What is diabetes type 2

Diabetes type 2 is a chronic disease, which is characterized by the disturbance of the mechanisms of insulin interaction with the cells due to the fact that the receptors of the cells lose sensitivity to insulin, or because of the disorder of pancreas activity resulting in decrease of insulin synthesis in necessary amount.

What is diabetes type 2 from the standpoint of its development?

Diabetes type 2 is the most widespread form of a diabetes mellitus. About 85-90 % of patients are ill with diabetes type 2. In contrast to diabetes type 1, diabetes type 2 typically develops slowly. Sometimes several months and even years may pass before of the diagnosis is made. Frequently diabetes is found out by chance while patients are being examined on quite other occasions.

The condition of patients with diabetes type 2 may improve considerably owing to diet and constant physical exercise. Even the cancellation of glucose lowering medications is possible provided that the patient can get rid of excessive weight and keep normal weight of the body.

What is diabetes type 2 and its pathogenesis?

It is wrong to call diabetes type 2 insulin independent because in some cases doctors prescribe the patients insulin therapy for normalization of blood glucose when glucose lowering medications do not help any more. Initially patients with diabetes type 2 produce insulin in normal or sometimes even in excessive amounts. And only with time the amount of synthesized insulin decreases so that injections of insulin may become necessary subsequently.

Insulin resistance

Even if insulin is produced in full volume, patients with diabetes all the same have constantly increased sugar (in the absence of treatment or inadequately selected treatment). It happens because the recognition of insulin by the cells of the tissues is disturbed, and insulin is no more a "key" that opens the entrance into the cells for glucose where glucose is processed or stored (for example, as glycogen in the cells of the liver). Such a disturbance refers as insulin resistance.

The second variant of development of diabetes type 2 is when insulin itself loses the ability to carry out its functions. It means that glucose is unable to get into the cells not because the receptors of the cells are resistant to insulin, but because the produced insulin is no more the "key" to the cells.