Type 2 Diabetes in Elderly
Majority of people that often develop Type 2 diabetes are middle-aged, and older adults, and in some cases children, teens, and young adults (NIH - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2014). It once was known as noninsulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes (Mayo Clinic staff, 20014). It is a lot more common than type 1 diabetes, in which about 90% of people who have diabetes have Type 2 diabetes (NIH - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2014). There is no cure for Type 2 diabetes, but by eating well, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight people can manage the condition, but in some cases that is not enough and people may need diabetes medications
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People with type 2 may not always notice it at first. If it does not get treated their blood sugar level could stay permanently high. And if they continue to stay high they could cause someone to feel very thirsty, frequent urination, tiredness, listlessness, nausea, dizziness and when someone has extremely high blood sugar levels, they may feel confused and drowsy and could even lose consciousness (diabetic coma) (NIH - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2014). Also they could have an increase of hunger, weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision, slow-healing sores or frequent infections and areas of darkened skin (Mayo Clinic staff, 2014). One of the ways our body gets energy is by converting food into sugar. To be able to do this we need to have insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by liver. When we eat, the sugar levels in our blood rise and insulin is released into the blood stream. It then makes the cells in the live and in the muscle tissue to absorb the sugar from the blood. But, with people with Type 2 diabetes their pancreas does produce enough insulins , though the insulin doesn’t have the same effect on the body’s tissue and cells like it used to, this is called