Diabetes

Diabetes is a life-long condition in people with high blood sugar. Insulin is the substance that keep the blood sugar under control.

In diabetic people, the insulin is not produced at all, or their level of insulin is very low. In some cases, the level of insulin may be reasonable, but their body cells do not react to insulin.

The two main types of diabetes are

 Type 1 diabetes – where the body itself through the immune (defence systems) attacks and destroy the cells that produce insulin (cells of the pancreas). In these people, they have almost no insulin at all. They must be on insulin.

 Majority of the type1 diabetes are children, teenagers, and young adults.

Type 2 diabetes – where the body does not produce enough insulin or the body cells do not react to insulin. This type of diabetes is commoner and found in older people.

Pre-diabetes

Some people have blood sugar above normal range but not high enough to say that they have diabetes. It is sometimes called pre-diabetes

Important things to know about pre-diabetes

Diabetes is a life-long condition in people with high blood sugar. Insulin is the substance that keep the blood sugar under control.

In diabetic people, the insulin is not produced at all, or their level of insulin is very low. In some cases the level of insulin may be reasonable, but their body cells do not react to insulin.

• If your blood sugar is above the normal range, you have a higher chance of developing diabetes. So it serves as a serious warning signal
• If you are pre-diabetic, you can with little changes in your lifestyle ( healthy diet, weight loss, exercise, stop or reduce alcohol and stop smoking) make your sugar level normal again. If you continue with the changes you can delay the progression to diabetes at least or never develop diabetes at all.

 Like high blood pressure, it is important to check your blood sugar regularly once you are above 40. This is also important so that your diabetes can be detected as early as possible because it would get progressively worse and cause complication if left untreated.

  It is important to know that the most important thing in diabetes is the control of sugar. If the sugar level is reasonably controlled, you can live a perfectly normal life without the risk of complications.

The things people with diabetes complain of:

    Always feeling very thirsty

    Urinating more frequently than usual including at night.

    Itching around the penis and vagina or having too many episodes of thrush

    Feeling tired all the time

     Weight loss

    Wound heal slowly

    Blurred vision

The health problems diabetes can cause:

Heart disease and stroke

Loss of vision and blindness

Problems with the kidneys- chronic kidney disease and kidney failure

Miscarriage and stillbirth (baby die in the womb)

Either persistence feeling of pains, or loss of feeling in the legs and hands due to nerve damage

Sexual problems- problem with erection.

Foot problems- sores and infections.

Life with diabetes

When you have diabetes there are things you can do

Eat a healthy balanced diet with less starch and fat

Regular exercises

Less or no alcohol

Weight loss if you are overweight.

Have regular blood tests to check your sugar level

Regular eye check at least annually

Foot check at least annually.

Treatment

People with Type 1 diabetes require regular insulin

People with Type 2 diabetes may eventually require tablets. But if they make and ensure some lifestyle changes they may become pre-diabetic or their sugar levels could go back to normal levels again.