Diabetes Mellitus is a rampant disease in the United States. The disease is a major cause of high mortality rates in the US. The current statistics indicate that 16 million Americans are diabetics and almost 5 million have the disease but have not been diagnosed yet. If these trends are allowed to continue the prevalence of the disease will be high in future also.

What is Diabetes Mellitus?
The human body has to maintain narrow levels of blood sugar and glucose. This function is performed by insulin and glucagon. Insulin is a hormone that converts sugar and starch into energy whereas Glucagon makes the liver release glucose into the blood for energy production. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that causes cessation of insulin production or causes improper use of insulin so that the body begins to constantly feature high blood sugar (glucose) levels.

Types, Causes and symptoms
Type 1, Type 2 diabetics and Gestational diabetes are the three types of diabetes. Obesity, physical inactivity, stress and a family history of diabetes are primary causes of the disease. The symptoms of diabetes include polydipsia, polyuria, polyphegia and extreme weight loss. These symptoms occur due to the cessation of glucose breakdown and use of protein and fat for production of energy. If the blood sugar level falls below the normal minimum level of 70mg/dl the state is called hypoglycemia. If the blood sugar rises above the normal maximum level of 110mg/dl the situation is called hyperglycemia.

Effects of diabetes
Diabetes can cause adult blindness, kidney failure and end stage renal disease (ESRD), gangrene, cardiovascular problems, neuropathy and amputations. Diabetics are at a very high risk of facing strokes and coronary heart diseases. Gestational diabetes is harmful for both pregnant women and their fetus. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes prevents the patient from leading a normal life.

Treatment and control
The disease is not completely curable. However a combination of the right diet, exercise and medicines can help treat the disease and control it to a certain extent. Insulin therapy uses implanted or external insulin pumps to control high blood sugar levels without causing allergic reactions in patients. A new self blood sugar monitoring device called blood glucose monitor is available now. The hemoglobin A1c laboratory test helps to measure the blood glucose control achieved in the previous three months. Any oral hypoglycemic drug is available to treat diabetes type 2.
Due to development in medicine and positive results in diabetes research better treatment facilities are available for treating body organs affected by diabetes. There are also effective ways of handling health of mothers and fetus where the mother has gestational diabetes.

Diabetes can lead to a whole lot of complications and even death. Steps must hence be taken to prevent, control and eradicate the killer disease. For this purpose patients have to increase their awareness of the disease by obtaining as much diabetes information as they can, from doctors, medical journals and the internet. This will help them control the disease by taking care of their lifestyle and food habits.