Diabetes: signs, symptoms and making a diagnosis

There are two principal classes of diabetes-type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease and is treated with insulin. Type 2 can often be controlled by diet initially, but hypoglycaemic agents and insulin may be needed at some stage in order to maintain satisfactory glycaemic control. Diabetes affects people of all ages and all ethnic groups. Having diabetes will affect many aspects of a person's lifestyle, therefore professional psychological support is usually necessary at some time.