There are several types and types of diabetes mellitus, each of which has its own characteristics and differences.
In addition to the well-known names of the types of diabetes mellitus - types 1 and 2 - there are often other types of diseases that are often puzzling. For example, it is not entirely clear what gestational diabetes during pregnancy or Lada diabetes is. So what other kinds and types of diabetes are there?
main types
The terms "type 1 diabetes" or "type 2 diabetes" are most frequently found in the wording of the diagnosis. It is this classification that determines the disease according to the body's need for insulin.
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by the destruction of specialized pancreatic beta cells responsible for insulin production. This most often happens when a person is exposed to a viral infection, causing the immune system to start producing "attackers" for the glandular cells, which destroy them. As a result, there is a lack of insulin in the blood. Since cells lack such an important hormone as insulinunable to absorb glucose from the blood, they literally starve while "floating" on glucose.
When insulin is introduced into the body from the outside, cells "happily" start consuming glucose while sugar levels normalize. This is why the type 1 disease is also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
When the term "non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus" is mentioned, what is meant is type 2 diabetes. Its pathogenesis is based on two key points:
- pathology of beta cells;
- Violation of insulin sensitivity by insulin-dependent body cells.
This condition is more common in overweight people because obesity leads to the development of resistance (immune) cells to the effects of insulin. In addition to obesity, the absorption of glucose is affected by smoking, lack of exercise and the use of certain medications.
type 3 diabetes
There is type 3 diabetes, which combines signs of type 1 and 2. Namely, the accumulation of fatty tissue in the liver (as in type 2 diabetes) and insulin deficiency (as in type 1 diabetes). In life, type 2 diabetes that responds positively to insulin therapy is type 3. However, this type is not recognized by the health organization, so all cases are divided into types 1 and 2.
This disease is not uncommon. The reason is considered an increase in iodine absorption in the intestine due to its various pathologies. This leads to a thyrotoxic type 2 diabetes with complex pathogenesis. Treatment with it should be fundamentally different from standard therapy.
hidden shape
Latent diabetes mellitus is a condition in which glucose from food is absorbed slowly, but insulin production remains at proper or elevated levels. Clinically latent diabetes does not occur. This form precedes type 2 diabetes. It should be said that the hidden variant of diabetes is prediabetes, at this stage it is still possible to influence the state of carbohydrate metabolism.
Latent diabetes can exist for a long time (up to several years). To detect this in time, you should check blood sugar frequently, which is especially important for people with predisposing factors (obesity, high blood pressure and taking diuretics that lower potassium levels, polycystic ovary syndrome).
If latent diabetes mellitus is detected in time, then this form will never turn into type 2 diabetes if simple rules of prevention are observed. To prevent this from happening, you should increase physical activity, follow a diet, control blood sugar.
Unstable and stable
You may also find wording like "stable and labile diabetes. "So you say about both type 1 diabetes and type 2. These terms refer to the clinical course of the disease.
Unstable diabetes is characterized by a rather severe and unpredictable course. Dramatically changes blood sugar levels throughout the day, which does not allow you to choose the optimal dose of insulin. With this form, acute and late complications are more common - ketoacidosis, diseases of the kidneys, the organ of vision. The unstable form is characteristic of adolescence.
The stable form is characterized by an even course without a sudden drop in sugar, milder symptoms and low hyperglycemia.
pregnancy
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy. Pregnancy, or in Latin gestatio is pregnancy. The causes of this type of disease are not reliably understood, but the hormones produced by the placenta and the expectant mother's body lead to physiological resistance to insulin. There are certain factors that lead to the development of gestational diabetes. These include:
- late pregnancy;
- family diabetes;
- Smoking;
- Obesity;
- Stillbirth in previous pregnancies.
If a woman follows the doctor's instructions and regularly takes tests, then such an unpleasant disease can be avoided. If diabetes has developed, adequate insulin therapy and hospitalization are prescribed. The patient is monitored by an obstetrician-gynecologist, endocrinologist, internist, ophthalmologist and neurologist. After birth, the carbohydrate metabolism usually returns to normal.
It is important to note that gestational diabetes can persist after birth. This diagnosis is valid for 2 months after birth. During this period, a woman needs to continue treatment, but with an adjustment in insulin doses, calculated by the attending physician or endocrinologist. 2 months after childbirth, a woman undergoes a stress test, which will indicate whether there is a violation of carbohydrate metabolism. If hyperglycemia is detected, the diagnosis is corrected and appropriate treatment is prescribed.
Lada diabetes
Latent diabetes mellitus, or Lada diabetes, is rarely diagnosed due to its latent course. Lada diabetes has characteristics related to other forms.
- Laboratory tests do not show this form. The glucose level on an empty stomach is usually not elevated.
- The first symptoms of the disease appear after 25 years.
- Pregnancy, stress, infectious diseases, rapid weight gain due to adipose tissue can provoke clinical symptoms.
- Lada diabetes is most common in people without obesity.
- The symptoms are similar to those of type 2 diabetes, but in a more subtle form.
- Markers for type 1 diabetes can be detected in the patient's blood.
- Lada diabetes is controlled by diet and taking hypoglycemic medications.
To determine Lada diabetes, specific tests are performed, which will be discussed in an article dedicated specifically to this condition.
fashionable diabetes
Diabetes mellitus can rarely be detected, it is associated with a mutation of certain genes (there are 8 of them). These genes are responsible for the normal assembly of insulin or for the optimal development of beta cells. Mody diabetes is characterized as slowly progressive and develops in young people (more often in children, adolescents).
Among all patients with diabetes, modal diabetes accounts for 2-5% of cases, but the development of the type of pregnancy is precisely associated with genetic mutations. A reliable diagnosis of diabetes is only possible with the help of molecular genetic research.
Features of the flow of this form:
- occurs in children
- sometimes there is an increase in glucose up to 8 mmol / l;
- no obesity;
- there is no insulin resistance;
- SD is available in two generations;
- The course is similar to that of type 2 diabetes.
steroid diabetes
Steroid diabetes develops with prolonged use of drugs based on corticosteroids or with hypercortisolism (syndrome or disease, Itsenko-Cushing). Adrenal hormones adversely affect the beta cells of the pancreas, resulting in insulin deficiency.
Steroid diabetes mellitus is an insulin dependent disease. However, its clinical course has some characteristics of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In addition, due to the action of corticosteroids, there is a violation of the work of other organs. This diabetes is treated as type 2 diabetes.
pancreas
Pancreatic DM is a secondary disease. It develops in response to the destruction of the pancreas in pancreatitis, stones in the gallbladder and ducts after surgery on the gland. All of these factors lead to a decrease in active beta cells and a lack of insulin. It runs like type 1 diabetes.
Other secondary forms
Adrenal, pituitary and thyroid diabetes occurs against the background of an excessive amount of certain hormones in the blood, which leads to the destruction of insulin-producing cells. The clinic resembles type 1 diabetes with symptoms of damage to other organs and tissues.