High blood sugar rises and an deficit of the body cells with energy are the characteristics of diabetes. The consequences are fatigue, exhaustion, headaches, dizziness or nausea. The body excretes excess blood glucose through the urine to avoid blood vessel damage, resulting in high fluid loss.
In type 2 diabetes, the high blood glucose increases are due to insulin resistance or insufficient insulin production. Reduction in the body's production of insulin often occurs in patients who have had type 2 diabetes for a long time. About 60million people in Europe are affected by this very common form of diabetes. A precursor to type 2 diabetes is impaired glucose tolerance, also called prediabetes.
Comparatively rare is type 1 diabetes, which requires lifelong treatment insulin injections and close blood glucose monitoring and ongoing insulin dose adjustments. The cause is an autoimmune reaction that irreversibly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The therapy is very complex and costly.