Diabetes Mellitus is estimated to affect nearly 8% of the population in the United States, about one-third of whom are undiagnosed. The incidence rate is equal in men and women and rises with age. It is the leading cause of renal failure, new adult blindness and the cause of cardiovascular diseases to nearly two-thirds of people with the disease. It is a chronic disease in which blood glucose or sugar levels are too high and a disease of absolute or relative insulin deficiency or resistance. Glucose comes from the foods you eat and insulin is a hormone that helps the glucose to get into cells to be utilized as energy to keep you going. Insulin regulates the metabolism of glucose in the body and is said to be the key or gatekeeper for the glucose to enter the cells while glucose is considered as fuel of the body.

This condition occurs in two forms: Type I (Insulin dependent) and Type II (Non-insulin dependent).

In Type I diabetes or formerly called juvenile diabetes wherein majority occurs before the age of 30, your body does not make insulin or does not produce enough insulin. In this form of diabetes, the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells of the pancreas which is the reason why it does not produce insulin anymore.

The person manifests increased production of urine because the body tries to get rid of the excess glucose in the urine, diluting it with water. A person with this type of diabetes also experiences excessive thirst, the body becomes unable to convert glucose into energy which causes fatigue, weight loss, the feeling of being sick, increased appetite, blurred vision, and infections which includes thrush or irritation of the genitals. Treatment includes insulin replacement, diet (making wise food choices), and proper exercise to achieve control. The recent forms of insulin replacement include mixed-dose, single-dose, multiple dose regimens and split-mixed dose.

The most common type of diabetes is the non-insulin-dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes which is now popularly known as Type 2 diabetes. Anyone can develop type 2 diabetes at any age—even during childhood. The pancreas secretes insulin, however, the body either partially or completely cannot use the insulin, the pancreas keeps up with the added demand by producing more insulin. In time, however, it loses the ability to secrete enough insulin in response to meals. Without enough insulin, the glucose stays in your blood. Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause serious problems. It can damage your eyes, kidneys, and nerves.

Diabetes may cause some of the major diseases in the body like heart disease, an unexpected stroke and even the necessity to remove a limb or other parts of the body. Being overweight and inactive increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes. Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes may include fatigue, blurred vision and frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger (especially after eating), dry mouth, unexplained weight loss (even though you are eating and feeling hungry most of the time), headaches, and loss of consciousness (a rare case).  People who have Type 2 diabetes may require oral anti-diabetic drugs in order to stimulate endogenous insulin sensitivity, suppress conversion of lactic acid to glucose, and delay gastrointestinal absorption of carbohydrates.

What You Need To Know About Diabetes Mellitus is from: Diabetes Insider.com

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Millions of people live with diabetes every day all over the world. Both types of diabetes can be perfectly and efficiently controlled with medication and a change of life habits. Diabetes has no cure and you cannot recover from any damage caused by uncontrolled diabetes. Blindness or loss of limbs is permanent, so is liver and kidney damage. Modern medicine could transplant any of these organs but this does not count under recuperation.

Controlling diabetes may take some effort at the beginning but man is an animal of habits and once you incorporate your medication time and insulin tests into your routine you should be fine. Before diabetes is under control with medication other things must be done too. They are life changing events that you have to implement in your life so you can have better health and avoid diabetic complications.

The first of them is to lose weight and start eating healthy foods. You must stop ingesting saturated fats and excessive amounts of carbohydrates. This is vital for your liver and kidneys to heal themselves and to get some rest from the overexertion they have been exposed to while trying to keep up with your eating habits. Water must also be added to your diet, not juice or soft drinks, pure crystal clear water. Water carries a lot of toxins and chemicals out from your cells and into the toilet. It also helps to make the liver’s job easier and faster. Blood cells die constantly and they must be replenished, water is necessary for this purpose.

Losing weight will improve your heart rate and blood pressure; this will allow your heart a break from the stress too. Once you have lost some weight it is time to start with a light exercise program, no running or weights, just a half an hour brisk walk in the park will do to get your metabolism started and working again. This will also help you lose weight and keep it off. The combination of healthy food and exercise cleans your body of toxins that have been slowing it down and making it malfunction for a long time.

You will feel much better with yourself once the weight has decreased and your systems are working again, in case of diabetes type 2 the amounts of medication you need to take may decrease and sometimes even stop if your decrease the amount of carbohydrates you ingest allowing your pancreas to process food with the little insulin it produces. In the case of diabetes type 1 your medication will not change but it will improve the quality of your life immensely.

