This document provides an overview of diabetes, including the different types. It explains that diabetes is a metabolic disease where blood glucose levels are too high due to the body either not producing enough insulin or not properly responding to insulin. The four main types of diabetes are prediabetes, type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease where the pancreas produces little to no insulin, type 2 is most common where the body becomes resistant to insulin, and gestational occurs in some pregnant women. Symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and risks of untreated diabetes are also outlined.

1. A Guide to Diabetes

2. What is diabetes?
• When blood glucose (blood
sugar) is too high
• Blood glucose is sugar found
in blood and is main source
of energy
• Glucose is from food, and is
also made in the liver and
muscles
• Blood carries glucose to
cells for energy

3. Insulin
• Insulin helps your blood carry
glucose to the body’s cells
• It is produced in the pancreas
• Sometimes body doesn’t make
enough insulin OR insulin doesn’t
work like it should
• Glucose stays in the blood and
doesn’t reach the cells
• Result is that blood glucose levels
get too high and can cause
diabetes or prediabetes

4. Important notes
• Diabetes is a METABOLIC disease
(how the body uses digested food
for growth and energy)
• Insulin is necessary for glucose to
get into cells
• With diabetes, the pancreas
produces little or no insulin, or the
cells don’t respond properly to the
insulin
• Glucose builds up in blood,
overflows into urine and passes
out of body in urine
• So, body loses main source of fuel,
even though it has glucose!

6. 4 types of diabetes
• Prediabetes
• Type 1
• Type 2
• Gestational

7. Prediabetes
• Prediabetes is when blood glucose
is above normal but not high
enough to be called diabetes
• With prediabetes, your risk of
getting diabetes, heart attack and
stroke increase
• With weight loss and moderate
physical activity, you can delay or
prevent type 2 diabetes, or even
return to normal levels without
medications

8. Type 1 Diabetes
• Autoimmune disease
• Immune system attacks and
destroys the insulin-producing cells
in the pancreas
• So the pancreas produces little or
no insulin
• Must take insulin to live
• If not diagnosed or treated, patient
can go into a diabetic coma and die.

9. Type 2 Diabetes
• Most common type of diabetes
• 90 to 95% have type 2
• Associated with age, obesity, family
history, previous history with gestational,
physical inactivity and ethnicity
• About 80% are overweight or obese
• Pancreas is producing insulin, but body
can’t use insulin (called insulin resistance)
• As a result, insulin production decreases
• Type 2 onset is slow and gradual. You may
experience hunger and thirst, weight loss,
blurred vision and slow healing of wounds.

10. Gestational diabetes
• Developed by some women late in
pregnancy
• About 3 to 8% develop, could be
related to family history and
ethnicity.
• Women who have had this have 40
to 60% chance of developing Type
2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years
• Maintaining reasonable weight and
exercising may help prevent

12. Signs and Symptoms of
diabetes
• Being thirsty
• Urinating often
• Feeling very hungry
• Feeling very tired
• Losing weight without trying
• Sores that heal slowly
• Dry, itchy skin
• Feelings of pins and needles in your feet
• Losing feeling in your feet
• Blurry eyesight
If you aren’t sure, see your doctor. The only
way to tell is to have a blood test.

13. How it is diagnosed
• A fasting blood glucose test is most
reliable
• Done after an 8 hour fast
• The Oral glucose tolerance test
(OGTT) has you drink a beverage
with glucose and measures blood
glucose after 2 hours
• A random blood test can measure
blood glucose at that time.

15. Treatment for Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes
• Healthy eating
• Physical activity
• Insulin
• Measure blood
glucose levels
Type 2 diabetes
• Healthy eating
• Physical activity
• Blood glucose
testing
• Maybe a medication
to control blood
glucose levels

16. Why treat diabetes?
• Diabetes creates an increased risk
of cardiovascular disease (at least
65% of those with diabetes die
from heart disease or stroke)
• It also has multiple side effects for
untreated diabetes for the eyes,
kidneys, nerves, gum and teeth.

17. Symptoms of untreated diabetes
• No symptoms if you are developing heart
disease!
• Vision problems (vision loss, or pain in your
eye)
• No symptoms if you have diabetes related
kidney disease
• Tingling, numbness, burning, shooting or
stabbing pain in feet, hands or other parts of
body.
• Sexual problems, digestive problems, difficulty
controlling bladder, dizziness and fainting,
unable to know when blood sugar is low.