Diabetes mellitus is a disease that is quite rife in Indonesia in recent years. This disease is usually known as blood sugar disease or diabetes. This disease condition cannot be underestimated or even taken for granted. This is because diabetes mellitus is classified as a dangerous chronic disease that needs to be addressed properly. Until now, diabetes is listed as one of the many diseases that are a source of death, especially in those who are elderly.
Diabetes can occur and attack a person when the blood sugar level is so high and cannot be controlled because there is no insulin production in the body or the production of the hormone insulin is constrained. As a result, the daily glucose intake from food that is carried out continuously makes this condition worse. If not treated immediately, this condition can threaten the life and safety of the patient.
Basically diabetes is divided into two parts, namely type 1 where insulin production in the body is not produced by the pancreas at all. Meanwhile, type 2 is a condition in which insulin is still produced in the body, but the amount is very small and not sufficient for what the body needs. Well, this time we will explore more about type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Getting to know Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Type 2 diabetes is a common form of diabetes mellitus. Without proper diagnosis or treatment, this disease can cause serious health problems. As explained above, diabetes is a serious disease where high sugar levels can affect the patient’s health.
If you have type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset or insulin-independent diabetes, this condition makes your body have enough insulin but the body loses its ability to use it properly. This disease is different from type 1 diabetes, where the pancreas does not produce insulin properly. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas actually works normally but somehow the cells in the body can’t use the glucose in the blood for energy. Meanwhile, over time high glucose levels in the blood can endanger your health condition.
It should be noted that about 90-95 percent of patients who suffer from diabetes have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This condition generally occurs due to delays in examinations that make diabetes develop and continue at a serious stage. Disease this generally often occurs in patients with age more than 40 years. However, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes is greater if you were obese as a child.
Why Do I Have Type 2 Diabetes?
Before knowing more about why a sufferer can develop type 2 diabetes, you need to know how glucose metabolism in the body works.
Saliva and chemicals in the stomach convert the food you eat into glucose (a form of sugar), which is the main source of energy for the cells in the body. Your liver also stores some sugar, but its form is glycogen. If the patient does not eat properly or the level of glucose in the blood becomes low, this glycogen will be destroyed and turned into glucose which increases the amount of glucose in the blood.
The bloodstream absorbs sugar and carries it to cells that need it, but cells cannot use this energy without the help of insulin, where in the body, insulin is produced by the pancreas. The pancreas receives a signal that glucose is in your blood and produces more insulin. Meanwhile, by allowing glucose to enter the body’s cells, insulin will reduce the amount of blood sugar and automatically insulin production in the pancreas will also decrease while decreasing.
If cells in the body cannot recognize the hormone insulin, this hormone will not be able to help cells to use glucose and convert it into energy. As a result, this condition will be able to make glucose remain in the blood and over time the amount becomes more and more and accumulates in the area.
Your pancreas will secrete more insulin because there is high glucose in the blood. Meanwhile, their body cells will not be able to use it to absorb glucose properly. This kind of disorder causes symptoms of type 2 diabetes to appear in the body. It’s just that, until now researchers are still looking for a full picture of the causes of type 2 diabetes. However, overweight is said to be a major risk of this disease condition.
Is there a risk of complications from other diseases when I have type 2 diabetes?
Complications of other diseases when someone has or has diabetes are quite frightening. In fact, the possibility of complications can indeed occur in patients with diabetes, both type 1 and type 2. Necrosis is a frightening risk of complications because this condition may make the sufferer experience paralysis.
Without proper care and management of health conditions, the cells in your body will not be able to use glucose in the bloodstream and will die slowly. Necrosis can generally occur in the lower part of the body.
However, apart from necrosis, you may also suffer from other serious and dangerous diseases such as diabetic ketoacidosis. This disease condition occurs due to a buildup of ketones in the blood. The ketones in the darh will be able to harm the blood and turn the blood into acidic where this condition will affect organs including the brain and will be at great risk to sufferers if they do not immediately get a diagnosis and get intense treatment in the hospital.
Serious Complications of Diabetes
In addition to the several types of diseases above, diabetics are also susceptible to complications from other diseases, such as:
Cardiopathy
Diabetes suffered by a person will increase the risk of various other cardiovascular health problems, including coronary artery disease with symptoms of chest pain (angina), heart disease, narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis), the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure which can be quite dangerous. For this reason, consulting a doctor is highly recommended in this condition.
Neuropathy
Excessive levels of glucose in the blood can harm the small blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially in the legs. This condition can cause the sufferer to experience tingling, numbness, burning or a painful feeling that is experienced at the tips of the feet and spreads up to the top.
Blood sugar conditions that are not well controlled can make you feel numb in one leg or even both. Nerve damage affecting the gastrointestinal tract in this condition will probably cause some annoying symptoms to appear such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or even constipation. Meanwhile, for male patients, this problem can be in the form of erectile dysfunction.
Eye Damage
The problem of complications that may occur in other diabetics is that this condition can harm the blood tissue in the retina (diabetes retinopathy). In addition, this problem is quite serious because it can cause the possibility of blindness in sufferers. Diabetes will also be able to increase severe damage to the vision such as cataracts an
d glaucoma.