You will always have to continue with medication and daily insulin measurement but you will be able to go out and enjoy yourself instead of just sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. You will have more energy and will do things you hadn’t done in a long time. Diabetic control and medication is definitely a must after you have been diagnosed but they are things you will get used to and will keep you alive and healthy.

Can Diabetes Be Controlled and Can You Recover From It is from: Diabetes Insider.com

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Diabetes is a bodily disorder which occurs mainly due to improper metabolism i.e. the human body produces little or no insulin and as a result the blood glucose could not be converted into energy. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which makes the blood glucose to get utilized by the cells.
The food which we eat is broken down into glucose and it later moves into the blood stream. It is this insulin which makes the cells to utilize the glucose in the blood. The cells convert blood glucose into energy for its growth and development. However this may not become possible as the body fails to produce insulin. As a result the blood sugar level piles up in your body and the excess blood glucose thus passes out through urine.

Even though body has enough glucose, the cells cannot convert it into energy.
Also keep in mind that human body has to keep the blood sugar at a normal level or else it may lead to severe medical complications.

What are the causes of diabetes?
Unlike any other disease, the causes of diabetes are not known exactly. Over many years scientists are trying to unravel the mystery behind diabetes and still they don’t have a clear-cut answer. However there are certain factors which induce the formation of diabetes. These factors are therefore known as risk factors and one should try to overcome it.

When speaking of diabetes, the first question that arises in your mind is whether diabetes has any genetic traits. It has been found that a person whose family members having diabetes are more prone to diabetes. It is mainly because of certain genes which pass from the parents to children and the severity of the disease depends on the closeness of the blood relationship.
It has been found that people of older age are more prone to diabetes than younger age people. Though diabetes may occur at any age, 3/4th of the cases are people after 45 years.

Another major risk factor of diabetes is your dietary habit. The more you are addicted to junk and refined foods, higher will be the risk of developing diabetes. Similarly a low nutritional diet is also responsible for developing diabetes.
Obesity increases the chance of diabetes as excess weight is more resistance to insulin. Therefore the best possible way to avoid diabetes is to reduce your excess weight.
Lifestyle also plays a crucial role in developing diabetes. Person who does regular exercise is less prone to diabetes than one who follows a sedentary life style.
Frequent physical or mental stress is considered as the initial cause of diabetes. Some persons might have handling more pressurized jobs which causes some kind of stress in them. Failure of managing the stress may result in the formation of diabetes in future.

There are certain medications which can induce this disease. Therefore those who are consuming medicines regularly should ensure whether it may lead to any side effects such as diabetes.

Also people with the habit of smoking are more vulnerable to develop diabetes. Unless a person stops smoking, he still remains in the hit list of diabetes

What Causes Diabetes is from: Diabetes Insider.com

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Juvenile Diabetes

It is a worrying fact that diabetes emerges as a major health hazard of all time. Studies have found that this deadly disease takes away more lives every year than any other disease.

Now a day children are also being affected by this deadly disease. It affects children of any age, even new born babies and kids. If left unnoticed, this disease becomes more severe and can even lead to brain damage. However in majority of the cases diabetes is overlooked in children. It is because there is a false belief that children won’t get affected by diabetes. Sometimes diabetes is misdiagnosed as flu or it is mistakenly considered as some other disease. The effect of diabetes is severe as it may eventually lead to nerve damage, blindness and kidney failure in your child and thus making his life more complicated.

Just as in the case of adults, the exact cause of diabetes in children remains unknown. However it is believed that both genetic and environmental factors induce the formation of diabetes in your children. In contrary, studies have found that Type 1 diabetes develop among children who don’t have a family history of diabetes

Symptoms of diabetes in Children

The symptoms of diabetes in children remain the same as in adults. The symptoms seem to appear with in a few weeks after being affected diseases. Some of the common symptoms that a diabetic child used to come across are

frequent urination
unquenched thirst
sudden weight loss
fatigue
headaches
abdominal pain
behavioral problems

Treatments for a diabetic child

Almost every child with diabetes has to undergo the insulin treatment. In such a case, your child needs individual care and attention. For that, you have to adopt an individual insulin routine for your child.

While following the dosage regime, use the heavy dosage insulin during the daytime and low dose insulin during the night. However infants don’t need injection at night, but they will need when they grow up. On the other hand grown up children can use insulin pumps to have a constant control over diabetes. During the initial stage of diagnosis your child needs only slight doses of insulin. Just like insulin treatment, you should have an eye over your child’s blood sugar level and also in the avoidance of hypo (a condition due to the attack of low blood sugar).
What the parents should do?

