Type 2? What Do You Mean?
Even when I was told I had type 2 diabetes, I didn't know what it meant. I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I was pre-diabetic. I'm sure that many people, like me, don't know what pre-diabetes means, or what type 1 or type 2 diabetes means. If we understand the stages of diabetes, it will all make sense.
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, long-term slow growing condition. It takes a long time to develop. The first stage is pre-diabetes, in which the fasting (base) blood sugar level is elevated. The fasting blood sugar numbers are between 100 and 120. At this stage, usually, the after meals blood sugar is not affected. The blood sugar gets a spike and within one to two hours it comes down to normal level.
If not treated well, it can progress to after-meal spikes that stays up for a long time and needs the assistance of medication to bring the numbers down. This adds to complications and a chance for recovery or reversal.
Once it progresses past this stage, the condition becomes diabetes, stage 2. This is type 2. Medication becomes necessary to keep the sugar level in the bloodstream down. Sometimes, when type 2 diabetes is not well-managed, it can turn into a condition that resembles type 1 diabetes. This becomes an autoimmune disease where the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin. Taking medication becomes mandatory at this stage. Otherwise, type 1 is mostly a genetic condition that is not dependent on diet or lifestyle.
What Kind of a Problem Is Type 2 Diabetes?
Type 2 diabetes is not a sugar or carb issue; it is a liver issue. The liver has lost its ability to absorb and distribute all the sugars produced during digestion.
The liver breaks down our food into the smallest form that our body can use, which is sugar (or energy, in other words). Imagine the liver is like a sponge that absorbs liquids and then releases them to other parts of our body via blood circulation. All the sugars (glucose, fructose, maltose, etc.) should be processed by our liver. The waste moves on to the intestine for further absorption. All the sugar in our bloodstream should go to all other parts of our body. In normal conditions, blood does not hold any sugar. If there's a lot of sugar in our system, the blood brings it back to the liver and asks the liver to take care of it. The liver holds the sugar and asks the pancreas to release more insulin to help distribute the excess sugar.
This is very normal if it happens once or twice, or a few times. But we take this system for granted. In reality, we don't know anything about this process and keep eating, keeping our poor liver overloaded for many years. Then, one day, the liver is full of excess sugar and sends the sugar to other parts of the body, placing it inside our muscles, cavities, and organs. We gain weight and still have no clue what's happening.
As a result, the cells are blocked, and insulin, which is the carrier hormone that helps open the cell walls for the sugar to enter, cannot do its job. It cannot open the cell wall. This is what is called insulin resistance. All of type 2 diabetes is dealing with the issue of insulin resistance.
What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?
Indulgence! Diabetes is a problem of liver overload. We eat too many varieties of food without regard to timing. We never connect the two together, either due to ignorance or our busy lifestyle.
Our liver doesn't find any rest time to heal itself. Not only that, but by eating a variety of sugars, we make the liver work overtime. The liver is the most forgiving organ of the body and can regenerate itself if given the chance. The liver works hard for as long as it can, but when it can't, this is the first form of liver disease that develops.
What Happens If Not Treated Well?
This extra fat and sugar in the body block all the other channels of the body, and all sorts of diseases are created: high blood pressure, heart problems, hemorrhage, stroke, growths, infections, low appetite, indigestion, constipation, lethargy, weakness, excessive thirst, skin problems, nerve damage to eyes and feet, swelling, blurry vision, seizures, mental fog, and insomnia. It can progress to organ failure.
This is the second stage of the disease that can last for a lifetime if not treated, and it can destroy one organ after another. Most patients know how damaging diabetes is, but don't know that there's hope and that they don't need to just manage diabetes, but can make a decision to reverse it. In most cases, it is a reversible disease.
Q: How much do you know about type 2 diabetes?
