There are actually 4 kinds of type 2 diabetes

People think that there are only two types of diabetes: 1 and 2. But Swedish researchers have found that there are actually four kinds of type 2 diabetes.

The research team showed that type 1 diabetes and a late-onset autoimmune form of diabetes can be put together as one form. But the commonly known type 2 diabetes has four categories, two of which are severe.

This information will help doctors manage patients better. “For the patient, I think it will mean a more individualised therapy [and] a better quality of life,” said Leif Groop, the professor of diabetes and endocrinology, who led the study.
The Swedish team recently published their findings in an article in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology. They said they discovered five sub-groups of diabetes by analysing information from 8,980 adult diabetics in Sweden.

More research is still needed, however, experts caution. “This research takes a promising step toward breaking down type 2 diabetes in more detail,” said Dr. Emily Burns of Diabetes UK. Finding diabetes subtypes could help patients, but more work is needed. “We still need to know more about these subtypes before we can understand what this means for people living with the condition,” she said.

According to the Pakistani National Diabetes Survey 2016-2017, one in four people have diabetes and around 35.3 million Pakistanis have it, with evidence showing a progression of the ailment.

Type 1

People with Type 1 have an autoimmune disorder. Their immune system targets the beta islets cells in the pancreas where the hormone insulin is produced and which helps regulate glucose in our body. A reduction in insulin production prevents glucose from being moved out of the blood stream and into muscle, the heart, brain, and kidney cells for energy. The result? Your blood glucose levels go up. More glucose is circulated around the body. This usually occurs in children but novel scientific evidence shows that it can also occur in adults.

Type 2

Type 2 diabetes is adult-onset (mostly affecting people of the age of 25 years and older). The pancreas produces insulin but the cells are not able to absorb it properly. This also results in high glucose levels in your blood. At first the cells try to over compensate and produce more insulin but after a while the body can’t keep up and is unable to make the proper quantity of insulin.

There are many risk factors linked to the condition, explains Marium Habib, who leads the Diabetes Prevention Program at the Indus Health Network – Global Health Directorate. People can be genetically predisposed to diabetes. They can be overweight and have too much fat around the stomach. Other risk factors are having a sedentary lifestyle with little or no exercise.

In Habib’s experience of managing the program for three years, she says has noticed that people don’t know the facts about diabetes or how to control it. “People choose to follow medical advice from neighbors and friends instead of that of professional doctors,” she says.
As of this year, the Diabetes Prevention Program has screened more than 6,000 diabetic patients and regularly counsels them. But only 3% of people follow up with the program, which leads Habib to stress that in order for someone to manage their diabetes they need to be motivated and have a monitoring support system.

Diabetics depression

People with diabetes are also at an increased risk of anxiety, depression and eating disorders, which often goes ignored.
When you are stressed, your body produces hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline that also affect blood glucose levels. This usually needs immediate care, which is why experts recommend you be routinely checked for depression if you are an adult with diabetes.
Comorbid depression can have dire clinical implications if not treated, as depression can result in reduced treatment adherence, poor self-care, and reduced glycemic control. Depression and diabetes are also associated with a significantly increased all-cause and cardiovascular disease-related mortality. Therefore diabetes management involves a crucial lifestyle change that one should be vigilant about.

Three elements are key to curbing the side effects of the disease: dietary regulation, exercise and prescription. Dr Imtiaz Hassan, the director of the Diabetes Institute Pakistan, a private organisation located across Pakistan with consultants ranging in specialties from endocrinology and psychology, believes that, “Often doctors focus primarily on prescribing medicine and insulin while other facilitating aspects such as diet, exercise and health counseling are overlooked.”

There are some main symptoms that one needs to be cautious of, especially with the presence of risk factors. “Patients can be asymptomatic but may have a combination or isolated events of unexplained weight loss, fatigue, pain or numbness in the feet, body aches, excessive urination, thirst, and thrush in the genital regions.”

Dr Hassan stressed that during pregnancy, women need to be extra careful as they can contract diabetes that can go completely unnoticed. “Often, multiple miscarriages occur that are tended to with other treatments and the underlying problem turns out to be diabetes.”
He said that the South East Asian population is predisposed to having diabetes and there is little to no concept of exercising. “Additionally, our diet is very fast food rich and oil lathered which has resulted in type 2 diabetes incidences slowly seeping into the younger generation as well.”

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/2018/11/there-are-actually-4-kinds-of-type-2-diabetes/