Diabetes specialist Doctor

The different types of diabetes

Diabetes is also known as diabetes mellitus. This is basically a disease where normally a person has high levels of sugar in his blood. This could happen because of two reasons – it could be because the body – pancreas is the organ that fulfills this responsibility – is unable to produce a sufficient amount of insulin or because the body does not respond to the insulin that it produces naturally. There are various kinds of diabetes out there – it is just that people tend to suffer more from a few types of this disease. The most prominent among these is type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes

When you talk to a diabetes specialist doctor he will tell you quite clearly that this is also known as juvenile diabetes. This may have to do with the fact that this kind of diabetes mostly happens among kids. It can affect people of any age though. It can also be called an auto-immune disease. This means one where your own body is acting against you. In this disease the beta cells in your pancreas are destroyed forever. This is why the body is unable to produce insulin anymore.

Type 2 diabetes

This form of diabetes is also referred to as non-insulin dependent diabetes. This is a condition where the cells in your body are unable to use the insulin produced in the body. This is also known as hyperglycemia. People who suffer from such diseases need to consume medicines that help them keep diabetes in check. If their condition so demands they may have to take insulin in order to maintain a certain level of blood sugar.

Gestational diabetes

This sort of diabetes may happen at 24-28 weeks leading up to pregnancy. The main reason in this case is hormonal change that happens as a result of hormones secreted by the pancreas. These hormones resist the insulin produced by the body. Normally this happens during the second or third trimester. At this time, a woman’s body may need a greater amount of insulin. It could be double or thrice her normal requirement. It happens during 3 to 5 per cent of all pregnancies. Keep in constant touch with your diabetes doctor in order to be duly bailed out of the situation.

LADA (Latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood)

The latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood happens when there are too many pancreatic antibodies generated in your body. Normally, such people already have diabetes but do not need any insulin as such. You can suspect that you are suffering from latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood if your body does not show any normal metabolic syndrome. If they are suffering from auto-immune diseases and if their sugar levels have increased beyond control then too there are chances that you are suffering from latent autoimmune diabetes of adulthood.

MODY (maturity onset diabetes of the young)

This kind of diabetes affects 1 to 2 per cent of people who already have diabetes. It can happen when a single gene in your body undergoes a change. In case of people suffering from maturity onset diabetes of the young there is a 50 per cent chance that their children will suffer from diabetes as well. Consult a reputed diabetes centre for further information.