Diabetes 101: Understanding the Disease

Diabetes is a complicated disease. In fact, it’s so complicated that it actually encompasses several diseases that are related to one another, and is broken down by types. Type 1 and Type 2 are the most common and most often spoken about, but what are they? It seems that while most people who suffer from the disease have a pretty good understanding of it, there are still plenty of misconceptions floating around there that make the stress of this disease, just a little greater.

What is arguably more dangerous than misconceptions is the lack of awareness. Recent statistics from the American Diabetes Association say that nearly 10% of the American population (29.1 million people) has diabetes, and of that portion, 8.1 million people are undiagnosed. As the video below explains, diabetes complications can be incredibly dangerous, even life threatening. Meaning having the disease without knowing it isn’t a position anyone wants to find themselves in.

Whether you’ve recently been diagnosed, or have friends and family members who struggle with understanding what you’ve been experiencing for years, this video does an excellent job of explaining what diabetes is; including the causes and risk factors, symptoms, potential complications, and tips for management.