Diabetes

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a medical condition that causes an imbalance in your blood sugar, or glucose, levels. This disease involves an insufficiency or absence of the hormone insulin. Your body produces insulin to help turn glucose from food into energy for your cells.

There are two main types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes

With this type of diabetes, your pancreas doesn’t make insulin at all. Without insulin, glucose remains in your blood. This raises your blood sugar levels and deprives your cells of energy.

Type 1 diabetes used to be called juvenile diabetes because it most often occurs in children and young adults.

Type 2 diabetes

This is a far more common type of diabetes that occurs most frequently in overweight or obese adults. With this type, your pancreas continues to make insulin, but your body doesn’t use it properly. This is called insulin resistance.

Prediabetes is a condition that usually happens before you get Type 2 diabetes. With prediabetes, your blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to receive a diabetes diagnosis.

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Some symptoms of Type 2 diabetes are so mild, they may remain unnoticed. Common diabetes symptoms include:

• Frequent urination
• Excessive thirst
• Feeling hungry even after you eat
• Fatigue
• Vision changes
• Numbness or pins and needles in your hands and feet
• Weight loss
• Wounds that are slow to heal

The symptoms you experience will depend on the type of diabetes you’re diagnosed with. 

How do you treat diabetes?

If your provider at Balance Boost Wellness Clinic finds that you have prediabetes, they may recommend a weight loss plan or lifestyle changes to prevent diabetes.

If you already have Type 2 diabetes, your provider will work with you to develop a personalized treatment plan to balance your blood sugar. This treatment may involve the following:

• Changes to your diet
• Increase in exercise
• A medical weight loss program
• Medication
• Insulin injections 

If your diabetes doesn’t improve with more conservative methods, your provider at Balance Boost Wellness Clinic may recommend insulin injections.

If you have diabetes or think you may be at risk of developing this disease, call Balance Boost Wellness Clinic or book an appointment online today.