My grandmother died from complications from it. My mother, my father, my aunt, my uncle and my husband have it. Diabetes. You can ask anyone if they know someone with diabetes and most of the time the answer will be "several". Unfortunately, now more than before we are seeing diabetes appear in younger people. There is no known cure as of yet. It is important to understand the different types of diabetes there are, the emotion and physical toll it takes on your mind and body, and how you can prevent developing diabetes.
The website for The Center of Disease Control and Prevention states that more than 29 million Americans have diabetes. According to Ann Albright, Ph.D., R.D., director of CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, "these new numbers are alarming and underscore the needed for an increased focus on reducing the burden of diabetes in our county". The National Diabetes Statistics Report in 2014 based on health date from 2012 revealed that Non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native adults are about twice as likely to have been diagnosed with diabetes as non-Hispanic white adults. Diabetes has 2 types. There is type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. .
The Medical Library Association Guide to Finding Out about Diabetes, describes type 1 diabetes as the immune system mistakenly attacks the pancreatic beta cells, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, resulting in a complete or near-complete deficiency in insulin. (4) This type of diabetes is most commonly found in children and young adults. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body's cells become resistant to insulins action. The pancreas makes more insulin to overcome the resistance and over time the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas are unable to secrete enough insulin to compensate for the extra amount of glucose in the bloodstream. (4) .
The reason diabetes is so tricky is because the symptoms can be an array of different things.