Make Every Month Diabetes Awareness Month -
How important is it to educate yourself about diabetes? Consider the following information from the American Diabetes Association:
- More than 17 million Americans have diabetes.
- Diabetes is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
- Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about two times
that of people without diabetes.
- Complications resulting from diabetes include stroke, heart disease, high
blood pressure and blindness.
But the good news is that some simple lifestyle changes can help you greatly
reduce your risk of getting diabetes. Or, if you've already been diagnosed with
the disease, you can limit its effects. How can you find out more? It's easy;
visit the
Diabetes Center on the e-baptisthealth.com web site.
For direct links to specific topics, click on any of the following titles:
- Type
1
In type 1 diabetes, known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, the pancreatic
cells produce little or no insulin. Insulin, a hormone, helps the body use
glucose for energy. A person with type 1 needs daily injections of insulin.
- Type
2
In type 2, also known as non insulin-dependent diabetes, the body's cells
become less responsive to insulin. The hormone insulin helps sugar enter the
cells and controls the level of sugar in your blood.
- Gestational
Diabetes is a condition that causes high levels of sugar in the blood. Gestational
diabetes develops or is discovered during pregnancy.
- Diabetes
Glossary
Definitions of words commonly associated with diabetes. Adapted from National
Institutes of Health