As of 2019, over 11% of the United States population suffers from some form of diabetes, a chronic condition that can cause numerous complications that seriously affect your health. And with 1.4 million new cases occurring annually and nearly 29 million cases going undiagnosed, this is a serious issue that’s in desperate need of more attention and more people getting help.
Getting properly treated for diabetes means making sure you know what type you’re struggling with, and while type 2 diabetes is the most prominent, it’s not the only one people suffer from.
If you live in the Beverly Hills, California, area, and you’re struggling with diabetes or other chronic conditions, Dr. Shawn Veiseh and his skilled team at Shawn Veiseh, M.D. can help you cope.
Let’s explore how people get this chronic condition, the types of diabetes, and how your diabetes can be treated.
To understand this disease, it’s important to know how insulin works. This is a hormone produced by your pancreas that helps to regulate the amount of blood glucose (blood sugar) in your bloodstream.
Blood sugar is your main source of energy and comes from the food you eat, and diabetes results from an imbalance of sugar in your bloodstream. If there’s too much blood sugar, your insulin is unable to regulate it or your body becomes resistant to it. This creates spikes that lead to diabetes if not controlled.
In addition to dietary factors, family history can lead to diabetes, and specific races are more prone to getting the illness (Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian Americans).
Diabetes comes in various forms:
This means your blood sugar levels are high enough to be at risk for diabetes. You aren’t going to experience all of the same symptoms of type 2 diabetes, but this is the point where getting treatment is your best chance of preventing it from getting worse.
Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, is diagnosed in children and teens. It presents with separate symptoms from type 2 diabetes, such as stomach pains, yeast infections, nausea, and vomiting. It’s not curable, and patients dealing with it will need regular insulin treatments.
The most common form of this disease, type 2 diabetes can happen to anyone but is more common in people over 45, overweight, and with a family history of the illness. It’s a result of insulin resistance, but can be treated with lifestyle and dietary changes.
This type of diabetes occurs when a pregnant woman becomes less sensitive to insulin. Women who are overweight going into pregnancy have an elevated risk of developing this condition. Half of the children born with this will develop type 2 diabetes later in life. There are often no symptoms, so doctors will periodically check for the condition during pregnancy.
Rarer forms of diabetes include monogenic diabetes, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, diabetes insipidus, and drug or chemical-induced diabetes.
Treatment options will depend on the type, and for each one may include:
Diabetes can change your life, but it doesn’t have to control it. If you’re struggling with any type of diabetes, we can help. Make an appointment with Dr. Veiseh and our team today to start on the road to a healthier life. Call our office or schedule a visit online.
