What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder which affects 18 million people in the United States, over two million of
whom have its most severe form, childhood diabetes (also known as juvenile, type 1 or insulin-dependent diabetes).
How do Insulin-Dependent and Adult-Onset Diabetes differ?
- Type 1 diabetes appears suddenly, most often in children and young adults, and progresses rapidly. In this form,
the pancreas ceases to manufacture insulin, a hormone necessary to convert the food we eat into energy for the body.
Victims of insulin-dependent diabetes must take one to four daily injections of insulin to stay alive. But insulin is
not a cure.
- In adult-onset (type 2) diabetes, the pancreas can still make insulin and treatment is usually through oral medication
and strict diet.
Is diabetes serious and life-threatening?
- Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death by disease in the United States, killing close to 200,000 people each year.
One in 16 Americans is afflicted.
- The mortality rate of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes increases dramatically after 15 years of disease duration.
- 665,000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed annually.
- Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in people between 20 and 70 years of age.
What are the complications?
Virtually every major organ system in the body can be damaged by diabetes. Complications can include blindness, kidney
failure, heart disease, stroke, amputation of extremities, loss of nerve sensation, early loss of teeth, high-risk
pregnancies and babies born with birth defects.
Is Diabetes costly?
The cost to the healthcare system for the medical treatment of diabetes and its complications is in excess of $100
billion per year.
Diabetes can cause:
- Retinopathy: Nearly 39,000 Americans lose their sight to diabetes each year.
- Nephropathy: One out of three people with insulin-dependent diabetes develops kidney failure and the need for a
kidney transplant.
- Arteriosclerosis: Diabetes can cause arteriosclerosis which leads to heart disease, gangrene and loss of extremities.
People with diabetes are 2-4 times more likely to have heart disease than the general population.
- Neuropathy: Diabetic neuropathy leads to severe pain or loss of sensation in extremities. Intestinal problems may
also occur. Over 54,000 lower extremity amputations are performed each year on people with diabetes.
What are the symptoms of Diabetes?
Insulin-Dependent
- Ononset is usually sudden
- Frequent urination
- Excessive thirst
- Excessive irritability
- Extreme hunger accompanied by loss of weight
- Nausea and vomiting
- Weakness and fatigue
Non-Insulin-Dependent
- May develop slowly
- Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
- Recurring or hard-to-heal skin, gum or bladder infections
- Fatigue
- Blurred vision
- Itching
- Any of the insulin-dependent symptoms
