Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus is actually commonly known as Diabetes. This is a condition that affects the body in the ways of sugar levels. It means that the individual sufferer has increased amounts of glucose (sugar) levels. The reason this is brought to light is because the body that it is affecting is either producing not enough insulin or the body is not responding to the insulin that it is producing.

Insulin is normally used in a diabetes sufferer. This is a hormone that is normally produced by the pancreas within the body naturally. This converts the bodies starch, sugars and other foods into the individual’s energy. Should the body be unable to do this then it can cause a variety of complications such as polyuria, excessive weight loss, polyphegia and the most sever of them blindness, amputation and gangrene. Should the individual be unable to produce this it can lead to a whole variety of complications and diabetes being one of them. Typically a sufferer of diabetes is given a dose of insulin to try and solve the insulin issues in the body.

Diabetes has various amounts of different strains, but the most commonly found ones are:

• Type 1 – this is where the body fails to produce insulin. The treatment of this type of diabetes is where the individual has to inject insulin into them. This will then bring their insulin levels back to a normal level.
• Type 2 – this is where the person’s body fails to use the insulin that the body produces properly.
  Gestational diabetes – this is commonly pregnant women where their pregnancies have extremely high glucose levels.
  These types may have different names; however they are very much the same thing, problems absorbing glucose. Diabetes can be a very serious condition to have and is currently present in at least 171 million people around the world.

Diabetes may seem minor to non sufferers, however in the terms of a life insurance policy or critical illness cover it can make a big difference to the policies outcome. Some insurance companies may turn an applicant down because they have diabetes where as others may implement and exclusion on the policy for this condition. An insurance company will take into consideration the severity of the diabetes and will underwrite the policy upon this basis. In some cases they may need medical evidence such as a general practitioners report to gather the medical history. They may need a medical examination and/or further information form the applicant.

Unfortunately diabetes is not curable and is with a sufferer for life, however on the other hand diabetes can be controllable to a certain extent. It can be monitored by diets, exercise regimes and by being controlled on the types of certain foods that are eaten. Haemoglobin A1c tests carried out in laboratories are used to monitor a diabetics blood glucose levels.

There are a few simple ways that diabetes can be tested for which are fasting for a period of time then doing tests orally and by taking blood. Both ways can detect the blood sugar levels in an individual.