What is Diabetes Mellitus?

Diabetes is the common term for several metabolic disorders in which the body no longer produces insulin or uses the insulin it produces ineffectively. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles.

It is a common condition and is characterised by abnormally high blood sugar levels.

Diabetes is known as "diabetes mellitus" - where diabetes comes from the Greek word for siphon, which describes the excessive thirst and urination of this condition, and mellitus is the Latin word for honey, because diabetic urine is filled with sugar and is sweet.

Diabetes essentially changes the way your body uses food

The key to the problem is insulin - as insulin's role in the body is to help glucose get into the body cells where it is used to make energy.

Diabetes is characterized by a partial or complete lack of insulin production by the body. The most common forms of diabetes are type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. In both types of diabetes, people have little or no ability to move sugar out of the blood stream and into the cells, where it is used as the body's primary fuel.

Symptoms and complications

Symptoms of diabetes include:

Frequent urination
Extreme thirst and/or hunger
Weight loss
Fatigue
Numbness
Sores that are slow to heal, and
Increased infections

People with type 2 Diabetes may have no symptoms for nearly 5-7 years after high glucose levels develop- even when there are no symptoms, they may experience vague symptoms like tiredness, muscle pain, headache, anxiety etc.

Learning how to best manage your diabetes is key to your treatment.

Poor control of diabetes can lead to an increased risk of:

Heart disease
High blood pressure
Stroke
nerve disease
Kidney and bladder failure
Gum disease
Blindness
Foot and leg infections
Sexual Dysfunction
Complications of pregnancy

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to biochemical imbalances that can cause acute life-threatening events, such as diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar (nonketotic) coma.

Finding out you have diabetes can be scary. But don't panic, diabetes is serious, but people with diabetes can live long, healthy, happy lives if they control diabetes