Diabetes is a dangerous chronic disease that can lead to many complications that seriously affect your health. Many people are concerned about how many levels of diabetes there are to know whether their condition is severe or mild.
What is diabetes?
Before we learn how many levels there are in diabetes, we need to know more about this disease.
Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how the body uses blood sugar, causing blood sugar levels to become too high. When you have diabetes, your body does not produce enough insulin or cannot use insulin as effectively as usual.
Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps glucose in the blood enter cells to be converted into energy. When there isn’t enough insulin or the body doesn’t use insulin effectively, sugar that can’t get into cells will accumulate too much in the blood, leading to serious health problems.
The 3 main types of diabetes include:
- Type 1 diabetes : This is an autoimmune disease that occurs because the immune system mistakenly attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The result is that the pancreas produces no or very little insulin.
- Type 2 diabetes : The disease occurs when the body does not effectively use insulin even though pancreatic cells still produce insulin normally (insulin resistance), leading to high blood sugar levels.
- Gestational diabetes : Gestational diabetes develops in pregnant women who have never had diabetes before, also occurring due to insulin resistance. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after giving birth but increases the risk of type 2 diabetes in the future, and the baby is at higher risk than other children for health problems such as: being obese as a child or teenager, having type 2 diabetes in the future.
How many levels of diabetes are there?
In medicine, diabetes has no levels. But according to the understanding of most patients, the severity of diabetes is determined by:
- What is the blood sugar index, can it be controlled easily or not?
- Have there been complications, one or more complications, what are those complications?
- Are there any other comorbidities?
The concept of type 2 diabetes has several levels based on the blood sugar index
Before progressing to type 2 diabetes, the patient will experience prediabetes. This is when blood sugar increases but it is not chronic and can be treated. To determine whether a person has prediabetes or diabetes, they will rely on the following blood sugar index:
1. HbA1C test : measures average blood sugar levels over the past 2 or 3 months. Specific results are as follows:
- Normal: A1C index below 5.7%
- Prediabetes : A1C index from 5.7 to 6.4%
- Type 2 diabetes: A1C index of 6.5% or higher.
2. Fasting blood sugar test: This test helps measure blood sugar levels after an overnight fast. The following results:
- Normal: 70 to 99 mg/dL (3.9 to 5.5 mmol/L)
- Prediabetes: 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L)
- Type 2 diabetes: 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L) or higher on 2 separate tests.
3. Glucose tolerance test: This test measures blood sugar before and after you drink 1 cup of water with about 75g of glucose dissolved. You will fast overnight before the test and have your blood drawn to determine your fasting blood sugar level. Then, you will drink a glass of water with dissolved glucose and recheck your blood sugar after 1 hour and after 2 hours. The results are as follows:
- Normal: Index below 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L)
- Prediabetes: Index from 140 to 199 mg/dL (7.8 to 11.0 mmol/L)
- Type 2 diabetes: Index of 200 mg/dL (11.1 mmol/L) or higher.
As for type 1 diabetes, it often starts suddenly and is severe from the beginning, so no one worries about how many levels there are in type 1 diabetes.
There are several levels of diabetes based on complications
Instead of worrying about how many levels of diabetes there are, you should rather be concerned about the complications of diabetes. The more complications, the more severe the complications, the higher the risk.
With type 1 diabetes, acute complications often occur when blood sugar increases suddenly and very high. These include diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolality. These are all complications that can be life-threatening. Therefore, in addition to using insulin as directed, patients must closely monitor blood sugar levels along with other unusual signs of the body.
Long-term complications often develop in type 2 diabetes. The longer you have diabetes and the less well-controlled your blood sugar is , the sooner complications arise. Ultimately, complications of diabetes can be disabling or even life-threatening.
Possible chronic complications include:
- Heart-related diseaes. High blood sugar levels over a period of time can damage blood vessels, increasing the risk of cardiovascular problems, such as coronary artery disease, angina, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart failure. , narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and stroke.
- Nerve damage caused by diabetes (diabetic neuropathy). High blood sugar can damage the walls of small blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that often starts at the tip of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward. Damage to nerves related to digestion can cause problems such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation.
- Diabetic kidney disease. The kidneys contain millions of clusters of tiny blood vessels (glomeruli) responsible for filtering waste from the blood. Diabetes can cause damage to the glomerulus, making it more difficult to remove excess fluid and waste from the body.
- Diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the eyes, even leading to blindness.
- Foot damage. Damage to the nerves in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet can affect sensation in the feet, causing ulcers and cuts to heal more slowly, increasing the risk of infection. Foot problems caused by diabetes can even lead to amputation if not treated early.
- Skin infections. Diabetes can make you more susceptible to skin problems , including bacterial and fungal infections.
- Hearing loss. Hearing problems are more common in people with diabetes.
- Alzheimer. Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
- Depression. Depressive symptoms are common in people with type 1 and 2 diabetes.
In short, the level of diabetes is not clearly classified and there is no specific time period when the disease will get worse. Whether you are suffering from prediabetes or diabetes, with or without complications, patients need to promptly implement treatment methods such as changing their diet, lifestyle and/or taking medication as prescribed by their doctor. . This is the best way to control blood sugar levels and prevent the disease from getting worse.
