Diabetes

You’ve probably heard of diabetes, but what exactly is it?

The energy we use every day comes from glucose, a form of sugar. We get that glucose from the food and drinks we consume each day.

In simple terms, diabetes is a condition where your blood contains too much glucose because your body doesn’t know how to use it properly. This can be due to your pancreas not producing any (or enough) insulin to help glucose enter your body’s cells. Or it could be because the insulin your body is producing isn’t working properly. 

Type 2 diabetes often develops slowly, perhaps even over years, and your symptoms can also appear gradually. In fact at diagnosis, people who have type 2 diabetes may show few to no symptoms. It is quite common to be diagnosed during a medical exam for something else.

These are common symptoms of type 2 diabetes:

• feeling tired during the day, particularly after eating
• frequently feeling hungry, especially after you have just eaten
• routinely feeling thirstier than you used to
• urinating more often than normal, particularly during the night
• noticing your cuts or wounds take longer to heal
• experiencing unexplained and sudden weight loss or lower muscle mass
• having blurred vision
• having itchy skin

Lifestyle factors: An unhealthy diet, being overweight, smoking and sitting down for much of the day are all things that can contribute to the onset of type 2 diabetes.