Diabetes: what everyone should know

More recently, the diagnosis of diabetes sounded like a sentence, but today doctors have learned how to cope with this disease successfully, although it still remains a medical and social problem. Disruption of glucose uptake or insufficiency of the hormone insulin negatively affects the work of all internal organs and systems. All types of metabolism are impaired, the kidneys and visual function are affected. What should everyone know about this disease?

Every year, patients with diabetes are becoming more

Diabetes really remains one of the most common diseases in the world. Every 10-15 years, the number of people suffering from this disease doubles. In 2016 there were 415 million of them, and I must say that half of them did not know about their illness. In the light of such events, scientists are forced to constantly look for new effective ways to prevent and treat an illness, notify the population about the danger, which for a long time does not reveal itself, but day and night destroys the body and first of all the blood vessels. There are already first successes in this direction. For example, the number of people suffering from type 1 diabetes has increased significantly, which was achieved by improving the quality of medical care and extending the life of these patients.

What is the main danger of such a disease?

Do not think that you can cope with diabetes yourself, simply by minimizing the proportion of sweets in the diet. Yes, the correct diet still remains the same and very important part of therapy, but the therapy is complex. The patient must necessarily monitor their health, regularly measure the level of glucose in the blood and take the appropriate glucose – lowering drugs, and in some cases they can and should be replaced with insulin injections. This insidious disease is fraught with the development of a variety of early and late complications. It affects the heart, kidneys, eyes, blood vessels and nerves. According to statistics, heart attacks and strokes on the background of diabetes mellitus occur 2-3 times more often than in ordinary “cores”.

Due to damage to the nerves and blood vessels, any damage on the body can lead to the formation of a long non-healing wound or ulcer. Most often, such a pathological process affects the lower extremities, and due to loss of sensitivity, the person does not immediately notice that something is wrong with his leg, and he turns to the doctor too late when tissue necrosis develops and the question of limb amputation arises. Blindness and renal failure are also a consequence of the disease. Complications such as diabetic retinopathy associated with lesions of the retina of the eye can lead to complete blindness, and chronic renal failure develops in diabetic nephropathy.

Who is at risk and how to detect an increase in blood glucose?

Endocrinologist Elena Doskina emphasizes that the statistics on diabetes mellitus is growing due to the so-called insulin – independent diabetes. This disease is characterized by normal and even increased insulin production, but the interaction of this hormone with the cells of the body is broken. The main reason for the negative changes in this process is obesity. The number and structure of receptors vary so much that they simply stop interacting with this hormone. Therefore, most often type 2 diabetes is acquired over the years due to overeating and decreased motor activity.This should be remembered by anyone who abuses fast food and convenience foods, leads a sedentary lifestyle.

In a special risk group, persons with burdened heredity. Scientists have proven several hundred years ago that “sweet   blood can be inherited. If one of the partners is ill with diabetes, then the probability of the birth of a child with type 1 diabetes is 10%, and with type 2 diabetes – 80%.Therefore, all people who have relatives with such a disease, it is necessary to more closely monitor the state of their health. The first warning signs worth paying attention to are frequent urination and frequent thirst. Permanent tireless hunger also indicates possible problems with glucose uptake. It develops due to the inability of cells to absorb and process glucose in the absence or absence of insulin.

The diagnosis is forever?

Indeed, to date no effective treatment has been developed for the disease. All known drugs can only alleviate the condition of the patient, eliminate the symptoms of the disease, but they cannot cope with its cause. However, Elena Doskina believes that this is not a reason to put an end to her life. Diabetics can and should live a full life, but for this they will have to reconsider something in it, change the approach to nutrition, their attitude to sports. They must understand that   blood   their body changed its composition, not because the disease arose, but because they themselves provoked such negative changes in their own way of life.

When they understand this, it will be much easier and easier for them to transfer all the restrictions associated with the illness. After all, you can always find a healthy substitute for saturated fats, instead of butter, lard and fatty meat by consuming vegetable oils, lean meat and low-fat dairy products. Instead of sugar, use substitutes, but the most important thing to do is to give up bad habits. Smoking combined with diabetes mellitus significantly increases the risk of vascular catastrophes, and alcohol causes an even greater increase in blood glucose levels.

What drugs are used to treat the disease?

There are a variety of drugs designed to cope with hyperglycemia. For the maintenance of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, predominantly tableted hypoglycemic agents are used. Insulin therapy is indicated for persons with type 1 diabetes, although it can be recommended for patients with type 2 diabetes, when the secretory activity of the pancreas decreases, and hypoglycemic drugs are no longer able to cope effectively with their task. In any case, the decision on this issue must be taken by the doctor, but the patient must know which principles are vital for him. He must clearly understand what kind of food is acceptable for him, and what is not.

The practice shows that with time the patient gets used to his ailment, he has time to study it, and even without the meter to know when it’s time to take another dose of insulin or medication. If a person constantly “keeps his finger on the pulse”, not hoping at random, but carrying the burden of responsibility for his health, he will be able to live fully and enjoy life, like ordinary people.

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