Type 2 Diabetes

If you have recently been diagnosed with diabetes, it is likely that you were told that you have Type 2 diabetes, as this is the most common type of diabetes. When a person has this type of diabetes, it means one of two things; the first possibility is that their body is unable to produce an adequate amount of insulin, or their cells don’t know how to properly absorb the insulin that the body produces. Either way, the body is not getting what it needs from the insulin, which is to be able to use glucose, or blood sugar, for producing energy.

For people with Type 2 diabetes, also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, it is possible for glucose to build up in the bloodstream, instead of being absorbed by the cells where it would normally be transformed into energy. When glucose is allowed to build up in the bloodstream in this way, patients typically experience a severe lack of energy. Over long periods of time, if Type 2 diabetes is allowed to progress unchecked, high levels of glucose in the bloodstream are likely to contribute to kidney failure, blindness, neuropathy and even heart disease.

Some people are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than others, and these susceptible populations include elderly persons, African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos. It is important to take steps early on in your disease to protect your body from developing any further complications from the disease. For this reason you should have regular visits to your general practitioner, as well as your eye doctor and dentist. These regular visits will help your doctors monitor these delicate areas of your body, and will help them know immediately if any other conditions start to develop. Another thing that is extremely important for patients with any kind of diabetes is also to stop smoking and regularly check the clucose level in the bloodstream by using a clucose monitor.

Type 2 diabetes is also one of the most commonly diagnosed types of diabetes among obese persons, who are almost always at an increased risk of developing it. Since the excessive build up of fat and fat cells within the body drastically decreases the body’s chances at absorbing the insulin that it naturally produces, obese persons are already likely to develop a resistance to insulin. The best way to combat the development of this disease is to cut down on sugars and saturated fats that form into fat cells, and to get a sufficient amount of exercise that will build muscle. Muscle cells are much better at absorbing the body’s insulin.