There are different types of diabetes. I happened to get late onset diabetes known as Type 2, as has been the same for each woman up through my maternal line for generations. Both of my sisters have Type 2 as well. A relative had gestational diabetes.
In non-medical terms, diabetes is basically where your body cannot regulate the glucose that energizes your body and brain. The things you eat and drink with carbohydrates and sugars make the glucose or glycogen. Your pancreas helps regulate the sugars. At the cellular level, cells become resistant to insulin and your pancreas can’t make enough insulin to counteract what’s going on. The sugar doesn’t move to cells to be used for energy and winds up dumping into your bloodstream. Voila! “High Blood Sugar”.
When you have too much sugar in your blood and it remains consistently high, you can be pre-diabetic or an outright diabetic.
There are different reasons why your glucose could be high or even low.
- It could be what you eat and/or drink.
- It could be dysfunction or disease of the body.
- It could be a combination of both 1 & 2.
There are a couple of ways your diabetes treatment can go. (Which should always always be managed by a licensed medical professional: your doctor, or even better… a specialist in diabetes.)
- Regulate your food and drink by lowering your carbohydrate intake. (Add exercise in there.)
- Be regulated by medication.
- Be regulated by insulin shots or pumps.
- It will likely be a combination of both 1 & 2 unless caught early. 3 will come into play if your willpower to lower your carbs or your pancreas needs help.
To understand the difference between the different types of diabetes you can read more at these links:
American Diabetes Association – Diabetes Basics
Mayo Clinic – Diabetes
Remember to discuss diabetes with your doctor!
