There are three main types of diabetes that people are thinking of when they ask, "What is diabetes?" These types of diabetes are the most common forms found in the United States and affect a majority of individuals at some time in their life.

In the United States, about 5-10% of children and young adults are found to have Type 1 diabetes yearly. It is the result of an auto-immune disease. When the immune system attacks the beta cells that produce insulin in the pancreas and kills them, the pancreas can not produce insulin. This results in no insulin being produced for the body.

Most cases of Type 1 diabetes have a sudden onset of symptoms which include extreme thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, weight loss, blurred vision, and/or extreme fatigue. When there is no medical treatment for this condition it can result in diabetic ketoacidosis, or diabetic coma. This is a serious and life-threatening condition when it is not treated.

Type 2 diabetes occurs in over 95% of adults over 35 in the US according to the Natl. Inst. Of Health. Eighty percent of the people who have Type 2 diabetes are overweight. A person with Type 2 diabetes does not get the insulin they need because their cells become resistant to it.

The causes for this type of diabetes include some ethnicity's, age, genetics, lack of exercise, high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol. An individual that does not have a proper diet and exercise are susceptible to type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that unhealthy eating habits are the greatest cause for Type 2 diabetes.

When an individual develops Type 2 diabetes the symptoms will occur gradually over a long period of time. They will have fatigue, increased thirty, hunger, slow healing of wounds and sores, blurred vision, and frequent urination.

Most of the time if a person changes their lifestyle, loses weight, and begins to exercise, they will be able to resolve their Type 2 diabetes. In some cases people must continue medication for the diabetes, but this rarely occurs.

Women in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy can get gestational diabetes. This diabetes occurs in 3-8% of pregnant women and is resolved when they have the baby. Many women who develop this diabetes during pregnancy are instructed on the proper exercise and diet to keep the diabetes in control when they are pregnant.

Women who have had gestational diabetes have about a 40% risk of developing Type 2 diabetes when they are older. Therefore, it is important that they maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout their lives. When a woman has gestation diabetes with a pregnancy, she will normally develop the diabetes with following pregnancies.

Extras: Can you die from diabetes?