Diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases.  When you take time to understand the key facts on diabetes, then the oft-quoted adage ‘fore warned is fore armed’ comes into play.  Diabetes prevents the body from using glucose in your food that is vital for taking care of its energy needs.  This risks the well-being of your heart, eyes, kidneys and nerves as the glucose is accumulated overtime in the blood.

So what causes diabetes?  Here are some known facts on diabetes that will help you live your life without any fear whether you have diabetes or have a family member or friend with diabetes.  Good knowledge and information can actually guide you on reducing or preventing the onset of the disease and this can prove crucial in hindsight.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease.  It is prevalent in every 3 out of 10 people on average.  This is the destruction of beta cells due to the aggressive nature of cells present in the body. These cells are found in the Islet of Langerhans, which is in the pancreas.  This is the place where insulin is produced.  Insulin is the hormone responsible for managing glucose entry from the blood into body cells.  However, when this hormone is produced in excess, it causes the destruction of the beta cells.

Type 2 diabetes is due to insulin resistance.  This is a progressive disease with no known cure.  When your body cells do not respond appropriately when insulin is present, then you are suffering from type 2 diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes is however taken to be less serious than type 1.  They both have common symptoms though there are a few distinct signs that are unique for each.

Any listing of facts on diabetes would be incomplete without reference to the symptoms.  These include frequent urination caused by the presence of glucose in the urine and increased fluid intake precipitated by a seemingly unquenchable desire for water.  The other symptoms are severe fatigue, unexplained weight loss, blurred vision, increased irritability, and extreme hunger, slow healing of superficial wounds and cuts as well as irritation of the skin in the genital area.

The predisposing factors to diabetes are age, family history, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome and low levels of good cholesterol.    All these are common to both types of diabetes except for weight loss, which is specific to type 2 diabetes.

Changes due to diabetes can become permanent in the body.  When they do, the result is serious complications. Diabetes if left unchecked can cause you to lose vision due to diabetes retinopathy.  Renal disease shows swelling of the feet and legs.  As the disease progresses, blood pressure increases.  Tingling, burning, tightness, numbness, shooting or stubbing pain in the hands, feet or other parts of the body occur especially at night.  Digestive problems also occur if there is autonomic neuropathy.  All these are key facts on diabetes that you need to be aware of whether it be the signs, preventive measures or it is the cure.