Diabetes

Diabetes is a lifelong (chronic) disease in which there are high levels of sugar in the blood.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both.

To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand the normal process by which food is broken down and used by the body for energy. Several things happen when food is digested:

• A sugar called glucose enters the bloodstream. Glucose is a source of fuel for the body.
• An organ called the pancreas makes insulin. The role of insulin is to move glucose from the bloodstream into muscle, fat, and liver cells, where it can be used as fuel.

People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar into fat, liver, and muscle cells to be stored for energy. This is because:

• Their pancreas does not make enough insulin
• Their cells do not respond to insulin normally
• Both of the above

  
  

There are three major types of diabetes. The causes and risk factors are different for each type:

• Type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, but it is most often diagnosed in children, teens, or young adults. In this disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin 

  are needed. The exact cause is unknown.

  
  
• Type 2 diabetes makes up most of diabetes cases. It most often occurs in adulthood, but teens and young adults are now being diagnosed with it because of high obesity rates. Many people with type 2 diabetes do not know they have it.
• Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes.

Symptoms

High blood sugar levels can cause several symptoms, including:

• Blurry vision
• Excess thirst
• Fatigue
• Frequent urination
• Hunger
• Weight loss
  
  

Because type 2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood sugar have no symptoms.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes develop over a short period of time. People may be very sick by the time they are diagnosed.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002194/



BLINDNESS AND DIABETES

Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the eye, potentially leading to blindness. While those with diabetes are at an increased risk of vision problems, most people with diabetes have no or only minor eye disorders.

Source: http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/mens-health/serious-health-implications/blindness-or-vision-problems.html