The food you eat is digested to be used as fuel. This fuel supplies energy to your body's cells. When you have diabetes, the fuel has a hard time entering the cells. This can make you feel tired and run-down.
How the body gets energy
The digestive system breaks down food into a sugar called glucose. Some of the glucose is stored in the liver, while most of it enters the bloodstream and travels to cells to be used as fuel.
Glucose needs the help of hormone called insulin to enter the cells. Insulin is made in the pancreas. It is released into the bloodstream in response to the presence of glucose in the blood.
Think if insulin as a key. When insulin reaches a cell, in unlocks a doorway in the cell wall. This creates an opening that allows glucose to enter the cell.
When you have diabetes.
Diabetes is a problem with insulin. Your body may not make enough insulin, or may make none at all. Or your cells may not respond in the right way to insulin in the blood. Either way, this means that glucose has trouble entering the cells.
If glucose cannot enter the cells, it builds up in the bloodstream. This is called high blood sugar (hyperglycaemia). The build-up of sugar in the blood also means that your cells become starved for energy.
Type 1 diabetes.
When you have type 1 diabetes, the pancreas is not making any insulin at all. Type 1 diabetes most often develops in children, but adults at any age can also get it. People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day in order to get fuel into their cells.
Type 2 diabetes.
When you have type 2 diabetes, the pancreas may still be making insulin, but the cells may not respond to insulin the way they should. This is called insulin resistance.
The pancreas may try to overcome this resistance by makin more insulin. But the pancreas can't keep up the extra insulin production.
People with type 2 diabetes may also need insulin (but taking insulin does not mean that type 2 has become type 1).
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