Type 2 Diabetes
What it is
First of all, let’s define diabetes.
- When you have a meal or a snack, some of the foods you eat – called carbohydrates – break down into sugar and go into your bloodstream.
- Think of your bloodstream as your highway system, and the blood sugar needs to travel where it is needed – your muscles, all of your organs, everywhere it can be used for energy.
- However, the sugar needs to be transported, or carried, and what carries it to its many destinations is insulin. So think of insulin as your UPS, FedEx or Post Office carrier. It is made by the pancreas, which sits right by the stomach.
- When things are normal, the pancreas makes the right amount of insulin all of the time, and blood sugar levels stay in the normal range.
- However, without insulin, the sugar just sits in the bloodstream, and the level of sugar goes higher and higher. This is what type 1 diabetes is all about.
- But let’s get back to type 2 diabetes. It may be caused by too little insulin, but more often it is due to what is called insulin resistance – which is your body not using the insulin that your pancreas produces. The FedEx/UPS/Post Office folks are trying to do their work, but your body is fighting them. High blood sugar is the result and, over time, a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for 90 – 95 percent of all cases. It used to be called adult-onset diabetes, but, unfortunately, both children and adults develop this kind of diabetes. Many people think of it as the kind of diabetes that does not require insulin. However, about half of people with type 2 diabetes will eventually need insulin. This is because the pancreas produces less and less insulin over time, so it must be injected to meet the body’s needs.
