types of diabetes

diabetes mellitus

The occurrence of diabetes of any kind is due to the fact that glucose is not fully or partially absorbed in the human body, which entails many unpleasant and sometimes irreversible consequences. Under normal conditions, the pancreas (PZH) automatically releases the hormone insulin into the bloodstream as soon as glucose appears in the bloodstream, and the body's cells use it to "take up" the sugar. In diabetics, this process is disrupted for various reasons.

type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes typically occurs in early childhood and adolescence. The pancreas stops producing insulin because some or all of the beta cells in the "islets of Langerhans" where it is produced die. Sometimes clinical type 1 diabetes begins after severe viral infections, which scientists say are blamed on the immune systemto blame for this "failure".

Some dangerous viruses have a structure very similar to pancreatic beta cells, and the immune system destroys them along with foreign viruses. It is impossible to restore insulin-producing cells, so for a diabetic the only way to improve metabolism is through lifelong blood glucose control and timely administration of insulin.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes usually develops in adulthood and old age. Very often its occurrence is associated with obesity, but sometimes it also occurs with hereditary predisposition, as well as after taking certain medications. Type 2 diabetes can develop against the background of chronic diseases of the pancreas or during pregnancy. Even when the pancreas in such patients produces enough insulin, it produces it more slowly than necessary. Therefore, the cells do not have time to use up all the glucose, and its level increases.

The second reason for glycemia in type 2 diabetes is a decrease in tissue sensitivity to the hormone insulin. Doctors call this disorder "insulin resistance. " Simply put, they lack the normal amount of what is primarily associated with obesity.

gestational diabetes

One type of type 2 diabetes is gestational diabetes or gestational diabetes. A pregnant woman's pancreas produces a normal amount of insulin, but the tissues' sensitivity is reduced due to the presence of "pregnancy hormones" in the blood. It usually occurs at 20-24 weeks and lasts until birth, after which metabolism improvesby itself. However, sometimes under the guise of gestational diabetes DM 1 begins, and it also happens that against the background of pregnancy DM 2 appears, the presence of which the woman did not suspect.