Diabetes is a serious disease in which blood glucose (blood sugar) levels are above normal, affecting the way the body uses food. In your body, food turns into sugar. The blood carries this sugar to cells throughout the body. There, insulin (a hormone) helps to turn sugar into energy for your body to work.  If you have diabetes, your body makes little or no insulin, or insulin can't get blood sugar into the cells. As a result, your body doesn't get the fuel it needs, and blood sugar levels stay too high. If your blood glucose is high, serious damage may occur to the eyes, nerves, kidneys and heart.  

Type 1 and Type 2

In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas no longer makes insulin so blood glucose (sugar) cannot get into the body's cells to be used for energy.  In type 2 diabetes, either the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use insulin correctly.

Type 1 diabetes develops most often in young people, but can appear in adults. Type 2 diabetes develops most often in middle-aged and older adults, but can appear in young people.

You may have diabetes if you have one or more of these signs:

• You are very thirsty 
• Urinate often
• Have blurred vision
• Are losing weight when you are not trying to
• Have cuts or scrapes that take a long time to heal
• Feel more tired than usual

Some people have no signs of diabetes, but still have the disease.  If you have any of these signs or risks for diabetes, see your doctor.  While there is no cure for diabetes, it can be prevented, delayed or treated.

You are at a higher risk for Type 2 Diabetes if you:

• Are over 40 years old
• Have a family member with diabetes
• Are overweight
• Do not exercise
• Have high blood pressure
• Are a woman who had a baby weighing more than 9 pounds at birth or diabetes during pregnancy
• Are African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American or Pacific Islander

Talk to your health care provider about having your blood glucose level checked. 

Free Diabetes Screening in the lobby of the Columbus Health Department
First and Third Mondays of each month, 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Sources: Central Ohio Diabetes Association, National Diabetes Education Program and American Diabetes Association.

For More Information

American Diabetes Association

National Institutes of Diabetes & Digestive Kidney Disease

National Diabetes Education Program

Related Programs and Services

Office of Minority Health, Diabetes Screening

Central Ohio Diabetes Association