type 2 diabetes medication
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Home Disease Index Diabetes Type 2 diabetes

 


Overview

Causes
Symptoms
Risk Factor

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Overview

 

The pancreas lies at the back of the abdomen and has two main functions:

  • to produce a juice that flows into the digestive system to help us digest food
  • to produce the hormone called insulin.

Insulin is the key hormone that controls the flow of glucose (sugar) in and out of the cells of the body.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by:

  • insufficient production of insulin in the pancreas
  • a resistance to the action of insulin in the body's cells - especially in muscle, fat and liver cells.

Type 2 diabetes is strongly associated with being overweight, but it's less clear what causes it, compared to the Type 1 disease.

In Type 2 diabetes , high levels of insulin circulate in the blood because the pancreas can still produce the hormone.

However, for reasons we don't understand, the effect of the insulin is impaired. This means it doesn't have its normal effect on the cells of the body. This is called insulin resistance.




Causes

 

Diabetes is caused by a problem in the way your body makes or uses insulin. Insulin is necessary for glucose to move from the blood to the inside of the cells.

Unless glucose gets into cells, the body cannot use it for energy. Excess glucose remains in the blood, and is then removed by the kidneys. The symptoms inlcude excessive thirst, frequent urination, hunger, and fatigue.

A main component of type 2 diabetes is "insulin resistance". This means that the insulin produced by your pancreas cannot connect with fat and muscle cells to let glucose inside and produce energy. This causes hyperglycemia (high blood glucose).

To compensate, the pancreas produces more insulin. The cells sense this flood of insulin and become even more resistant, resulting in a vicious cycle of high glucose levels and often high insulin levels.

Type 2 diabetes usually occurs gradually. Most people with type 2 diabetes are overweight at the time of diagnosis. However, the disease can also develop in lean people, especially if elderly.

Genetics play a large role in type 2 diabetes and family history is a risk factor. However, low activity level, poor diet, and excess body weight (especially around the waist) significantly increase your risk for Type 2 diabetes

 



Symptoms

 

One of the major problems with Type 2 diabetes is in its early stages symptoms can be so mild they go unnoticed.

This means that as many as half of those diagnosed withType 2 diabetes have had the condition for months or even years before they know it.

It also means that a very high proportion of people with Type 2 diabetes already show signs of tissue damage to the eyes or hardening of the arteries from their diabetes by the time of diagnosis.

The main symptoms are similar to those of Type 1 diabetes

  • Thirst.
  • Frequent urination.
  • Tiredness.
  • Weight loss may sometimes be present, but is not as marked as in Type 1 diabetes
  • Itchiness, especially around the genitals, due to yeast infection (thrush).
  • Recurrent infections on the skin, eg yeast infections or boils.


Risk Factors

 

Emergency complications include diabetic coma.

Long-term complications include:

  • diabetic retinopathy (eye disease)
  • diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease)
  • diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage)
  • peripheral vascular disease (damage to blood vessels/circulation)
  • high cholesterol, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease .

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