As you may or may not know, diabetes is a disease that involves your body and its production of insulin. What you may not know is there are two major types of diabetes people may have, and there’s a big difference between the two. This article will explain more in detail type 2 diabetes and the differences there are between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is broken down into two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is the more extreme of the two types. Simply put, type 1 diabetics have to rely on an outside source of insulin, since their pancreas will not produce insulin. They have to get daily doses of insulin, and constantly have to measure their blood sugar level.
Type 1 diabetics who fail to do so usually suffer dire consequences, death being the main one. Type 2 diabetics, on the other hand, simply have a body that doesn’t produce enough insulin, or their cells ignore the insulin that is produced. While they still may have to inject themselves with insulin, they have other options to choose from. They also can take diabetic pills to help their bodies deal with using the insulin that they produce. Insulin can’t be taken orally, as it will be digested by the stomach and not absorbed by cells. Next we’ll discuss the complications that come up because of type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common diabetes known to scientists right now. While less threatening than type 1 diabetes, it’s still diabetes, and complications will still arise because of it. The biggest problem diabetics face is an increased risk in heart disease and strokes. Over half of people diagnosed with diabetes end up dying from either heart disease or strokes. Not to worry, as it’s still manageable with proper diet and constant monitoring. Another risk is kidney disease. This is because diabetics’ bodies force more blood through their kidneys and makes the kidneys work harder than normal.
Eventually, the kidney filters start to leak and lead to kidney failure. Eye complications also arise in diabetics. Most of these complications are minor, but some major ones do pop up from time to time. The two major eye issues that arise with diabetes are glaucoma and cataracts. Most people without develop these eye problems, but diabetics are over 40% more likely to contract these eye diseases. Again, these aren’t problems uniquely associated with diabetes, so there are treatments for them.
Well, there you have it; the different types of diabetes and the things that separate them. Hopefully you have gained some insight into this disease from this article
