Diabetes is a disease where your blood glucose (sugar) levels are above normal. It results from the inability of the glucose to get into your cells. As a result your cells are starving for their food (glucose). It would be like a starving person surrounded by tables of wonderful food but their mouth has been sewn closed and they can’t eat.

About 17 million Americans are believed to have diabetes and one-third of those patients don’t even know they have it. Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the 6th leading cause of death in the US. And most diabetics develop heart disease. In fact, just having diabetes carries the same risk of having a heart attack as someone who has already had such an event. Therefore it is very important for patients that have diabetes to also have a physician that closely monitors and treats their cholesterol levels as well as their blood pressure. Additionally, any use of tobacco products multiplies the risks and should be stopped.

Are there different kinds of diabetes?

Certainly. But the basic features of the disease are same. In any form of diabetes there is some underlying reason why your body is not able to utilize glucose (sugar) for energy, and that causes the levels of glucose (sugar) in your blood build up above normal. There are three areas that are important for you to understand in diabetes. First, the cells in your body which use the glucose are important as they must be able to remove sugar from the blood and put it inside the cell as a fuel. Secondly, the insulin which is made by your pancreas (an organ near your stomach) is important to allow the sugar to enter the cell (the key to unlock the door to enter), and lastly, glucose which is broken down from your food or from muscle and liver from a storage form of glucose called glycogen. Now if you think of the disease diabetes as involving a locking gas cap on your car, it will be easier to understand.

If you understand how a locking gas cap works, then you can understand how diabetes works. All of the cells in your body have a locking gas cap on them. Insulin is the key to the locking gas cap, and glucose would be the fuel for the car. In one form of diabetes, the body totally quits making insulin (keys) so you can’t get glucose (fuel) into your cells. In other forms of diabetes, your body makes some insulin (keys) but not much as your body needs. Therefore, only a few of the cells can be unlocked and opened to put the glucose (fuel) inside. Another thing that happens is that some of the locks on the cells become rusty and won’t work properly. So even if you have insulin (keys) you can’t get the cells to open. This is called insulin resistance. If the cells won’t open, you can’t get glucose (fuel) inside the cell for energy. The result of all of this is excess glucose in your blood