How does diabetes appear in your body if you are healthy?
In: Biology
Type 1 diabetes is thought to be genetic and/or triggered by an immune system response to a virus that keeps going and attacks insulin producing cells in the pancreas. So unlucky genetic lottery or an unlucky exposure to something coupled with an over-reactive immune system. Neither of these seems connected to whether a person is “healthy” at the outset,
Type 2 diabetes results from a gradual decrease in insulin sensitivity, until a threshold is passed and the body can’t regulate insulin production properly. This typically doesn’t happen all at once, and many diabetics aren’t symptomatic at first, but they’re certainly not healthy – they just feel good and are unaware of their morbidity. Damage, often irreversible, is happening even though they’re not aware of it. Attention to diet and exercise and regular checkups tends to delay the onset of diabetes in those predisposed to it, and can keep it at bay for a lifetime. But to directly answer your question, feeling good does not necessarily equate to being healthy, especially with conditions like Type 2 diabetes or heart disease that reveal themselves after years of damage.
Being “healthy” reduces the chances of you getting a disease, it doesn’t eliminate it.
Diabetes has 2 forms, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, where your body wrongly identifies your insulin-producing cells as foreign and attacks them. The exact trigger is unknown, and it can happen to anybody.
The treatment for Type 1 is insulin injections. Overdose/underdose of insulin can be lethal, so strict insulin control is necessary.
Type 2 is due to a resistance to insulin. If your cells are constantly exposed to high levels of insulin (such as with sugary diet), they get “desensitized” and need more and more insulin before they reach the same level.
The treatment for Type 2 diabetes is diet/exercise, or medicines to improve insulin responsiveness.
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