At St. Luke’s Health, we take a multidisciplinary approach to address possible complications caused by diabetes.

Diabetes causes unique and chronic challenges. Your medical team will work with you to suggest lifestyle changes and a personalized health management program.

In treating this chronic disease as recommended by your primary physician, patients may be encouraged to consult with an endocrinologist (physician who specializes in glands and the hormones they produce), an eye doctor, kidney specialist, wound care expert, nutritionist, diabetes educator, and other professionals.

The pancreas is a gland that produces insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar. When the pancreas creates too little insulin, your body is resistance to insulin, or both, you may develop diabetes. There are two main types of diabetes:

• Type 1 develops when the pancreas produces little or no insulin.
• Type 2 usually occurs in adulthood, but is now being diagnosed in teens and young adults because of increased obesity.
  • Gestational diabetes sometimes develops during pregnancy in non-diabetic women.