« What is Diabetes? | Home | 3 Modes of Management of Diabetes and Prediabetes »
What Types of Diabetes are there?
By pohheng | April 27, 2008
I am not sure about you but I am really guilty of this. You see, my father was a diabetic for about 3 years before he passed away in 2006 but yet i am not even aware that there are different types of diabetes, i just knew he had diabetes. It was until i was diagnosed as a prediabetic that i found out about this. So what types of diabetes are there
Diabetes can be classified into 4 main types:
Type 1 Diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)
- People with Type 1 diabetes cannot control their blood sugar properly because their pancreas becomes damaged and produces little or no insulin.
In most cases, insulin production ceases completely. Type 1 diabetes normally affects children or young people. People with Type 1 diabetes will need to inject insulin to control their blood sugars. Also commonly known as Juvenile Onset Diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) - People with Type 2 diabetes, the cells in the body tissues become unable to respond properly to insulin which means that pancreas has to work harder. After some time, the pancreas get worn out and are unable to produce insulin effectively as they used to. People with Type 2 diabetes can control their blood sugar through diet, exercises and medication though sometimes insulin injection are required. Type 2 diabetes forms about 80% of all diabetes and affects people after the age of 40 though there are exceptions.
Gestational Diabetes - Roughly 2 to 4% of pregnant women will suffer from this form of diabetes. This will normally go away after childbirth but the child will increase the risk of the child developing Type 2 diabetes or be overweight later in life.
Prediabetes or Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) - This the condition when the fasting plasma glucose FPG test levels or glucose/sugar levels are higher than normal (>120mg/dl) but not high enough to be diagnosed as Diabetes (> 160mg/dl). If uncontrolled, this condition will almost certainly developed into Type 2 Diabetes in later stage of life. The good news is that by cutting down on unhealthy food, regular exercis and lose weight can reverse pre-diabetes and therefore delay or prevent Type 2 diabetes.
Topics: Diabetes Overview |