Diabetes Causes, Symptoms and Treatment Options
What Causes Diabetes?
You may have an increased risk of diabetes due to your age, race, and a family history of the disease. Other factors that can raise diabetes risk include:
- Being overweight
- High blood pressure
- Heart or blood vessel disease
- Lack of physical activity
- Poor diet
- Low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol or a high level of triglycerides
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
- Smoking
- Acanthosis nigricans (dark, velvety patches of skin on the back of your neck, belly, or arms)
- Pregnancy (gestational diabetes)
Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes
The early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes are important to prevent and manage complications. If you are at risk for diabetes or experience any of these symptoms, talk to your doctor about being screened for diabetes:
- Blurry vision
- Extreme fatigue
- Frequent infections (urinary, yeast, skin)
- Increased hunger
- Feeling very thirsty
- Increased urination
- Unintentional weight loss
- Slow-healing bruises or cuts
- Tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands or feet
Diabetes Treatment Options
Customizing Your Treatment
Diabetes can be managed through dietary changes, increased physical activity, blood glucose monitoring, and medication. Treatment for diabetes is not one size fits all. At Hackensack Meridian Health, our diabetes experts promote health maintenance and focus on disease prevention.
They perform an initial assessment of your health and individual preferences, getting to know you well and learning what is important to you. We equip you to understand your diabetes, advocate for your health, and identify any barriers that may prevent you from adhering to your recommended treatment.
Together we will establish reasonable goals to control your blood glucose, reduce your A1C, improve your health, and attain your goals. We help your family as well to teach them how to support you while improving their own health. Learn more about the types of diabetes we treat and why controlling your diabetes is important.
Medications for Diabetes
If your endocrinologist recommends medication to control your blood sugar, we will find the one that is most effective for your type of diabetes and your lifestyle needs.
Available medications include:
- Insulin injections using a syringe or pen device
- Insulin administered through a pump
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, which slow the digestion and absorption of some carbohydrates after meals
- Biguanides (such as metformin), which reduce the production of glucose during digestion
- Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, which lower blood glucose levels
- Meglitinides, which help your body release a quick burst of insulin when you eat
- Sulfonylureas to stimulate the release of more insulin
- Thiazolidinediones (or glitazones) to reduce insulin resistance
Embracing New Technologies
New technologies have made it easier to monitor your blood glucose continuously and to deliver insulin. We provide the education you need to use continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps so these new technologies do not seem overwhelming. Between your in-person visits to us, we schedule remote telehealth visits with a nurse to see how you are doing, monitor your blood glucose, and answer any questions you may have. Our commitment is to stay connected with you during every step of your journey so you can live a healthy life despite diabetes.
Diabetes Care in the Hospital
Inpatient care for people of all ages with diabetes is provided in the hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health. Our program is certified in Advanced Diabetes Management by the Joint Commission, recognizing the excellence of our inpatient diabetes care.
Hospitalized people with diabetes benefit from:
- Expert consultation available 24/7 from our endocrinology team, especially those with uncontrolled or previously undiagnosed diabetes
- Education from our Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists
- Connection with resources at hospital discharge and referral to ongoing care
Pancreas Transplantation
Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only a few programs certified in the state of New Jersey to offer pancreas transplantation, either alone or in combination with kidney transplantation. Pancreas transplantation is most commonly used in people with type 1 diabetes who have advanced kidney disease or other potentially life-threatening complications and cannot be managed well with medications.
It is also used to help:
- Some people with severe insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes
- People with type 1 diabetes who have "hypoglycemic unawareness"—a condition in which someone may experience very low blood sugar and pass out without any warning
Your doctor will let you know if you are a candidate for pancreas transplantation.
