Type 2 diabetes is growing at an alarming rate in this country. Once relatively rare and usually seen only in older Americans, type 2 diabetes is now increasingly prevalent, and is especially alarming because it’s seen more and more often in children.
Today, fully 95% of diabetics have type 2 diabetes. By contrast, only 5% of diabetics are type 1 diabetics, which occurs as a result of the destruction of the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, probably as a result of something gone awry in the immune system. In these cases, patients can’t do anything to prevent the occurrence of diabetes and must take insulin for the rest of their lives in order to survive.
What are the causes of type 2 diabetes?
There are a number of risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes, among them family history. In other words, if close family members of yours (who are biologically related) have type 2 diabetes, you are at increased risk of getting it. Another characteristic that puts you at risk of getting type 2 diabetes is your race. African-Americans, those of Asian or Hispanic heritage, and Native Americans are more likely to get type 2 diabetes than are non-Hispanic whites.
However, the major factor in getting type 2 diabetes is an unhealthy lifestyle. Even if your family has a history of diabetes, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get it. Following a healthy lifestyle, adopting a good eating and exercise plan, and watching your weight can greatly minimize if not eliminate the risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
Comorbidity factors with type 2 diabetes
Besides causing diabetes itself, an unhealthy lifestyle can also lead to other comorbid conditions that may increase your chances of getting diabetes. This includes high blood pressure and obesity. Therefore, the best way to prevent and control diabetes is to lose weight if you need to and to get your blood pressure under control.
Prediabetes
There’s a new condition in town, called “prediabetes.” Medical experts have recently discovered that certain symptoms can appear before diabetes itself actually occurs; these can be taken as warning signs that diabetes is about to occur so that proper measures can be taken to bring it under control before it turns into full-blown diabetes. Prediabetes occurs when people are diagnosed with having blood sugar levels that are higher on a consistent basis than should be true, but not yet high enough to be considered diabetes. Nonetheless, this is a sign that insulin is not working properly in the body so that steps need to be taken to bring it under control before diabetes develops.
What you can do to avoid becoming a statistic
If you’re at risk for diabetes or if you already have type 2 diabetes, take heart. You’re in luck, because unlike type 1 diabetes, you can actually usually treat your disorder without having to resort to medication. This may be true in fact even if your health care practitioner temporarily treats you with insulin or medication to bring your blood sugar level under control.
Once you adopt a healthy lifestyle, lose the weight you need to, and adopt a healthy diet, it’s very likely that your diabetes will resolve itself so that you no longer need to take medication or insulin. Be advised, though, that once you’ve had diabetes or have been at risk for it, it’s always something you’ll need to watch. Adopt a healthy lifestyle, and save your own life by avoiding becoming a type 2 diabetic.
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