Diabetes Mellitus: Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment

Diabetes mellitus is a condition where the sugar content in the blood exceeds normal and tends to be high. Diabetes is a metabolic disease that can attack anyone.

What Is Diabetes Mellitus?

Diabetes mellitus (DM) or diabetes is a chronic condition that lasts a lifetime that affects the body's ability to use energy from food that has been digested. There are two main types of this disease: Type 1 diabetes mellitus and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

As many as 350 million people worldwide suffer from this diabetes. About 3-4 million people die due to high blood sugar levels in 2004. More than 80 percent of deaths from diabetes occur in countries with middle and low income levels. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the number of deaths from DM will double over the period 2005 - 2030.

Causes of Diabetes Mellitus

In principle, the cause of diabetes mellitus is the disruption of the body's ability to use glucose into cells. The normal body is able to break down the sugars and carbohydrates you eat into special sugars called glucose. Glucose is the fuel for cells in the body. To enter glucose into cells, insulin is needed. In people with diabetes, the body does not have insulin (Type 1 DM) or there is insufficient insulin (Type 2 DM).

Because cells cannot take glucose, this will accumulate in the bloodstream. High levels of glucose in the blood can damage small blood vessels in the kidneys, heart, eyes, and nervous system. Therefore, untreated diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve damage in the legs.

Signs and Characteristics of Diabetes

Both types of diabetes have some of the same symptoms and signs. In general, the symptoms of diabetes mellitus are:

Hunger and fatigue

The first characteristic is related to the mechanism of the digestive system. The body converts food into glucose which is used to produce energy. When insulin is not optimal anymore or does not exist, the body will feel easily tired and hungry quickly.

More often pee and easily thirsty

The average person usually urinates between 4-7 times in 24 hours, but people with this disease may become more frequent. Why? Usually the kidneys will absorb glucose followed by water absorption. But in diabetics, blood sugar levels have increased so that the body cannot absorb glucose again. Finally, more water passes through the kidneys.

Dry mouth and itchy skin

The more frequent urination causes a lack of water in other body parts. You can become dehydrated and your mouth feels dry. Dry skin can make you itchy.

Blurred vision

Changes in the level of fluid in the body can make the lens in the eye swell so that the lens of the eye changes shape and loses the ability to focus.

In certain conditions, there are symptoms of diabetes that tend to appear after glucose has been high for a long time.

Fungal infections

Both men and women with diabetes can get this. Mushrooms like glucose, so people with diabetes make mushrooms easy to develop. Infection can grow in areas of warm and moist skin such as skin folds which are between the fingers and toes, under the breasts, around the intimate organs

Healing of wounds is slow

Over time, high blood sugar can affect blood flow and cause nerve damage that makes it difficult for your body to heal wounds.

Pain or numbness in the legs

Other characteristics of diabetes are also characterized by the appearance of pain or even numbness in the area of the foot. This can happen several times and if you experience it, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Weight loss

If the body can't get energy from you, the cell will start burning muscle and fat to get other energy sources instead. Patients will lose weight even if they do not exercise or reduce eating.

Nausea and vomiting

When the body burns other energy sources other than glucossa, the combustion results in the form of "ketones." Blood can fall under acidic pH conditions, a potentially life-threatening condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. Ketones can cause abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.

Diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is a disease that can often be detected by conducting a urine test, to find out if there is excess glucose. This is usually supported by a blood test, which measures glucose levels in the blood and can determine whether the cause of your symptoms is diabetes.

If you are worried that you might have some of the symptoms above, you are advised to talk to a qualified doctor or health professional.

How to treat diabetes mellitus

Diabetes treatment can be done based on the type of DM that you suffer from. Here is the explanation.

1. Diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is also called insulin-dependent diabetes. It used to be called child-onset diabetes, because it often starts in childhood. But over time, many studies have shown that this type can also appear in adults.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune condition. This is because the pancreas is attacked with antibodies to the patient's own body. In this type of patient, the damaged pancreas does not make insulin. This type of diabetes can be caused by genetic predispositions.

Medical risks associated with type 1 diabetes

Many of them come from damage to small blood vessels in your eyes (called diabetic retinopathy), nerves (diabetic neuropathy), and kidneys (diabetic nephropathy). Even a more serious risk is the increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus is by administering insulin, by injecting it through the skin into fat tissue (usually in the abdominal fat tissue).

2. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

So far, the most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes mellitus. 95 percent of cases are found in adults. Type 2 was once called adult onset diabetes, but with the epidemic of many cases of obesity in children, many new adolescents also experience this type. Type 2 diabetes is also called non-insulin dependent diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is usually lighter than type 1 because the pancreas is actually able to produce insulin, but because of the lifestyle and food that is not maintained, the pancreas experiences "fatigue". The pancreas is able to produce a certain amount of insulin. But the amount produced is not enough for the body's needs or other body cells to be "immune" to insulin so that it becomes insulin-resistant cells. Insulin resistance, or lack of sensitivity to insulin, mostly occurs in fat cells, the liver, and muscle cells.

Just like type 1, type 2 can cause health complications, especially in the smallest blood vessels in the body such as the kidneys, nerves and eyes. Type 2 diabetes also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

People who are obese, with a body weight of more than 20 percent of their ideal body weight, are at very high risk of developing this type. Fat people tend to have insulin resistance. With insulin resistance, the pancreas must work too hard to produce more insulin. But even so, there is not enough insulin to maintain normal sugar.

There is no cure for this disease. At first, type 2 diabetes can be controlled with weight management, nutrition, and exercise. Usually, this type develops more rapidly in the end, so antidiabetic drugs are often needed.

The A1C test is a blood test that estimates the average glucose level in your blood for the previous three months. Periodic A1C testing may be recommended to see how well diet, exercise, and drugs work to control blood sugar and the results are seen to prevent organ damage. The A1C test is usually done several times a year.

Contact your doctor if you feel this:

Feeling a very painful, weak, and very thirsty stomachache

Frequent urination and lots

Breathing deeper and faster than usual (breath Kusmaull, one of the signs of emergency in diabetes)

Has sweet smelling breath like nail polish. (This is a sign of very high ketone levels).

Diabetes Insipidus

In addition, you may have heard of diabetes insipidus. Diabetes insipidus is not a permanent health condition like diabetes mellitus.

People with diabetes insipidus get this disease because of an antidiuretic hormone disorder. Antidiuretic hormone functions to regulate the amount of fluid in a person's body. If there is an antidiuretic hormone disorder, then someone will urinate too often. People with diabetes insipidus will also continue to feel thirsty. As a result, he will drink too often and then urinate or urinate very much in a day.

Basically, diabetes insipidus disease can be treated by consuming more water to reduce the possibility of dehydration. If the condition is too severe and people with diabetes insipidus urinate too often, the doctor may recommend taking the drug desmopressin to support the work of antidiuretic hormones in the body.

Diabetes Mellitus: Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment