January 31, 2011
What is diabetes?
Diabetes Mellitus is a condition in which the pancreas is unable to secrete enough insulin or fails to secrete any insulin to maintain a normal blood sugar level, thus highblood sugar levels. In Type 1 diabetes, there is an immune response against the pancreasand is common in children. In Type 2, there is insulin but it fails to acts at its receptor sites due to high resistance, thus poor sugar control. It accounts for more than 85% of all diabetes and is common in those aged 40yrs or older.
Myths
• Only overweight guys get diabetes: 20 % of type 2 diabetics are not overweight.
Some slim guys as the Japanese have type 2 diabetes. Obesity only increases the risk.
• Eating sweets causes diabetes; Diabetes is a gene, immune reaction and a lifestyle disease. Sweets may influence whether or not the genes for diabetes get triggered.
• Only adults get type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is increasingly being seen in children at an alarming rate, and that you can get type 1 at any age. Certain genes such as GCK, TNFI4 and HNF4A are related to type 2 diabetes in children.
• Taking insulin means poor prognosis; Insulin is just a normal body requirement and those taking it have the same need as those taking drugs. In diabetes, overtime your body produces less insulin, and/or your ability to use the insulin you do produce decreases.
• If my family has it, then I will get it; You are only predisposed to diabetes and exposure to lifestyle risks can cause diabetes. Better watch out for symptoms and do yearly sugar test.
• Insulin shots are painful; With new technology, today’s insulin injections are painless. The syringes are so short and thin that they wold cause much less pain or no pain at all.
• If I lose weight and don’t require medicine anymore, I’m healed! Diabetes is a lifelong disease. The disappearance of symptoms does not mean you are healed but the the condition remains. If you have type 1 diabetes, then no matter how much weight you lose you will always require insulin, but you may require less.
• Once diabetes is under control, there’s no need for check up; Since diabetes affects most organs, you must go for regular eye, nerve, skin, kidneys and other organ check up to prevent and treat complications.
• Foods won’t raise my blood sugar;Healthy foods also contain carbohydrates, which raise blood sugar to much higher levels than you can imagine. You constantly need to control the blood sugar levels.
• When I feel the symptoms of low blood sugar, I should eat sweets till I feel better; Always follow the rule of 15. If blood sugar is under 70 mg/dl (4mmol/l), eat 15grams of fast-acting, rapidly digested carbohydrate and wait 15 minutes.
Recheck blood glucose level. If still below 70 mg/dl, eat another fifteen grams of carbohydrate and test after fifteen minutes. If it does not rise above 70 mg/dl within thirty minutes after treating, get help.
• Once on drugs, I don’t need exercise: Actually, even if you take medication, physical activity helps you better control blood sugar, aids in weight loss, and makes insulin more effective.
• I cant take alcohol: Actually you can and the recommended daily intake should be limited to a moderate amount (1 drink -5-15g/day- for women, 2 drinks formen). Moderate alcohol helps reduce coronary heart problems and should be consumed with food in individuals treated with insulin.