There are different kinds of diabetes, each of them with their own causes and course. Of all people with diabetes, more than 85 percent have type 2 diabetes, and less than 15 percent have type 1 diabetes. Pregnancy diabetes occurs in 1 on 20 pregnancies. This is (usually) a temporary form of diabetes. Besides this, there are sorts of diabetes that look like type 1 or type 2 diabetes, but are different slightly, like MODY and LADA.

Type 1 diabetes.

Normally, insulin is made by groups of cells in the pancreas, the so-called islands of Langerhans. For people with type 1 diabetes, these cells are destroyed by their own immune system. That means that the pancreas does not make insulin anymore. Because insulin is needed to bring glucose from the blood to the body cells, with this type of diabetes you have to inject yourself with insulin every day. Otherwise the blood sugar level stays too high. Type 1 diabetes arises in a short period of time and occurs mostly in people under 30 years of age.

Type 2 diabetes

With this type of diabetes, the body usually still makes insulin, but not enough. Or, the insulin cannot do its work properly anymore, because the body is insensitive to it. In this case there is an insufficient amount of glucose taken from the blood. Next to that the fat metabolism and the blood pressure are disrupted. Type 2 diabetes is usually treated with medicines, food and exercises. Sometimes, you need to inject insulin after a period of time. In the past mostly people older than 60 got the type 2 diabetes. Their age is however getting lower in western countries.

Pregnancy diabetes

Pregnancy diabetes is a temporary form of diabetes that can start after the 24^th week of the pregnancy. This happens under the influence of hormones that are being made during the pregnancy. Those hormones slow down the activity of insulin. During a normal pregnancy the body takes care of this by making extra insulin. When having pregnancy diabetes this does not happen or does not happen enough, so that the blood sugar level becomes too high. After the delivery the diabetes usually disappears in 24 hours. Women that had pregnancy diabetes do have a chance on developing type 2 diabetes within ten years after that.

Other forms of diabetes

There are also other forms of diabetes, but they are rare. You can get diabetes if your pancreas is damaged or removed after cancer, an inflammation or an accident, for instance. Also the use of certain substances and hormone treatments that you get for other diseases increase the chance on getting diabetes.