Diabetes and Diabetes Related Diseases

A group of diseases that result in too much sugar in the blood.

Diabetes is a serious condition that causes higher than normal blood sugar levels.
Diabetes occurs when your body cannot make or effectively use its own insulin, a hormone made by special cells in the pancreas called islets (eye-lets). Insulin serves as a “key” to open your cells, to allow the sugar (glucose) from the food you eat to enter. Then, your body uses that glucose for energy.
With diabetes, several major things can go wrong to cause diabetes. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are the most common forms of the disease, but there are also other kinds, such as gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, as well as other forms.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes, is the most severe form of the disease.
About 5% of people who have diabetes have type 1 diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes has also been called juvenile diabetes becuse it usually develops in children and teenagers. But people of all ages can develop type 1 diabetes.

The most common form of diabetes is called type 2 diabetes, or non-insulin dependent diabetes.
About 90% of people with diabetes have type 2. Type 2 diabetes is also called adult onset diabetes, since it typically develops after age 35. However, a growing number of younger people are now developing type 2 diabetes.
People with type 2 diabetes are able to produce some of their own insulin. Often, it’s not enough.