Understanding a Diabetes Diagnosis

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Understanding a Diabetes Diagnosis

Diabetes is a very difficult thing to deal with when you first get diagnosed with it. It may seem unfair, it may seem like too much, and it can all just seem very confusing. The best thing you can do is take a deep breath, understand what you’re dealing with, and then take the first steps towards addressing the condition.

Technically speaking, diabetes is a medical issue in which your blood sugar levels are too high due to a lack of insulin. Insulin is a hormone that breaks down sugar in your blood and distributes the molecules to cells that use it for energy.

Without insulin, the sugar in your blood won’t be properly broken down, and can lead to some severe complications if it’s not taken care of. In the case of the less common type 1 diabetes, typically discovered at a young age, your body’s immune system fails to recognize the parts of your pancreas that produce insulin as a part of you, and attack it.

This renders your body unable to produce insulin from that point forward, and this damage is permanent. Type 2 diabetes is a bit different. Type 2 diabetics can produce insulin just fine, but their bodies just don’t use it as they should, rendering their existing insulin less effective.

This form of diabetes usually develops much later in life than type 1, and is also far more common. This can cause damage to your body in a variety of ways. The excess sugar in your blood can damage the walls of blood vessels as it flows through your body, leading to nerve damage, loss of eyesight, and even increased risk of infections.

Typically, you’ll end up having to administer artificial insulin to yourself, while also keeping track of your glucose levels and meals. This sounds like an ordeal, and it first, it may feel that way.

However, there are many diabetics and doctors out there who have designed meal plans and provided people with means of easily keeping track of their blood sugar levels.

The best way to respond to a diabetes diagnosis is to get in the right mindset about it. It may be permanent, and it may be a huge hassle in terms of learning how to handle it, but there’s nothing you can do about that. What you can do instead is mitigate the effects of diabetes and make sure you live a longer, happier life by keeping the disease in check.