There are several types and types of diabetes mellitus, each of which has its own characteristics and differences.
Along with the well-known names of the types of diabetes mellitus - type 1 and 2 - you can often find other types of the disease that often cause confusion. For example, it is not entirely clear what is gestational diabetes mellitus during pregnancy or Lada diabetes. So what other types and types of diabetes are there?
Main types
Most often, when formulating the diagnosis, you can find the terms "diabetes type 1" or "diabetes type 2". It is this classification that determines the disease according to the body's need for insulin.
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by the destruction of specialized beta cells of the pancreas responsible for insulin production. This happens most often when a person is exposed to a viral infection, as a result of which the immune system begins to produce "aggressors" to the cells of the gland, which destroy them. As a result, there is a deficiency of insulin in the blood. Because the cellsunable to absorb glucose from the blood without such an important hormone as insulin, they literally starve as they "float" to glucose.
If insulin is introduced into the body from the outside, then the cells will "happily" begin to consume glucose, while the sugar level will normalize. Because of this, type 1 disease is also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
When the term "non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus" is mentioned, it means type 2 diabetes. Its pathogenesis is based on two key points:
- beta cell pathology;
- impairment of insulin sensitivity by insulin-dependent cells of the body.
This condition develops more often in people who are obese, because obesity leads to the formation of resistant (immune) cells to the action of insulin. In addition to obesity, the absorption of glucose is affected by smoking, lack of physical activity and taking certain medications.
Type 3 diabetes
There is type 3 diabetes, which combines signs of type 1 and type 2. Namely, the accumulation of fatty tissue in the liver (as in type 2 diabetes) and insulin deficiency (as in type 1 diabetes). In life, type 2 diabetes that responds positively to insulin therapy is type 3. But this type is not recognized by the health organization, so all cases are divided into types 1 and 2.
This disease is not uncommon. The reason is considered to be an increase in the absorption of iodine in the intestines as a result of various pathologies. This leads to thyrotoxic type 2 diabetes with a complex pathogenesis. Treatment with it must be fundamentally different from standard therapy.
hidden form
Latent diabetes mellitus is a condition in which glucose from food is absorbed slowly, but insulin production remains at the correct or elevated level. Clinically, latent diabetes does not manifest itself. This form precedes type 2 diabetes. It should be said that the hidden variant of diabetes is pre-diabetes, at this stage it is still possible to influence the state of carbohydrate metabolism.
Latent diabetes can appear for a long time (up to several years). To recognize it in time, you need to monitor blood sugar often, which is especially important for people with predisposing factors (obesity, hypertension and the use of diuretic drugs that reduce potassium levels, polycystic ovary syndrome).
If latent diabetes mellitus is detected in a timely manner, then, subject to simple prevention rules, this form will never turn into type 2 diabetes. To prevent this, you need to increase physical activity, adhere to a diet, control bloodsugar.
Labile and stable
You can also find such wording as "stable and labile diabetes". So they say both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Under these terms understand the clinical course of the disease.
Labile diabetes is characterized by a rather severe and unpredictable course. It drastically changes the level of blood sugar during the day, which does not allow you to choose the optimal dose of insulin. With this form, acute and late complications occur more often - ketoacidosis, disorders of the kidneys, the organ of vision. The labile form is characteristic of adolescence.
The stable form is characterized by an even course without sharp drops in sugar, milder symptoms and a low level of hyperglycemia.
Gestational
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy. Gestation, or in Latin gestatio is pregnancy. The causes of this type of disease are not reliably established, but the hormones that are produced by the placenta and the body of the expectant mother lead to physiological insulin resistance. There are certain factors that lead to the development of gestational diabetes. They include:
- late pregnancy;
- familial diabetes;
- smoking;
- obesity;
- stillbirth in previous pregnancies.
If a woman follows the doctor's instructions, regularly takes tests, then such an unpleasant disease can be avoided. If diabetes develops, then adequate insulin therapy and hospitalization are prescribed. The patient is monitored by an obstetrician-gynecologist, an endocrinologist, an internist, an ophthalmologist, and a neurologist. After childbirth, as a rule, carbohydrate metabolism normalizes.
It is important to note that gestational diabetes can continue to exist after birth. This diagnosis is valid 2 months after birth. During this period, the woman should continue the treatment, but with correction of insulin doses, which are calculated by the attending physician or endocrinologist. 2 months after giving birth, the woman undergoes a stress test, which will show whether there is a violation of carbohydrate metabolism. If hyperglycemia is detected, the diagnosis is corrected and appropriate treatment is prescribed.
Lada diabetes
Latent diabetes mellitus or lada diabetes is rarely diagnosed due to its latent course. Lada diabetes has features in relation to other forms.
- Laboratory studies do not reveal this form. Fasting glucose levels are usually not elevated.
- The first symptoms of the disease appear after 25 years.
- Pregnancy, stress, infectious diseases, rapid weight gain due to adipose tissue can provoke clinical signs.
- Lada diabetes is most common in non-obese people.
- The symptoms are similar to those of type 2 diabetes, but in a more noticeable form.
- Markers of type 1 diabetes can be detected in the patient's blood.
- Lada diabetes is controlled with diet and taking hypoglycemic drugs.
In order to determine lada diabetes, specific tests are carried out, which will be discussed in an article dedicated specifically to this condition.
Fashion diabetes
Diabetes mellitus can rarely be recognized, it is associated with a mutation of certain genes (there are 8 of them). These genes are responsible for the normal structure of insulin or for the optimal development of beta cells. Mody diabetes is characterized as slowly progressive, developing in young people (more often children, adolescents).
Among all patients with diabetes, fashionable diabetes accounts for 2-5% of cases, but the development of the gestational type is precisely related to genetic mutations. Reliable diagnosis of fashionable diabetes is possible only with the help of molecular genetic studies.
Flow characteristics of this form:
- occurs in children
- sometimes there is an increase in glucose up to 8 mmol / l;
- lack of obesity;
- no insulin resistance;
- The SD comes in two generations;
- The course is similar to that of type 2 diabetes.
steroid diabetes
Steroid diabetes develops with long-term use of corticosteroid-based drugs or with hypercortisolism (itsenko-Cushing's syndrome or disease). Adrenal hormones have a harmful effect on the beta cells of the pancreas, leading to insulin deficiency.
Steroid diabetes mellitus is an insulin-dependent condition. But its clinical course includes some features of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In addition, there is a violation of the work of other organs as a result of the action of corticoids. This diabetes is treated as type 2 diabetes.
Pancreatic
Pancreatic DM is a secondary disease. It develops in response to the destruction of the pancreas in pancreatitis, stones in the gall bladder and ducts, after operations on the gland. All these factors lead to a decrease in active beta cells and insulin deficiency. It is like type 1 diabetes.
Other secondary forms
Diabetes of the adrenal gland, pituitary gland, thyroid gland occurs against the background of an excessive amount of certain hormones in the blood, which leads to the destruction of insulin-producing cells. The clinic is similar to type 1 diabetes with symptoms of damage to other organs and tissues.