Type 2 Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus Type 2)
Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 is commonly known as Type 2 Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, also known as type 2 diabetes, is a globally common metabolic disorder affecting over 2 million people in the UK alone.
Once called adult-onset diabetes (and also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus - NIDDM), type 2 diabetes is now also found in young adults and children.
How does type 2 diabetes occur?
Type 2 diabetes occurs when insulin is not used effectively by the body resulting in:
In advanced stages, type 2 diabetes mellitus may lead to damage to insulin producing cells leading to insulin deficiency.
How serious is type 2 diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes is a serious health condition.
Following pre-diabetes or metabolic disorder, type 2 diabetes can potentially be avoided through diet and exercise.
Such a diagnosis can be viewed as a useful, if urgent, wake up call.
If resistance to insulin increases, people with type 2 diabetes may need to take oral anti-diabetic medications, or take insulin to keep their blood sugar levels stable.
Type 2 diabetes has become one of the biggest long term health conditions in the UK and the world. Over 2 million people in the UK have type 2 diabetes.
The symptoms of type 2 can come on very slowly and often the signs can be dismissed as simply getting old. The sooner diabetes can be diagnosed the better as damage can sometimes be done to the body by diabetes before it is diagnosed.
With type 2 diabetes being so common we can all do with knowing the risk factors and symptoms.
The common risk factors are body size: being overweight and particularly if you’re carrying extra weight round your middle.
Age: people’s risk of type 2 diabetes goes up with age. Having a close family member such as a parent or sibling with type 2 diabetes.
Ethnicity: people with an Asian, Middle Eastern or African-Caribbean background have a higher risk. High blood pressure is also closely associated with type 2 diabetes
Remember symptoms can come on very gradually. Don’t be tempted to think that if you’ve had these symptoms for a long time that they must be normal.
Type 2 diabetes may either be diagnosed by a urine test or a blood test.
If these methods are not clear cut, you may be asked to take an oral glucose tolerance test.
There are a wide range of treatment options to control type 2 diabetes. Some people may be able to control diabetes through lifestyle changes alone. Some people may be put onto tablets. Others may go onto injections, such as insulin
When you’re diagnosed with diabetes you will most likely need to make some changes to your lifestyle. Cut down on smoking and drinking. Take more physical activity - preferably each day. Eat a healthy, balanced diet - which you may find needs to be lower in carbohydrate than you might be used to.
Type 2 diabetes treatment
Treatment typically includes diet modification and control, regular and appropriate exercise, home blood glucose testing and in some cases, oral medication and/or insulin injections.
Recently a number of new and effective treatments have become available, such as Byetta, Victoza and Bydureon.
Maintaining good control of blood glucose levels is vital in reducing the risk of diabetic complications. If you are overweight, weight loss can often help to improve the extent of diabetes symptoms.
Is there an age where I'm more at risk of type 2?
Type 2 diabetes used to primarily be seen in middle-aged adults, and be in contrast to type 1 diabetes which is usually diagnosed at a much earlier stage.
However, in recent years much younger people have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is becoming more common amongst adolescents and children.
This increase has been connected to climbing levels of obesity.
Type 2 diabetes risk factors
A number of factors can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which include:
- Being overweight
- Having a close family member with type 2 diabetes
- Having high blood pressure
- Having high cholesterol
The risk of developing type 2 diabetes also increases with age.
Type 2 diabetes and complications
Like type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes carries the risk of diabetes complications over a long period of time.
The most common complications include heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, retinopathy and nerve damage, which can lead to a risk of amputation.
The list of complications is not pleasant but their risks can be reduced through good diabetes control and attending all diabetic screening appointments.
Like many chronic diseases, the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes at an early stage is beneficial to treatment.
Before type 2 diabetes develops, most patients exhibit pre-diabetic symptoms, and if treatment commences at this stage, diabetes of this type can be preventable.
In terms of short term complications of diabetes, ketoacidosis is rare amongst type 2 diabetics.
However, non-ketonic hyperglycemia is one threat type 2 diabetics should be aware of.
Facts about type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is estimated to affect over 2.5 million people in the UK.
Did you know:
- Famous people with type 2 diabetes include blues musician BB King, comedian, acclaimed director George Lucas and British comedian Jimmy Tarbuck
The likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes is influenced by genetics and environment:
- If either parent has type 2 diabetes, the risk of inheritance of type 2 diabetes is 15% [1]
- If both parents have type 2 diabetes, the risk of inheritance is 75% [1]
- Almost 1 in 3 people with type 2 diabetes develops overt kidney disease [1]
- Within 20 years of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, 60% of people diagnosed have some degree of retinopathy [5]
