The Basics of Diabetes
Diabetes is a complicated (lifelong) condition of which there are many different types.
It's a serious condition where your blood glucose level is too high. It can happen when your body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or when you can’t produce any at all.
There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2.
When you’ve got type 1 diabetes, you can’t make any insulin at all. If you’ve got type 2 diabetes, it’s a bit different. The insulin you make either can’t work effectively, or you can’t produce enough of it. They’re different conditions, but they’re both serious.
Other types of diabetes include gestational diabetes, which some women may go on to develop during pregnancy. And there are many other rarer types of diabetes.
In all types of diabetes, glucose can’t get into your cells properly, so it begins to build up in your blood. Too much glucose in your blood causes many different problems that start with diabetes symptoms.