Type 2 Diabetes: What does is mean for you?

What is Diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset diabetes, is when your pancreas can no longer process insulin. Insulin helps breakdown the sugar in your cells and without it to too much sugar can end up staying in your blood stream. Although there is no cure for the disease, proper diet and exercise can help decrease the effects it has on your daily life. Without proper treatment, it can lead to medical complications in the future. Although it is scary, type 2 diabetes is the most common form. Over 37 million American has diabetes and 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes (CDC, 2021).

How did I get it?

There are many risk factors when it comes to type 2 diabetes. The most common risk factors are weight, family history, and race/ethnicity. Other common risk factors can be your age, being older than 45 years old. Lastly having gestational diabetes, or developing diabetes while pregnant, can be a big risk factor (Mayo Clinic, 2021).

What are the treatments for type 2 diabetes?

As mentioned earlier, there is currently no cure for type 2 diabetes but there are ways to manage the disease. Every treatment for type 2 diabetes varies on a case-by-case basis, however, losing weight, eating healthy foods, and exercising are the top ways to manage it. Should those lifestyle changes not be enough, medication or insulin therapy can be an option as well (Mayo Clinic, 2021).

Where can I find more information?

With how common diabetes has become, there are tons of places to find reliable information regarding type 2 diabetes such the American Diabetes Association, Mayo Clinic and the CDC website.

 

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, December 16). Type 2 diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2021, January 20). Type 2 diabetes. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved September 3, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20351193

Professional Practice Committee: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2020Diabetes Care 1 January 2020; 43 (Supplement_1): S3. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc20-Sppc