Diabetes India - understanding Type 2 diabetes

What is happening in type 2 diabetes?
The following is another way of understanding Type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes can be strongly triggered by a person's lifestyle, weight, exercise level on a strong genetic background

How are the "Classical" signs and symptoms of diabetes caused? This excess of blood glucose is the direct cause of the classic diabetes symptoms.

The high blood glucose in diabetes produces glucose in the urine and frequent urination through effects on the kidneys
Now, let's see how the lack of insulin as seen in Type 1 diabetes and the insulin resistance of type 2 DM affect your body to produce the typical signs and symptoms associated with diabetes.

The lack of insulin or insulin resistance directly causes high blood glucose levels both after a meal and also during times of "fasting". Right after a meal, there is no insulin to act as the key to allow the glucose to enter the cells, as we have seen above and this leads to raised blood glucose values.

Because your cells have no glucose coming into them from your blood, your body "thinks" that it is starving. Your pancreatic alpha cells secrete glucagon, and glucagon levels in your blood rise. Glucagon acts on your liver and muscles to breakdown stored glycogen and release glucose into the blood. Glucagon also act on your liver to produce and release glucose by gluconeogenesis. Both of these actions of glucagon further raise your blood-glucose levels.

High blood glucose causes glucose to appear in your urine. High blood-glucose levels increase the amount of glucose filtered by your kidneys. The amount of glucose filtered exceeds the amount that your kidneys can reabsorb. The increased urine flow causes you to urinate frequently.

Now, let's see how the lack of insulin as seen in Type 1 diabetes and the insulin resistance of type 2 DM affect your body to produce the typical signs and symptoms associated with diabetes. The lack of insulin or insulin resistance directly causes high blood glucose levels both after a meal and also during times of "fasting". Right after a meal, there is no insulin to act as the key to allow the glucose to enter the cells, as we have seen above and this leads to raised blood glucose values.

The excess glucose gets lost into the urine and can be detected by glucose test strips.

The lack of insulin or insulin resistance acts on many organs to produce a variety of effects

The high blood glucose and increased urine flow make you very thirsty. High blood-glucose levels increase the osmotic pressure of your blood and directly stimulate the thirst receptors in your brain. Your increased urine flow causes you to lose body sodium, which also stimulates your thirst receptors.

You are constantly hungry. It's not clear exactly what stimulates your hunger centers, possibly the lack of insulin or high glucagon levels.

You lose weight despite the fact that you are eating more frequently. Since the cells are not receiving fuel, they trigger the hunger sensation. Because the cells are unable to use the glucose, they pull fuel from other sources-fat stores and muscle-and the diabetic person begins to lose weight. Of course, the weight loss is usually seen in people who have a very high blood glucose levels and/or very little insulin in their bodies.

You feel tired because your cells cannot absorb glucose, leaving them with nothing to burn for energy.
The ketones in the blood and urine seen above are usually associated with Type 1 diabetes but can occur in people with Type 2 diabetes also.