Diabetes????!

Diabetes????

does diabetes mean a shortage of sugar in the blood or a surpluss?

actually there are two kinds of diabetes. There is type 1 [also called IDDM or juvenille] diabetes and type 2 [adult onset]. They shouldn't both be named 'Diabetes' since they each have different causes, different treatments, and [for the most part] different symptoms. Type 2 is considered a lifestyle disease. It's when you make insulin but not enough, usually can be controlled by diet, exercise or an oral medication that simply makes your pancreas speed up production of insulin.
Type 1 is where you make no insulin at all. Always treated or managed by taking insulin injections. Insulin itself can't be taken in pill form as your stomach will break it down as a protein / hormone.

The insulin your pancreas makes is what turns what you eat [protiens, carbs, sugars, etc] into fuel for your body. Without insulin to put the glucose to work, the sugars/glucose build up and damage nearly every organ, system, and aspect of a persons health.
So Diabetes is a lack of insulin, and [without treatment] causes excessive glucose / sugar in the body.
There are two opposite extremes of the blood sugar rollercoaster that are dangerous. both can lead to two different types of coma's. Kedoacidosis- an abundance of sugar in the system, usually for long periods.
or
Hypoglycemic [?] shock- which is when the medicine taken for controlling blood sugar [BS] levels drop too low and the lack of sugar cuts off oxygen the the brain and more, making a diabetic disorientated along with many symptoms you may want to look into.