of a different form of diabetes is due to the receptors of the body tissue being non-responsive to the insulin, even though the insulin levels in the body might be normal, thus distinguishing it from Type 2 diabetes. Genetic mutations which can either be mitochondrial or autosomal may be contributing factors to the defects in the beta cells’ functions. Also any disease that is capable of causing large scale damage to the pancreas may lead to the occurrence of diabetes. The secretion by the body of insulin-antagonistic hormones can also lead to diabetes. This can be sorted out by having the excess amounts of hormone secretions removed. You should also be warned that there are certain drugs, which damage pancreatic beta cells and impair the secretion of insulin.

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