Overview of Diabetes
This chronic medical condition can be broadly categorized into three types:
- Type 1 Diabetes – It is a non-treatable condition wherein the immune system attacks or destroys beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
- Type 2 Diabetes – The common diabetic condition, it mostly affects adults. Individuals diagnosed with it have developed insulin resistance or their pancreas fails to produce adequate insulin.
- Gestational Diabetes – Common during pregnancy and settling after childbirth, gestational diabetes needs to be managed tactfully else it may transform into Type-2 Diabetes.
What causes diabetes?
The type of diabetes needs to be considered for determining its cause. Here are the common causes enlisted:
- Type-1 Diabetes – Autoimmune response failure, genetics, environmental factors, etc
- Type -2 Diabetes – Lifestyle factors (poor diet, obesity, lack of physical activity, etc)
- Gestational Diabetes – hormonal changes during pregnancy
What are the 10 warning signs of diabetes?
No wonder diabetes remains unconfirmed until diagnosed via a blood test. Here are some early warning signs that call for the test. Identifying these diabetes symptoms allows you to attempt preventive measures or get the right treatment in a timely manner.
- Fatigue
- Frequent infections
- Increased thirst
- Urinating more than usual
- Unusual weight loss
- Hunger spikes
- Blurry vision
- Darkening of skin
- Slow healing of wounds
- Numbness/pain/tingling
What are the side effects of diabetes?
Diabetes can cause severe health complications. If not managed timely, these medical conditions may enter your life:
- Eye damage—If left untreated, diabetes can disrupt the blood vessels in the retina, further causing blindness.
- Nerve damage—High glucose levels in the blood damage nerves located in the limbs, triggering tingling sensations, pain, or numbness.
- Cardiovascular disorders – Diabetic patients are more at risk of stroke, heart disease, or high blood pressure.
- Kidney disorders – Diabetes damages the filtering system of kidneys which leads to organ failure.
- Skin conditions – Blood sugar imbalances increase exposure to several skin conditions/disorders.
- Hearing problems – The risk of impaired hearing increases too.
- Foot damage – Patients with diabetes diagnosed with nerve damage often undergo poor blood circulation in limbs.
- Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
How to prevent diabetes?
While it is not possible to prevent Type-1 diabetes, Type-2 diabetes and gestational diabetes can be prevented/delayed with several lifestyle changes. The common strategies for preventing the latter include:
- Adopting healthy eating habits – Watch what you eat and try to make little changes every day that take you towards a healthy diet. Eat more foods that are good for your body and don’t spike your blood glucose. Add fruits to your daily diet, have enough veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains. Make sure to include healthy fats too. On the other hand, cut down on processed food, canned juices, high-sugar foods, and any kind of saturated fats.
- Active Lifestyle – To call it an active lifestyle, one should be moving at least 10,000 steps a day. But, as life is differently busy for all, you can set realistic goals for yourself and try to achieve the daily target. Try to work out for at least 30 minutes three to four times a week. Such activeness helps in weight management and improves insulin sensitivity too.
- Maintain Ideal Body Weight – Reaching your ideal body weight can make so many health risks disappear, including Type-2 Diabetes. Even losing a few pounds can have a significant impact on your overall health.
- Regular Health Checkups – Tracking your blood sugar with regular health checkups allows detecting diabetes/pre-diabetes earlier. It allows timely treatment or preventive measures.
How to treat diabetes?
Firstly, educating yourself about this medical condition will allow you to have basic knowledge of what you are going through. Next, consult a diabetes expert for extended support regarding the management of this medical health issue.
Patients with blood glucose disorder are never prescribed the same medicine but according to tests and regular monitoring of blood glucose.
Diabetes can be managed effectively with a combined approach:
- Making necessary lifestyle improvements – Your healthcare professional shall help in outlining the major causes of diabetes in your case. According to the same, essential lifestyle changes should be made for re-aligning your health. For instance, switching to a nutritious diet, exercising regularly, and making efforts to reach your ideal body weight are common changes required.
- Getting treatment with the right medicines – As said, there is no ‘one size fits all’ for diabetes patients. As per your overall medical health and diabetes conditions, a treatment option will be prescribed. It can either be an oral medicine, an injectable drug, or an insulin injection which aids in controlling blood sugar.
- Monitoring blood sugar levels regularly – Tracking blood sugar levels regularly will help in adjusting the treatment plan timely whenever spikes happen. It also allows for preventing any major health issues related to blood sugar (blood pressure, heart disease, etc).
What are some medicines for diabetes?
Individuals diagnosed with Type-1, Type-2, or Gestational diabetes are prescribed medications according to the underlying symptoms, severity, age, weight, etc.
These commonly prescribed diabetes medications are:
- Januvia (Sitagliptin)
- Ozempic (Semaglutide)
- Jardiance (Empagliflozin)
- Insulin
- Metformin & more
How do diabetes medicines work?
Diabetes medicines regulate blood sugar levels in distinct ways. The working of the specific medicine varies from another depending on the type of diabetes it is used for and the body organ it focuses on. Overall, they aid in effective blood sugar management by:
- Boosting Insulin Production – Certain diabetes care medicines stimulate insulin production in the pancreas.
- Enhancing Insulin sensitivity – Some medications are designed for improving the body’s response towards insulin which further eases glucose absorption for the cells.
- Decreasing Glucose production – Drugs like Metformin work by lowering glucose production by the liver.
- Promoting Excretion of Glucose – Medicines like Jardiance allow kidneys to discard excess glucose in the body through urine.
- Slowing down absorption of Carbohydrates – Rapid absorption of carbs can spike blood glucose. So, some medicines work by slowing down its absorption in the digestive tract, thus preventing blood sugar spikes.
Conclusion
As seen, diabetes is quite common but with the right & timely approach, it can be managed effectively. Consult your physician, get tests done as advised, and start your medicines as prescribed. Thanks to advancements in the medical field, a lot of treatment options are available for diabetic individuals to be used as convenient.
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