Disease Stages

Diabetes can progress through a series of stages:

• Nondiabetic - In this stage, a person may have the propensity to develop diabetes, but their metabolism has not yet been detected.

• Condition - When a person is first diagnosed with diabetes, it may be identified as a condition.  At this point, the person is able to manage their diabetes effectively with modifications to diet, exercise, insulin injections, and glucose monitoring.  At this point, they have not yet experienced the secondary complications of diabetes.

• Disease - As a person first starts to experience the early stages of secondary complications, their diabetes may be identified as a disease.  For example, they may the early stages of eye, nerve, kidney or heart disease or they may be experiencing hypoglycemic unawareness.  A person with hypoglycemic unawareness can no longer feel when their blood sugar drops rapidly.  This can be very dangerous for them or other people around them because they may pass out without warning.

• Disability - Diabetes can be considered a disability when a person with it becomes blind, needs to have a part of their body amputated, or goes on dialysis.