What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic health problem in which your body doesn’t regulate blood sugar very well. It may occur when you don’t produce enough insulin, or your body doesn’t respond well to insulin. When blood sugar levels remain too high, serious health problems can develop. Diabetes management with New York Specialty Clinics helps prevent complications.
What are the different types of diabetes?
Different types of diabetes you might experience include:
Type 1 diabetes
If you have Type 1 diabetes, your body doesn’t produce enough insulin, a hormone that moves sugar from your blood into other cells within the body. Type 1 diabetes often appears during childhood.
Type 2 diabetes
With Type 2 diabetes, your body produces insulin, but it can’t properly utilize it, which often leads to higher-than-normal blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes is more common in people over age 40.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes happens to some women during pregnancy. While the condition might go away after delivery, these women have a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the future.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes is a condition that occurs before developing diabetes. Your blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be classified as diabetes. Making healthy lifestyle changes can reverse prediabetes and lower your chance of developing the disease.
What are the symptoms of diabetes?
If you have diabetes, you might experience some of the following symptoms:
- Extreme hunger
- Unexplained weight loss
- Frequent thirst
- Increased urination
- Blurry vision
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Frequent infections
- Slow-healing wounds
You may not notice diabetes symptoms, especially in its early stages, so it’s important to get screened for diabetes if you’re at risk of developing it.
What are the risk factors for diabetes?
Anyone can develop diabetes, but some have a higher risk of experiencing it. Examples include being overweight, family history of diabetes, older age, physical inactivity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and polycystic ovary syndrome in women.
Uncontrolled diabetes can cause heart, kidney, nerve, eye, and foot damage. It may also lead to skin problems, hearing impairment, depression, and dementia. Properly controlling blood sugar when you have diabetes is the best way to avoid complications.
What are my diabetes treatment options?
Your New York Specialty Clinics provider reviews your medical history and symptoms and uses a blood test to confirm diabetes. They might recommend you undergo other diagnostic tests to detect or rule out additional health problems.
Diabetes treatments often include weight loss, healthy eating, controlling your carbohydrate intake, and regular exercise, as well as taking oral medications or using insulin as needed to keep blood sugar in check.
Don’t let uncontrolled diabetes cause serious health problems when simple treatments are available. Schedule an appointment with New York Specialty Clinics by phone or book online today.
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