Type 2 Diabetes

When you have diabetes, it helps to know what’s happening inside your body.



• First, sugar (glucose) from food and your liver goes to your bloodstream.
• Your cells use sugar for energy. Insulin helps sugar get from your blood to your cells.
• Insulin (made in your pancreas) acts a key and attaches to cells so they open to let sugar inside.

With type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin like it should, so there’s too much sugar in your blood. This causes damage to your blood vessels and nerves.

In a condition called prediabetes, your blood sugar level is higher than normal but not yet high enough to be type 2 diabetes. If you have prediabetes, changes like eating healthier foods and being more active can help keep you from developing type 2 diabetes.

Protecting Your Health

Taking care of your health can make it easier to manage your diabetes and help reduce your risk of complications. Start with these steps:

Keep tabs on your heart. Get your blood pressure checked at every doctor visit, and your cholesterol checked once a year. Diabetes can lead to high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol, which increases your risk of a heart attack, stroke and other vascular diseases. If tests show your numbers are too high, your doctor can recommend medicine or lifestyle changes.

Ask about kidney screenings. High blood sugar over many years can damage your kidneys and cause them not to work well or to stop working completely. If you’re at risk for damage, medicines and diet changes can help.

Schedule yearly eye exams. Poorly controlled diabetes increases your risk of several eye-related conditions, including glaucoma, cataracts and retinopathy. Regular eye exams can help your doctor spot changes early so you can treat them.

Check your feet. High blood sugar over long periods of time can damage your nerves. The most common type happens in your legs and feet (called peripheral neuropathy). Symptoms include pain, sensitivity and numbness. Check your feet every day and get a complete foot exam every year.

Care for your teeth and gums. Brush and floss daily and see your dentist twice a year for cleanings and checkups. Having diabetes and high blood sugar puts you more at risk for bacterial infections, so your gum health can suffer.

Get vaccinated. People with diabetes are at a higher risk of complications from some vaccine-preventable diseases like the flu and pneumonia. Ask your doctor if you need any of these vaccines:

• flu (yearly)
• pneumococcal
• shingles
• hepatitis B
• COVID-19

For more information about the vaccines you need, visit vaccines.gov.