What Is Type 2 Diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes means there is too much sugar, called glucose, in your blood.

Glucose is your body's main fuel and it comes from the food you eat. To get out of your blood and into your cells, glucose needs a hormone called insulin, which your pancreas makes. Think of insulin as a key that opens the cell door.

In Type 2 diabetes, that key stops working properly. Your cells stop responding to insulin the way they should, so your pancreas makes extra insulin to keep up. For a while, this works. But over the years the pancreas cannot keep making enough, and glucose starts building up in the blood.

This happens slowly. Many people live with Type 2 diabetes for years without knowing, because the early signs are mild or simply absent. It is by far the most common form — more than 9 out of 10 people with diabetes have this type.

Blood glucose that stays high for a long time can damage your eyes, kidneys, nerves, feet and heart. Preventing that damage is what treatment is really for.

Type 2 diabetes is not something you just have to accept. Food, movement, monitoring, and medicines when they are needed all change the picture. What works looks different for every person, which is why regular review matters more than any single test result.