Whether you are new to diabetes, old to it, have friends or family who got diagnosed or simply a curious reader; you have come to the right place to get your information.
Definition:
“A disease in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is
impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood”
There are 3 types of diabetes:
1. Type 1 diabetes: It is uncommon knowledge that children can also develop diabetes. Type 1 is majorly seen in children and adolescents, it happens because their bodies produce
little to no insulin. Hence, they need to take regular insulin shots to maintain blood sugar levels.
2. Type 2 diabetes: Adults suffer from type 2 diabetes and it accounts for upto 77% of the diabetes cases. The onset of type 2 diabetes is much slower and can be triggered faster by an unhealthy lifestyle. Considering which, it can be held off by having a healthier lifestyle including a diet and physical activity. However, over time most people with type 2 diabetes will require oral drugs and/or insulin to keep their blood glucose levels under control.
3. Gestational diabetes: Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a type of diabetes that consists of high blood glucose during pregnancy and is associated with complications to both mother and child. GDM usually disappears after pregnancy but women affected and their children are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Urinating frequently
• Feeling parched/ thirsty
• Extreme hunger even whilst you’ve been eating
• Feeling very fatigued
• Blurred vision
• Wounds that heal slowly
• Weight loss despite a good appetite (type 1)
• Numbness, tingling, pins & needles in the hands/feet (type 2)
You can use a blood sugar test kit to do a finger prick test to check your blood sugar on the spot. It’s uncertain how often you may need to do it, but you should whenever you do feel unwell.
It’s recommended to keep track
of your diabetes to know it’s effects on your health. For instance, you should check your blood sugar levels before and after eating to see how it affects your blood sugar levels.
You may even want to do the test before and after exercising to do the same analysis. This will allow you to know how much to eat, what not to eat, how much to exercise, etc. It will also help you to adjust your medicine
dose. It’s important to know your body’s limits to not let your diabetes inhibit your daily life.
For the concern of diabetes, one should be visiting an endocrinologist. There are also many top websites that raise funds for research and provide all-rounded support for diabetes like:
India being the country with the 2nd highest diabetes cases, we should be keeping ourselves updated with the complete knowledge and developments on this topic to take care of ourselves and the ones around us.
Like it was mentioned earlier, it’s highly recommended to purchase home kits that do blood sugar tests. Apart from that, keep a record of your blood sugar readings. You can use an app to track it, write it in the notebook or rely on the memory feature of your glucose monitor. You will be able to spot trends with this and it will be effective in helping your doctor analyse these trends and spot problems.
Diabetes takes time to show it’s long-term effects. The more lax you are with taking care of and maintaining your blood sugar, the more complications can arise. And going on, diabetes can even become disabling or life threatening. These are the various possible complications below:
• Cardiovascular disease
The risk of coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis) are drastically increased due to diabetes. Having diabetes
makes a person more likely to have heart disease or stroke.
• Nerve damage (neuropathy)
Excess sugar is injurious to the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially
in your legs. This can cause tingling, pain, numbness or burning that begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and slowly spreads upward. If left untreated, you could lose all sensation in the affected limbs or area. Nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea or constipation can become problems when the damage is in the abdominal nerves. For men, it can even lead to erectile dysfunction.
• Kidney damage (nephropathy)
The kidneys have millions of tiny blood vessel clusters (glomeruli) which are responsible for filtering waste from your blood. Diabetes can lead to damage to this delicate filtering
system. Severe damage will lead to kidney failure or irreversible end-stage kidney disease, such patients may require regular dialysis or a kidney transplant.
• Eye damage (retinopathy)
Diabetes is
known to damage the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy), which leads to blindness. Cataracts and glaucoma are also at an increased risk of occurrence due to diabetes.
• Foot damage
Due to diabetes, there is a higher risk of developing foot lesions and wounds which can be hard to notice initially, but may further worsen and form disabling ulcers. These wounds take a very
long time to heal and are known to progressively worsen. It can on various occasions lead to toe, leg or foot amputation.
• Skin conditions
Diabetes leaves patients vulnerable to skin problems including
bacterial and fungal infections.
• Hearing impairment
Diabetes is associated with a loss of hearing or other hearing problems.
• Alzheimer's disease
The risk of dementia
is increased by Type 2 diabetes. Alzeheimer’s disease is a type of dementia, which causes memory loss due to brain cell degeneration. Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease. The risk of which
is directly proportional to your blood sugar control.
Taking care and watching your lifestyle and habits will help you the most in the long run. With the right treatment, you can live worry-free of your diabetes.
Not sure how to deal with foot problems? Come see how our knowledge can help teach you how to take care and avoid foot problems and disorders.
