Diabetes and Insulin Resistance
Diabetes is an endocrine disorder that results when the body no longer produces enough of the hormone insulin or can't respond to the insulin it does produce. As a result, glucose cannot be converted into energy, and excess glucose is left to linger in the blood, wreaking havoc throughout the body.
Though type 1 diabetes causes the same problem, type 1 is actually an autoimmune disease that results when the pancreas stops producing insulin. Type 2 diabetes is the kind that develops slowly, often as the result of an unhealthy lifestyle and excess weight. Many people who develop diabetes start with a condition known as insulin resistance, also called prediabetes or metabolic syndrome.
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Even if your blood sugar level is fine, you may still have metabolic syndrome, which is often a precursor to diabetes and heart disease. Men with metabolic syndrome have a waistline more than forty inches, and women, thirty-five inches. They may also have high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high LDL cholesterol.
Diabetes affects an estimated 21 million people in the United States. The rise in the incidence of diabetes corresponds with a parallel increase in the numbers of people who are overweight and obese. And although it was once primarily a condition of the elderly, today diabetes occurs even in children and young adults. Many health experts blame the rise in diabetes on inactive lifestyles and poor diets.
For some people, the symptoms of insulin resistance and diabetes may seem remarkably similar to hypothyroidism. There's the excess weight, the fatigue, and an overall feeling of sluggishness. Some people with diabetes may actually lose weight as the body breaks down stores of fat and muscle for energy, which could be confused with hyperthyroidism. Diabetes also causes numbness and tingling, slow-healing cuts and infections, and weakness — all symptoms that smack of hypothyroidism.
But diabetes differs in that many people experience frequent urination and extreme thirst. Frequent bathroom trips are the result of the kidneys working overtime to rid the body of excess sugar. The extreme thirst occurs as the sugar soaks up water, causing dehydration of body cells. These are often the first signs of diabetes. To confirm whether you have diabetes, your doctor may perform one of several kinds of glucose tests.
Either way, people who have diabetes or hypothyroidism seem to be at greater risk for developing the other condition.
