Diabetes Awareness Month
Every November shines awareness on Diabetes. In the US, 30 million people have some form of diabetes and 1 in 4 of them don’t know they have it yet. Most people with this disease have type 2, but others have type one. Over 84 million people have prediabetes too. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the US.
Type 2 Diabetes is when your body doesn't respond to insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Since your pancreas can’t keep up, your blood sugar rises thus causing prediabetes and eventually type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar can be damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.Type 1 Diabetes makes up about 5% of people with diabetes. No one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes, but it can be managed. By living a healthy lifestyle, controlling your blood sugar, getting regular health checkups, and getting diabetes self-management education, you can live a long healthy life.
Learn More about Diabetes:
- Beyond Type 1
- National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases
- Diabetes.org
- Diabetes Quick Facts
