By: Sheila Kun RN, BSN, MS, CPN, FCCP
Salesian Cooperator

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More than 34 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it. On a personal base, I never had to worry about blood sugar 10 years ago. With aging, the blood sugar level has been creeping up since I turned 74 years old. I remember writing about diabetes in our Care Ministry 5-6 years ago. But I thought this time, the topic is more pertinent to my health status, I decided to have an in depth look at diabetes type 2 and share what I found with you. I found the Mayo Clinic educational program very helpful.

Overview

Type 2 diabetes is an impairment in the way the body regulates and uses sugar (glucose) as a fuel. This long-term (chronic) condition results in too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream. Eventually, high blood sugar levels can lead to disorders of the circulatory, nervous and immune systems.

In type 2 diabetes, there are primarily two interrelated problems at work. Your pancreas does not produce enough insulin — a hormone that regulates the movement of sugar into your cells — and cells respond poorly to insulin and take in less sugar.

Type 2 diabetes used to be known as adult-onset diabetes, but both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can begin during childhood and adulthood. Type 2 is more common in older adults, but the increase in the number of children with obesity has led to more cases of type 2 diabetes in younger people.

There’s no cure for type 2 diabetes, but losing weight, eating well and exercising can help you manage the disease. If diet and exercise aren’t enough to manage your blood sugar, you may also need diabetes medications or insulin therapy.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes often develop slowly. In fact, you can be living with type 2 diabetes for years and not know it. When signs and symptoms are present, they may include:

• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Increased hunger
• Unintended weight loss
• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Slow-healing sores
• Frequent infections
• Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet
• Areas of darkened skin, usually in the armpits and neck

Your homework from the Care Ministry this week: thank you for reading this very important topic as we could mitigate its risk by changing our lifestyle.

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