Type 2 diabetes is a widespread disease that affects around 8.7 million people in Germany. The tricky thing is that the disease starts gradually.
The first symptoms are often non-specific. Extreme thirst, unwanted weight loss or tiredness can indicate the metabolic disease. What you should pay attention to.
The age of onset for type 2 diabetes is usually after the age of 40, but very overweight children and adolescents are increasingly developing type 2 diabetes. Patients at risk should not wait for symptoms, but should measure their blood sugar levels regularly. The diabetes risk group includes close relatives of diabetics, as well as people who are overweight, have high blood pressure and have lipid metabolism problems.
Women who have ever had gestational diabetes are also at risk. However, experts believe that type 2 diabetes mellitus is caused by the combination of several factors and not by one factor alone.
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Typical signs of type 2 diabetes include:
- Tiredness and exhaustion
- frequent and strong thirst
- increased urge to urinate
- weight loss
- itchy, brittle skin and poorly healing wounds
- Cravings
- Vision problems
- Circulatory problems in the legs
- Inflammation of the gums
Diabetes mellitus type 2 is considered a disease of civilization. Contrary to popular belief, high sugar consumption is not the cause of the disease. Rather, various factors lead to the sugar balance being derailed.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. On the one hand, it arises from a reduced sensitivity of the body’s cells to insulin (insulin resistance), and on the other hand, years of overproduction of insulin lead to “exhaustion” of the insulin-producing cells. The pancreas cannot supply enough insulin to meet the increased demand – the sugar concentration in the blood is increased and the cells can still experience a lack of energy.
When diagnosing type 2 diabetes, the doctor first takes a thorough medical history, discussing risk factors and symptoms. In order to make a reliable diagnosis, various test procedures are available:
- Determination of casual glucose: The measurement can be taken at any time of the day, you don’t have to be fasting.
- Determination of fasting blood sugar: The patient should not have eaten anything eight hours beforehand.
- oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT): The patient should have been fasting for ten hours and have previously eaten a high-carbohydrate diet for at least three days. Smoking is not allowed before or during the test.
- Determination of HbA1c (long-term blood sugar): HbA1c (glycohemoglobin) is the pigment of red blood cells (hemoglobin) that is linked to sugar residues. The value shows how high the concentration of blood sugar was in the last six to eight weeks. If the HbA1c is greater than or equal to 6.5 percent (48 mmol/mol), one speaks of manifest diabetes mellitus. A value less than 6.5 percent does not rule out the presence of diabetes. Further diagnostics using fasting glucose or OGTT are required.
Values ​​from 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) in a fasting state or from 140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l) around two hours after a meal are considered elevated. Those affected should then have themselves examined more closely.
Treatment: lifestyle changes, tablets and injections
There are several therapy modules available for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Treatment usually follows a step-by-step plan. The first step is regular exercise, an adjusted diet and weight loss if necessary. These measures improve the sensitivity of the body’s cells to insulin and reduce the need for insulin.
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If the lifestyle change is not successful, various medications are available, which can be taken, for example, as tablets (oral diabetics). If the measures from stage two are not sufficient, two medications are combined with each other (dual combination); therapy with insulin is also possible. If the blood sugar levels are still not within the normal range, intensified insulin therapy takes place in stage four, which can also be combined with tablets if necessary.
If blood sugar levels are incorrect in diabetics, this can have serious health consequences. If the values ​​are permanently too high, blood vessels, nerves and organs are damaged. Common comorbidities with diabetes are:
- Vascular and nerve damage (polyneuropathy)
- diabetic foot as a result of vascular damage
- coronary heart disease, associated with increased risk of heart attack
- Diseases of the retina (diabetic retinopathy)
- diabetic kidney disease (risk of dialysis)
- arterial occlusive diseases of the leg arteries
- Skin infections and poor wound healing
- Erectile dysfunction in men
- Depression
Regular check-ups with a doctor help diabetics reduce the risk of complications. The doctor can detect and treat existing illnesses at an early stage.
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Those affected should change their lifestyle. In addition to sufficient exercise, four other factors can reduce the risk of diabetes. These are a healthy diet, normal weight, not smoking and only moderate alcohol consumption. According to US researchers, the risk of diabetes can be reduced by 80 percent if these five factors are taken into account.
