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CHURCH AT KIRKBURN
· Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood. The body makes little or no insulin, and daily injections of insulin are required to sustain life. Without proper daily management medical emergencies can arise.
· Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1 and makes up 85% or more of all cases of diabetes. It usually occurs in adulthood. Here, the pancreas does not make enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels normal or because the body does not respond well to the insulin. Many people with type 2 diabetes do not know they have it and they may already have complications of the disease before it is diagnosed. Type 2 diabetes is becoming more common due to the growing number of older people in our society, increasing obesity and failure to exercise and our love affair with “junk” or convenience foods containing, amongst other things, too much fat and salt.
· Gestational diabetes is high blood glucose that develops at any time during pregnancy in a person who did not have type 2 diabetes before the pregnancy.
· There are about 1.4 million people in the UK who have diabetes and possibly as many again who have not yet been diagnosed. Of these 85% will have type 2 diabetes.
There are many risk factors for diabetes, including:
· A parent, brother, or sister with diabetes
· Obesity which means a BMI (body mass index) of over 30. Underweight people have a BMI of less than 18.5: normal weight is considered to be between 18.5 – 24.9: overweight is 25 – 29.9. The BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women. Why not go online and check your BMI? Put “BMI calculator” into your search engine and follow the instructions.
· Smoking
· Age greater than 45 years
· Some ethnic groups (particularly South Asian or African-Caribbean)
· Gestational diabetes or delivering a baby weighing more than 9 pounds
· High blood pressure
· High blood levels of triglycerides (a type of fat molecule)
· High blood cholesterol level
If you have a close relative who has, or you know of someone in the family who has now died but had it, you should take the opportunity to discuss your concerns with your GP or the specialist diabetic nurse at the practice you attend so that you may be screened for risk factors.
Symptoms
High blood levels of glucose can cause several problems including needing to go to the toilet to pass water frequently, excessive thirst, hunger, fatigue, weight loss, and blurred vision. However, because type 2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood sugar
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