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Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Controlling Your Diabetes

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Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood glucose, commonly called blood sugar. Glucose is vital to your health because it's an important source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues. It's also your brain's main source of fuel.

If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the reasons may differ. Too much glucose can lead to serious health problems.

Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes — when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes — and gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy but may resolve after the baby is delivered.

Symptoms
References
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  17. Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic syndrome (HHNS). American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/hyperosmolar-hyperglycemic.html. Accessed Sept. 19, 2012.
  18. Take charge of your diabetes. Centers for Disease Control. http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/tcyd/vaccin.htm. Accessed Sept. 30, 2012.
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  21. Decade of discovery: A state takes on a disease. Discovery's Edge. Mayo Clinic's Online Research Magazine. http://discoverysedge.mayo.edu/de10-3-minnesota-partnership-diabetes.cfm. Accessed Jan. 8, 2013.
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