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What Is Diabetes?
Type 1 Diabetes
In type 1 diabetes, your body does not produce insulin. This means you need multiple daily insulin injections to replace this hormone in order to sustain life. People are typically diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before age 40.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed when your blood glucose level becomes too high because either your pancreas is not making enough insulin or isnt using the insulin it makes properly. Most people will need medication and/or insulin to keep their blood glucose in a healthy range. Type 2 diabetes can be diagnosed at any age and it is the most common type of diabetes. In fact, nine out of ten people with diabetes have type 2.
Gestational Diabetes
A small percentage of women are diagnosed with diabetes during pregnancy. When you are pregnant,your body makes hormones that make it harder for insulin to work. As a result, some womens blood glucose becomes too high. Although this type of diabetes will go away after you baby is born, almost half of women with gestational diabetes will develop type 2 diabetes later in life.
How is diabetes diagnosed?
Diabetes is only diagnosed after blood tests. Three different tests can determine whether or not you have diabetes, which are a fasting blood glucose test, an oral glucose tolerance test, or a random test. Your primary care provider, or an endocrinologist, can determine this diagnosis.
Understanding optimal diabetes care goals
The five optimal diabetes care goals shown below were designed to measure how well your diabetes is being managed. When all five goals are achieved, your risk for health problems associated with diabetes is greatly reduced. The HealthPartners Diabetes Team is available to help you reach your goals. Diabetes is a disease requiring daily attention. For this reason, you are the most important person of the HealthPartners Diabetes Team.
| Guideline | Goal | What it is and why its important | | A1C | 6.9% or less | Measures how well you have controlled your blood glucose in the last 12-16 weeks |
| Blood Pressure | 129/79 or less | Controlling your blood pressure can help prevent complications, such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and eye disease | | LDL | 99 or less | Measures the level of bad cholesterol. Keeping this low will help prevent heart disease | | Tobacco use | Non-smoker | Smoking and diabetes increase your risk for heart disease and together your risk significantly increases
| | Aspirin | Daily | Reduces the tendency of blood to stick together which helps reduce the risk for heart attack or stroke |
If you have any questions regarding your optimal disease care goals, please contact your primary care provider and together let us reach our health goals.
What to expect your first year of diabetes care?
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