There are several types and types of diabetes mellitus, each with its own characteristics and differences.
Along with the familiar names of the types of diabetes mellitus - type 1 and 2 - you can find other types of the disease, which are often intriguing. For example, it is not entirely clear what is gestational diabetes mellitus during pregnancy or diabetes lada. So what other types and types of diabetes are there?
main types
Most often, in the formulation of the diagnosis, the concepts of "type 1 diabetes" or "type 2 diabetes" are found. 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 beta cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin. This most often happens when a person is exposed to a viral infection, as a result of which the immune system begins to produce "aggressors" to the gland cells, which destroy them. As a result, insulin deficiency occurs in the blood. As cells cannot absorb glucose from the blood without such an important hormone as insulin, they literally starve to death as they "float" onto glucose.
If insulin is introduced into the body from the outside, the cells "with joy" will begin to consume glucose, while the sugar level will normalize. Therefore, type 1 disease is also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
When the term "non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus" is mentioned, it means type 2 diabetes. Its pathogenesis is based on two main points:
- beta cell pathology;
- Violation of insulin susceptibility by insulin-dependent cells of the body.
This condition develops more often in obese people, as obesity leads to the formation of resistance cells (immunity) to the action of insulin. In addition to obesity, glucose absorption is affected by smoking, lack of physical activity and use of certain medications.
type 3 diabetes
There is type 3 diabetes, which combines signs of both types 1 and 2. That is, 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. But 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 the absorption of iodine in the intestine as a result of its various pathologies. This leads to thyrotoxic type 2 diabetes with a complex pathogenesis. Treatment with it should be fundamentally different from standard therapy.
hidden form
Latent diabetes mellitus is a condition in which glucose from food is slowly absorbed, but insulin production remains at an adequate or elevated level. Clinically latent diabetes does not appear. This form precedes type 2 diabetes. It must be said that the hidden variant of diabetes is pre-diabetes, at this stage it is still possible to influence the state of carbohydrate metabolism.
Latent diabetes can occur for a long time (up to several years). To recognize it in time, you should frequently monitor blood glucose, which is especially important for people with predisposing factors (obesity, hypertension and use of diuretic drugs that reduce potassium levels, polycystic ovary syndrome).
If latent diabetes mellitus is detected in a timely manner, following simple rules of prevention, this form will never turn into type 2 diabetes. To avoid this, you should increase physical activity, maintain a diet, control blood glucose.
labile and stable
You can also find a wording like "stable and labile diabetes". So they say as much about type 1 diabetes as about type 2 diabetes. Under these terms understand the clinical course of the disease.
Labile diabetes is characterized by a rather severe and unpredictable course. It drastically changes the blood sugar level during the day, which does not allow you to choose the ideal dose of insulin. With this form, acute and late complications most often occur - ketoacidosis, disorders of the kidneys, organ of vision. The labile form is characteristic of adolescence.
The stable form is characterized by a smooth course without sudden sugar drops, milder symptoms, and a low level of hyperglycemia.
gestational
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy. Gestation, or in lat. pregnancy is pregnancy. The causes of this type of disease have not been reliably established, but the hormones that are produced by the placenta and the pregnant woman's body lead to physiological insulin resistance. There are certain factors that lead to the development of gestational diabetes. These include:
- late pregnancy;
- familial diabetes;
- smoke;
- obesity;
- stillbirth in previous pregnancies.
If a woman follows the doctor's instructions, she regularly undergoes examinations, such an unpleasant disease can be avoided. If diabetes has developed, adequate insulin therapy and hospitalization are prescribed. The patient is accompanied by an obstetrician-gynecologist, endocrinologist, internist, ophthalmologist, neurologist. After childbirth, as a rule, carbohydrate metabolism returns to normal.
It is important to note that gestational diabetes can continue to exist after delivery. This diagnosis is valid for 2 months after birth. During this period, the woman needs to continue the treatment, but with an adjustment in insulin doses, which is calculated by the assistant physician or endocrinologist. 2 months after giving birth, the woman undergoes a stress test, which will indicate whether there is a violation of carbohydrate metabolism. If hyperglycemia is observed, the diagnosis is corrected and appropriate treatment is prescribed.
Lada diabetes
Latent diabetes mellitus, or diabetes lada, is rarely diagnosed because of its latent course. Lada diabetes has characteristics compared to other forms.
- Laboratory tests do not reveal this form. The glucose level on an empty stomach most of the time is not high.
- The first symptoms of the disease appear after 25 years.
- Pregnancy, stress, infectious diseases, rapid weight gain due to adipose tissue can trigger clinical signs.
- Lada diabetes occurs most often in people without obesity.
- The symptoms are similar to those of type 2 diabetes, but in a more subtle way.
- Type 1 diabetes markers can be detected in the patient's blood.
- Lada diabetes is controlled by diet and intake of hypoglycemic drugs.
To determine lada diabetes, specific tests are performed, which will be discussed in an article specifically dedicated to this condition.
Diabetes Mody
Diabetes mellitus can rarely be recognized, it is associated with a mutation of certain genes (there are 8 of them). These genes are responsible for the normal structure of insulin or the optimal development of beta cells. Mody diabetes is characterized as not very progressive, developing in young people (most often children, adolescents).
Among all patients with diabetes, modern diabetes accounts for 2-5% of cases, but the development of the gestational type is precisely associated with genetic mutations. Reliably diagnosing modern diabetes is only possible with the help of molecular genetic research.
Flow characteristics of this form:
- occurs in children
- sometimes there is an increase in glucose of up to 8 mmol / l;
- without 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 corticosteroid medications or with hypercortisolism (Itsenko-Cushing syndrome or disease). Adrenal hormones have a detrimental effect on the beta cells of the pancreas, resulting in insulin deficiency.
Steroid diabetes mellitus is an insulin-dependent condition. But its clinical course includes some features of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In addition, there is a violation of the work of other organs as a result of the action of corticosteroids. This diabetes is treated as type 2 diabetes.
pancreatic
Pancreatic DM is a secondary disease. It develops as a response to the destruction of the pancreas in pancreatitis, stones in the gallbladder and ducts, after operations on the gland. All these factors lead to a decrease in active beta cells and insulin deficiency. It proceeds 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 is similar to type 1 diabetes with symptoms of damage to other organs and tissues.