It will be definitely a tough situation for the parents. Putting you under stress makes thing even worse. So it is you who has to support your child as well as the family.
First of all understand the various aspects of the disease, its symptoms and the treatment methods. This will help you benefit your child.

You should know how to use the insulin injections and also teach your child when getting older.

Inform your child’s school and friends circle, so that they can take necessary steps at the time of emergency.

Check the blood sugar level at regular intervals and seek the advice of doctor.

Annual walk brings hope to families who deal with the disease one step at a time.

Ben Newell was only 4 when he went on his first Walk to Cure Diabetes two years ago. As he and his parents reached their car afterward, Ben had a question.

“Is my diabetes cured now?” he said. “That’s what we told him,” says his mother, June. “This is the Walk to Cure Diabetes.” As Ben goes door-to-door rasing money this week for this year’s walk on Saturday, the disease shared by 16 million Americans remains incurable, but the prospects are looking more hopeful.

Last spring saw a vaccine that prevented the development of Type I, juvenile diabetes, in mice. Summer brought news of possible genetic manipulation that would enable people to grow the insulin-producing cells that are missing in juvenile diabetics. Research continues on transplanting pancreatic islet cells for the same purpose.

Ben, who has learned that scientists need lots and lots of money, is racing the calendar. He was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 10 months, and complications can surface as early as five to six years later. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness and amputations that don’t result from injuries. Diabetics are at least twice as likely as the rest of us to have a heart attack or stroke, and their average lifespan is 15 years shorter.

Meanwhile, Ben is a 6-year-old boy who loves playing football, soccer and golf and is excited by Pokemon and dinosaurs. He’s like other sixth-graders, aside from the insulin shots and the finger prickings and the tightly regulated snack regimen that sometimes requires eating when he’s not hungry or going without when he is.

Most 6-year-olds’ parents, for example, have never said, “You can’t have any fruit now but you can have a pickle.” Nor do they have such a thorough knowledge of food labels. “It sure changes your view of a grocery store,” Ben’s mother says.

Ben’s day always begins with a blood test from a prick in his finger. “There’s no sleeping in on the weekends,” Newell says. Then he gets an insulin shot as soon as the blood-sugar test results show how much he needs. It’s the shots that really hurt, Ben says.

Juvenile diabetics produce no insulin, and Type II or adult-onset diabetics either produce not enough or don’t use it efficiently. But diabetics lack the ability to regulate their blood sugar in either direction, so the insulin shots for lowering sugar levels in Type I are only part of the treatment. Frequent food is also essential, to keep the sugar levels from going too low.

So Ben always has breakfast, and he always has a snack at around 9:30. He needs to prick his finger again before lunch to see whether he needs another insulin shot or a heavier meal. He’s doing that himself this year at school.

“He gets frustrated now that he’s older,” Newell says. “He doesn’t want to be the last one to eat at lunch.” But the people at Elementary School and the Children’s Center for day care are both accommodating and interested in what they need to learn about diabetes, she says.

Ben eats another snack at 3 p.m. at day care, then has another blood test and shot before dinner at 6. He needs another test and snack later in the evening, and if his blood sugar is low then, his mom or dad tests him again at 2 a.m. Either way, they check on him then.

“He had a seizure last April at night, and he was afraid to go to bed unless we promised to do that,” Newell says.

The seizure, from very low blood sugar, illustrated how complex the chemistry of diabetes can be. That was one of the first nice spring days, and Ben had done a lot of running around. Exercise brings down blood sugar. “I guess we didn’t give him a big enough snack before bed,” Newell says.

But another time, when Ben played with a group of friends and his parents figured he’d need extra food, it turned out he needed insulin instead. The excitement and stimulation had driven his sugar up more than the activity brought it down.

“Any stress. How active you are. All that influences his blood-sugar levels,” Newell says.

He’s old enough now to recognize when his blood sugar is fluctuating. “He’s really picked up on the snack part,” Newell says, and knows to eat his cake without frosting, say, when his school class is having a party. On days when a field trip changes his routine, Ben brings up his schedule so his parents can adjust his snacking and sticking.

“He’ll tell us, `I’m low. I need some food,’ ‘ his mom says. His 4-year-old sister, Danielle also has learned the words “I’m low” mean “snack time.”

“So sometimes she’ll tell us she’s low,” Newell says with a laugh. “That usually doesn’t get her too far.”

Juvenile Diabetes is from: Diabetes Insider.com

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