Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong condition that cannot be cured. However, patients with diabetes can lead a normal life with the help of drugs and adopting a healthy lifestyle. The goals of diabetes management are to eliminate symptoms and prevent the development of complications. Many drugs, both oral and injectable, are available for diabetes management.
Type 2 diabetes care is best provided by a team of health professionals with expertise in diabetes. They work in collaboration with the patient and their family. Management includes:
- Appropriate goal setting: To maintain blood glucose levels by eating a healthy diet and by maintaining body weight.
- Dietary and exercise modifications
- Medications
- Appropriate self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) by the patient
- Regular monitoring for complications
- Laboratory assessment
What Does Diabetes Type 2 Mean?
How Do You Get Diabetes Type 2?
An individual can get type 2 diabetes due to several factors that reduce insulin action or quantity in the body. The disease involves complex interactions between environmental and genes coupled with a diabetogenic lifestyle (i.e. excessive caloric intake, inadequate caloric expenditure, obesity). Some studies propose that pollutants in the environment may play a role in the development and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Some of the main risk factors causing type 2 diabetes are as under:
- Age greater than 45 years
- Overweight individuals
- Family history of type 2 diabetes
- Hispanic, Native American, African American, Asian American, or Pacific Islander descent
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol and lipids
- Pre-diabetes: A condition in which blood sugars are higher than normal but still not high enough to be called diabetes
- History of developing diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes mellitus) or of delivering a baby with a birth weight of over 9 pounds
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
- Diet rich in processed carbohydrates
- Depression
What Are the Symptoms of Diabetes Type 2?
The symptoms of diabetes can be so subtle that many patients are diagnosed on routine investigations rather than visits for diabetes-related symptoms.
Symptoms include:
- Increased thirst
- Increased hunger
- Frequent urination
- Weight loss
- Numbness or pins and needles sensation in legs and feet
- Blurred vision
- Yeast infection
- Slow wound healing
- Areas of darkening and thickening of skin especially on the back of the neck and armpits
Is Diabetes Type 2 Serious?
Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong disease that affects various organs in the body. It is a serious disease with many devastating complications that can be prevented with appropriate treatment. Some complications of type 2 diabetes include:
- Loss of vision
- Infections
- Kidney damage
- Heart diseases
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Slow wound healing leading to gangrene and limb amputations
- Loss of sensation
- Erectile dysfunction
- Mental changes including memory impairment
- Bowel disturbances
- Cancer
- Coma
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