Diabetes
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a long-term health condition where your blood glucose (sugar) level is too high. This happens when your body can’t produce enough or any insulin or produces insulin that isn’t effective.
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that processes sugar into energy for your body. If your pancreas doesn’t work the way it should, your body can’t control its blood sugar level.
There are two main types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes is when your pancreas can’t produce any insulin. It’s the most common form of diabetes found in children, but it can be diagnosed in adults as well.
- Type 2 diabetes is when your pancreas can’t produce enough insulin or the insulin it produces isn’t effective. It’s more commonly diagnosed in adults.
In This Article:
What Causes Diabetes?
It’s not clear what causes type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes. But having a family history, being overweight and inactive are all risk factors for type 2.1
Type 2 diabetes is also often more common in people of certain races or ethnicities, including Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian people, as well as Pacific Islanders. The reason for this is also not known.
Diagnosing Diabetes
Common symptoms of diabetes include excessive thirst, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, urinating more often than usual, and blurred vision. The only way to diagnose diabetes is with a blood sugar test done at a healthcare provider’s office as part of a regular physical exam.
There are three types of blood glucose tests:
- A fasting blood glucose test, in which you don’t eat or drink anything other than water for at least 8 hours before the test. This lets your provider determine your baseline blood sugar
- A random blood glucose test which lets you take your blood sugar level at any time
- An A1c test measures your average blood sugar level over the past two to three months
Treating Diabetes
There is no cure for diabetes, but it can be managed with medication, including insulin, and lifestyle changes like eating right and exercising.
How Diabetes Affects COPD
People living with COPD have a higher risk of developing type 1 and type 2 diabetes, in part because some of the risk factors for both conditions are similar, like smoking and aging.
COPD can make managing type 2 diabetes more difficult. One reason for this is that some of the signs of low blood sugar and low blood oxygen are similar, like dizziness, irritability or confusion, shaking, and a rapid heartbeat—so it can sometimes be challenging to know what to do.
You may experience these symptoms particularly after exercise. While exercise is important for managing both COPD and type 2 diabetes, exercise can lower blood sugar in some people, which can bring on the symptoms mentioned above. Speak to your healthcare provider to see if you are at risk for low blood sugar with exercise.
You can also speak to an endocrinologist or diabetes education specialist about any questions you have about diabetes.
What You Can Do Today
- Talk to your doctor about how to quit smoking
- Speak to your healthcare provider about any symptoms you are concerned about
- Take medications as prescribed
- Keep a close eye on your blood sugar
- Practice healthy lifestyle habits
- Have a small snack before you exercise so you don’t exercise on an empty stomach
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