How to Know if You Have Diabetes - Part1 Recognizing the Risk Factors for Different Types of Diabetes

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that affects your body's ability to either use or produce insulin, which how your body can use blood sugar for energy. When your cells become resistant to insulin or your body doesn’t make enough of it, your blood sugar levels rise, causing many of the short-term and long-term symptoms of diabetes. There are four different types of “sugar” diabetes: pre-diabetes, type 1, type 2, and gestational, although the majority of cases diagnosed each year are type 2 diabetes. In each of these types, there are both similar symptoms and symptoms that distinguish each type from the others.

Part1 Recognizing the Risk Factors for Different Types of Diabetes

1 Assess your risk for gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs in women who are pregnant. If you're at higher risk, you may be tested during your first prenatal visit and then again in the second trimester. Women at low risk will be tested in the second trimester, between weeks 24 and 28. Women who experience gestational diabetes have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes within ten years after the birth of their child. Risk factors include:

• Pregnancy over the age of 25
• Family or personal health history of diabetes or pre-diabetes
• Being overweight at the time of pregnancy (a BMI of 30 or more)
• Women who are black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander
• Third pregnancy or greater
• Excessive intrauterine growth during pregnancy

2 Look for the risk factors of pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a metabolic condition in which blood glucose (sugar) is higher than the normal range (70-99). Still, it's lower than recommended for treatment with medication to control blood glucose. The risk factors for pre-diabetes include:

• Age 45 or older
• Being overweight
• Family history of Type 2 diabetes
• Sedentary lifestyle
• High blood pressure
• A previous experience of gestational diabetes
• Having delivered a baby who was 9 pounds or greater

3 Evaluate your risk for Type 2 diabetes. This is sometimes referred to a “full-blown” diabetes. In this condition, the body’s cells have become resistant to the influence of leptin and insulin. This increases your blood sugar levels and causes the symptoms and long-term side effects of the disease. Risk factors for Type 2 diabetes are similar to those for pre-diabetes, and include:

• Over 45 years of age
• Overweight
• Physical inactivity
• High blood pressure
• History of gestational diabetes
• Delivered a baby over 9 pounds
• Family history of diabetes
• Chronic stress
• You are black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander

4 Check for the risk factors of Type 1 diabetes. Experts believe this condition is caused by a mix of genetic predisposition and environmental factors.

• White people have a higher incidence of Type 1 diabetes
• Cold weather and viruses may trigger the development of Type 1 diabetes in susceptible people.
• Early childhood stress
• Children who were breast-fed and ate solids at a later age have a lower risk of developing Type 1 diabetes even with the genetic predisposition
• If you have an identical twin with type 1 diabetes, you have about a 50% chance of also developing the disease.