Type 2 Diabetes
With Type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels… learn more
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
With Type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. About 90-95% of people with diabetes have Type 2. It develops over many years and is usually diagnosed in adults (but more and more in children, teens, and young adults). You may not notice any symptoms, so it’s important to get your blood sugar tested if you’re at risk. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, eating healthy food, and being active.
What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for use as energy. If you have Type 2 diabetes, cells don’t respond normally to insulin; this is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can’t keep up, and your blood sugar rises, setting the stage for prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
Signs and Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes
In Type 2 diabetes, your body isn’t able to effectively use insulin to bring glucose into your cells. This causes your body to rely on alternative energy sources in your tissues, muscles, and organs. This is a chain reaction that can cause a variety of symptoms.
Type 2 diabetes can develop slowly. The symptoms may be mild and easy to dismiss at first. The early symptoms may include:
- constant hunger
- a lack of energy
- fatigue
- excessive thirst
- frequent urination
- blurry vision
- pain, tingling, or numbness in your hands or feet
As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more severe and can cause some potentially dangerous complications.
If your blood glucose levels have been high for a long time, the complications can include:
- eye problems (diabetic retinopathy)
- feelings of numbness in your extremities, or neuropathy
- kidney disease (nephropathy)
- gum disease
- heart attack or stroke
Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes can be managed, and in some cases, reversed. Most treatment plans will include checking your blood glucose levels, and your doctor will tell you how often you should do it. The goal is to stay within a specific range.
Additional lifestyle changes your doctor will most likely advise to help treat your type 2 diabetes include:
- eating foods rich in fiber and healthy carbohydrates — eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can help keep your blood glucose levels steady
- eating at regular intervals
- learning to listen to your body and learn to stop eating when you’re full
- manage your weight and keep your heart healthy, which typically means keeping refined carbohydrates, sweets, and animal fats to a minimum
- get about half an hour of physical activity daily to help keep your heart healthy — exercise can help to control blood glucose, too.
Additionally, working with a dietician can help you learn which foods can help you manage your blood sugar — and which ones might cause it to become unbalanced.
Not everyone with Type 2 diabetes needs to use insulin. If you do, it’s because your pancreas isn’t making enough insulin on its own, and it’s crucial that you take insulin as directed. There are other prescription medications that may help as well.
