Diabetes which is also known as Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a result of high sugar quantity due to several groups of diseases. It is one of the major rising issues these days because according to several surveys approx. 1 out of 3 adults are suffering from it and 9 out of 10 adults are not aware that they are suffering from such disease. Also if discuss specifically The United States than 29.1 million people are diabetic patients over there and about 8.1 million among them are undiagnosed or unaware. Apart from this more than 10 adults who are 20 years or above that has diabetes (For seniors who are 65 years or older than this, this number rises to four).

The main reason behind diabetes is either due to improper functioning of the pancreas which is not producing the required amount of insulin or maybe due to the non-responsive behaviour of the cells towards the insulin produced. Diabetes mellitus can be categorized into three main categories:

1) Type I Diabetes: It results in a chronic situation in which pancreas is not able to produce enough insulin. Earlier it was referred to as "insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus" (IDDM) or "juvenile diabetes" as it generally occurs during the state of puberty.

2) Type II Diabetes: It results in a condition in which cells are not able to respond towards the produced insulin or this is also caused due to insulin resistance. If this type of disease remains for some time period than it can also result in lack of insulin developed. It was earlier referred as "non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus" (NIDDM) or "adult-onset diabetes". The main cause for such type of diabetes is excessive body weight and lack of physical exercise.

3) Gestational diabetes: It is one of the main forms which effects pregnant women without any former history of diabetes and develop high sugar levels during their gestation period.

SYMPTOMS

The basic symptoms of this disease include frequent urination, increased thirst and hunger, reduced body weight or decrease in health etc.

PREVENTION

Talking about Type I diabetes, there is no such prevention. But for Type II diabetes which covers about 85-90% of cases can be prevented by some basic approach such as maintaining an ideal body weight, making physical exercise- a habit and consuming a balanced diet. Apart from these other factors which also effects diabetes are: smoking, increased cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, obesity etc. Prevention of these factors can also reduce the risk of diabetes.

MANAGEMENT

It focuses on maintaining sugar levels by accomplishing a healthy diet, exercise, weight loss and proper medications. Management of diabetes includes four major approaches:

1) LIFESTYLE: Maintaining a proper lifestyle can play a major role in maintaining diabetes. It includes consuming proper nutrition, controlling body weight, creating awareness, engaging in physical exercise, controlling blood pressure etc.

2) MEDICATIONS: If we discuss anti-diabetic medications there are various numbers of different classes for it. Some of them are orally consumed such as metformin, while others are only available in form of injections, such as GLP-1 agonists. Type I category of diabetes is only cured with insulin commonly with the fusion of regular and NPH insulin or synthetic insulin analogues. Highly recommended medicine for type II diabetes is metformin as it has been observed that it decreases mortality.

3) SURGERY: Those patients who have severe complications especially who are suffering from Type I diabetes, are advised for pancreas transplantation and kidney transplantation in case of end-stage kidney disease.

Weight loss surgery is advised to those who are dealing with obesity along with type II diabetes.

4) SUPPORT: In countries such as The UK, where there is a general practitioner system, care may take place mainly outside hospitals, with hospital-based specialist care. Generally used in case of complications.