Herbal Health

The name “diabetes mellitus” describes two striking symptoms of the disease. People with uncontrolled diabetes usually have a constant, urgent thirst. Though they drink huge quantities of liquids, the fluid seems to run right through them, for they also have a continual need to urinate. Indeed, it often seems that more fluid comes out than went in. So the first part of the name, meaning a siphon or drain, seems quite appropriate.

The urine of a person with diabetes contains sugar, which is the reason for the “mellitus” part, from the Latin word for honey. Most people today just talk about “diabetes,” but physicians prefer to use its more precise, full name, diabetes mellitus. In this way they avoid confusion with another much rarer disease called diabetes insipidus, in which great quantities of urine are also produced, but it does not contain sugar.

There are actually two main types of diabetes mellitus. Type I diabetes used to be called “juvenile diabetes,” because it most often (but not always) occurs in children, teenagers, and young adults. This form is also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), because the bodies of people with this condition produce little or no insulin, and they must receive insulin injections every day in order to live. Type II diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM) usually strikes people after the age of thirty-five or forty. These people’s bodies do produce insulin, but their body cells cannot use it properly. This kind of diabetes can generally be controlled with diet and exercise, or with drugs that lower the amount of sugar in the blood.

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