Reference from A.D.A.M.

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:

People with diabetes have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar from the bloodinto muscle and fat cells to be burned or stored for energy, and because their liver makestoo much glucose and releases it into the blood. This is because either:

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

Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes.

If your parent, brother, or sister has diabetes, you may be more likely to develop the disease.

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Diabetes - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Diabetes - NY ...

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Last updated: Tuesday 16 June 2015

Last updated: Tue 16 Jun 2015

People can often have diabetes and be completely unaware. The main reason for this is that the symptoms, when seen on their own, seem harmless. However, the earlier diabetes is diagnosed the greater the chances are that serious complications, which can result from having diabetes, can be avoided.

The most common signs and symptoms of diabetes are:

We will examine each of these symptoms in more detail below.

Have you been going to the bathroom to urinate more often recently? Do you notice that you spend most of the day going to the toilet? When there is too much glucose (sugar) in your blood you will urinate more often. If your insulin is ineffective, or not there at all, your kidneys cannot filter the glucose back into the blood. The kidneys will take water from your blood in order to dilute the glucose - which in turn fills up your bladder.

If you are urinating more than usual, you will need to replace that lost liquid. You will be drinking more than usual. Have you been drinking more than usual lately?

As the insulin in your blood is not working properly, or is not there at all, and your cells are not getting their energy, your body may react by trying to find more energy - food. You will become hungry.

This might be the result of the above symptom (intense hunger).

This is more common among people with Diabetes Type 1. As your body is not making insulin it will seek out another energy source (the cells aren't getting glucose). Muscle tissue and fat will be broken down for energy. As Type 1 is of a more sudden onset and Type 2 is much more gradual, weight loss is more noticeable with Type 1.

If your insulin is not working properly, or is not there at all, glucose will not be entering your cells and providing them with energy. This will make you feel tired and listless.

Irritability can be due to your lack of energy.

This can be caused by tissue being pulled from your eye lenses. This affects your eyes' ability to focus. With proper treatment this can be treated. There are severe cases where blindness or prolonged vision problems can occur.

Do you find cuts and bruises take a much longer time than usual to heal? When there is more sugar (glucose) in your body, its ability to heal can be undermined.

When there is more sugar in your body, its ability to recover from infections is affected. Women with diabetes find it especially difficult to recover from bladder and vaginal infections.

A feeling of itchiness on your skin is sometimes a symptom of diabetes.

If your gums are tender, red and/or swollen this could be a sign of diabetes. Your teeth could become loose as the gums pull away from them.

As well as the previous gum symptoms, you may experience more frequent gum disease and/or gum infections.

If you are over 50 and experience frequent or constant sexual dysfunction (erectile dysfunction), it could be a symptom of diabetes.

If there is too much sugar in your body your nerves could become damaged, as could the tiny blood vessels that feed those nerves. You may experience tingling and/or numbness in your hands and feet.

Diabetes can often be detected by carrying out a urine test, which finds out whether excess glucose is present. This is normally backed up by a blood test, which measures blood glucose levels and can confirm if the cause of your symptoms is diabetes.

If you are worried that you may have some of the above symptoms, you are recommended to talk to your Doctor or a qualified health professional.

This diabetes information section was written by Christian Nordqvist. It was first published on 15 September 2010 and last updated on 19 May 2015.

Disclaimer: This informational section on Medical News Today is regularly reviewed and updated, and provided for general information purposes only. The materials contained within this guide do not constitute medical or pharmaceutical advice, which should be sought from qualified medical and pharmaceutical advisers.

Please note that although you may feel free to cite and quote this article, it may not be re-produced in full without the permission of Medical News Today. For further details, please view our full terms of use

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Diabetes Symptoms: Common Symptoms of Diabetes

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Diabetes means your blood glucose (often called blood sugar) is too high. Your blood always has some glucose in it because your body needs glucose for energy to keep you going. But too much glucose in the blood isn't good for your health.

Glucose comes from the food you eat and is also made in your liver and muscles. Your blood carries the glucose to all of the cells in your body. Insulin is a chemical (a hormone) made by the pancreas. The pancreas releases insulin into the blood. Insulin helps the glucose from food get into your cells.

If your body does not make enough insulin or if the insulin doesn't work the way it should, glucose can't get into your cells. It stays in your blood instead. Your blood glucose level then gets too high, causing pre-diabetes or diabetes.

There are three main kinds of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. The result of type 1 and type 2 diabetes is the same: glucose builds up in the blood, while the cells are starved of energy. Over the years, high blood glucose damages nerves and blood vessels, oftentimes leading to complications such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, nerve problems, gum infections, and amputation.

Type 1 diabetes, which used to be called called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, develops most often in young people. However, type 1 diabetes can also develop in adults. With this form of diabetes, your body no longer makes insulin or doesnt make enough insulin because your immune system has attacked and destroyed the insulin-producing cells. About 5 to 10 percent of people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes.

To survive, people with type 1 diabetes must have insulin delivered by injection or a pump. Learn more about type 1 diabetes here.

Type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult-onset diabetes or non insulin-dependent diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes. Although people can develop type 2 diabetes at any age -- even during childhood -- type 2 diabetes develops most often in middle-aged and older people.

Type 2 diabetes usually begins with insulin resistancea condition that occurs when fat, muscle, and liver cells do not use insulin to carry glucose into the bodys cells to use for energy. As a result, the body needs more insulin to help glucose enter cells. At first, the pancreas keeps up with the added demand by making more insulin. Over time, the pancreas doesnt make enough insulin when blood sugar levels increase, such as after meals. If your pancreas can no longer make enough insulin, you will need to treat your type 2 diabetes. Learn more about type 2 diabetes here.

Some women develop gestational diabetes during the late stages of pregnancy. Gestational diabetes is caused by the hormones of pregnancy or a shortage of insulin. Although this form of diabetes usually goes away after the baby is born, a woman who has had it and her child are more likely to develop diabetes later in life.

Prediabetes means your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. People with prediabetes are at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and for heart disease and stroke. The good news is that if you have prediabetes, you can reduce your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. With modest weight loss and moderate physical activity, you can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. Learn more about prediabetes here.

Many people with diabetes experience one or more symptoms, including extreme thirst or hunger, a frequent need to urinate and/or fatigue. Some lose weight without trying. Additional signs include sores that heal slowly, dry, itchy skin, loss of feeling or tingling in the feet and blurry eyesight. Some people with diabetes, however, have no symptoms at all.

Nearly 29 million Americans age 20 or older (12.3 percent of all people in this age group) have diabetes, according to 2014 estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 1.9 million people aged 20 years or older were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2010 alone. People can get diabetes at any age, but the risk increases as we get older. In 2014, over 11 million older adults living in the U.S -- nearly 26 percent of people 65 or older -- had diabetes.

See more statistics about diabetes from the National Diabetes Statistics Report 2014. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

Diabetes is a very serious disease. Over time, diabetes that is not well managed causes serious damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, gums and teeth. If you have diabetes, you are more likely than people without diabetes to have heart disease or a stroke. People with diabetes also tend to develop heart disease or stroke at an earlier age than others.

The best way to protect yourself from the serious complications of diabetes is to manage your blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol and to avoid smoking. It is not always easy, but people who make an ongoing effort to manage their diabetes can greatly improve their overall health.

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NIHSeniorHealth: Diabetes - What is Diabetes?

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Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not make any insulin or can't use the insulin it does make as well as it should. Insulin is a hormone made in the body. It helps glucose (sugar) from food enter the cells where it can be used to give the body energy. Without insulin, glucose remains in the blood stream and cannot be used for energy by the cells. Over time, having too much glucose in the blood can cause many health problems.

Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness, kidney disease, and amputation, and it contributes greatly to the state's and nation's number one killer, cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke). People with diabetes are more likely to die from flu or pneumonia.

Diabetes is not caused by eating too much sugar; in fact there is no such thing as "having a touch of sugar," as some people believe. Only a doctor or health care provider can diagnose diabetes either by conducting a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test or an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

Diabetes is the most rapidly growing chronic disease of our time. It has become an epidemic that affects one out of every 12 adult New Yorkers. Since 1994, the number of people in the state who have diabetes has more than doubled, and it is likely that number will double again by the year 2050.

More than one million New Yorkers have been diagnosed with diabetes. It is estimated that another 450,000 people have diabetes and don't know it, because the symptoms may be overlooked or misunderstood.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently predicted that one out of every three children born in the United States will develop diabetes in their lifetime. For Hispanic/Latinos, the forecast is even more alarming: one in every two.

Diabetes is not only common and serious; it is also a very costly disease.

The cost of treating diabetes is staggering. According to the American Diabetes Association, the annual cost of diabetes in medical expenses and lost productivity rose from $98 billion in 1997 to $132 billion in 2002 to $174 billion in 2007.

One out of every five U.S. federal health care dollars is spent treating people with diabetes. The average yearly health care costs for a person without diabetes is $2,560; for a person with diabetes, that figure soars to $11,744. Much of the human and financial costs can be avoided with proven diabetes prevention and management steps.

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