Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases where a person has high blood sugar due to either not producing enough insulin or cells not responding to insulin. The three main types are type 1 diabetes caused by failure to produce insulin, type 2 diabetes caused by insulin resistance, and gestational diabetes in pregnant women. Diabetes is treatable through insulin injections for type 1 and medications for type 2, though it remains a chronic condition. Without proper treatment, diabetes can lead to serious complications affecting the cardiovascular system, kidneys, eyes, and more.

1. 12/3/2010 Health Tips: DIABETES
Diabetes
Labels:DIABETES
Diabtes m ellitu s, often simply referred to as diabetes—is a group of metabolic diseases in which a
person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do
not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classic al sy mptoms of
poly uria (frequent urination), poly dipsia (increased thirst) and poly phagia (increased hunger).
There are three m ain types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes: results from the body's failure to produce insulin, and presently requires the person to
inject insulin.
Type 2 diabetes: results from insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly,
sometimes combined with an absolute insulin deficiency.
Gestational diabetes: is when pregnant women, who have never had diabetes before, have a high blood
glucose level during pregnancy. It may precede development of type 2 DM.
Other forms of diabetes mellitus include congenital diabetes, which is due to genetic defects of insulin
secretion, cy stic fibrosis-related diabetes, steroid diabetes induced by high doses of gluc oc ortic oids, and
sev eral forms of monogenic diabetes.
All forms of diabetes hav e been treatable sinc e insulin became av ailable in 1 921 , and ty pe 2 diabetes may
be controlled with medications. Both ty pe 1 and 2 are chronic conditions that usually cannot be cured.
Panc reas transplants hav e been tried with limited success in ty pe 1 DM; gastric by pass surgery has been
suc cessful in many with morbid obesity and ty pe 2 DM.
Gestational diabetes usually resolv es after deliv ery . Diabetes without proper treatments can cause many
complications. A cute complications include hy pogly cemia, diabetic ketoac idosis, or nonketotic
hy perosmolar coma. Serious long-term complications include cardiov ascular disease, chronic renal
failure, retinal damage. Adequate treatment of diabetes is thus important, as well as blood pressure
control and lifesty le factors such as smoking cessation and maintaining a healthy body weight.
Symptoms:
High blood sugar level
Dehydration of the body
Increase in thirst
Extreme tiredness
Loss in weight
Blurred vision
Dry and itchy skin
Repeated infections and increased healing time
Diabetes check is a must for:
People with diabetic background in the family
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2. 12/3/2010 Health Tips: DIABETES
Obese people
People above 35 years of age
Those with a sedentary life style
Those who were diagnosed diabetic during pregnancy (gestational diabetes)
People prone to hypertension
Those who have other disease, which may be precipitated or aggravated by diabetes
Diagnosis:
Fasting Blood Glucose (Blood Sugar) Level (FBS):
Diabetes can be diagnosed after an overnight fast (not eating anything after midnight). A value above 140
mg/dl on at least two occasions typically means a person has diabetes.
Normal people have fasting sugar levels that generally run between 70-110 mg/dl.
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT):
An oral glucose tolerance test can be performed in a doctor's lab. The person being tested should fast
overnight (having no food or drink except water for at least 10 hours but not greater than 16 hours). An initial
blood sugar is drawn and then the person is given a "glucola" bottle with a high amount of sugar in it (75
grams of glucose), (or 100 grams for pregnant women). Blood tests are done again at intervals of 30
minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours after drinking the high glucose drink.
The oral glucose tolerance test is conducted by measuring blood glucose levels five times over a period of 3
hours. In a person without diabetes, the glucose levels in the blood rise following drinking the glucose drink,
but then fall quickly back to normal. In a diabetic the glucose levels rise higher than normal after drinking
the glucose and takes a longer time to fall to normal.
Treatment:
Type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin, exercise and diet.
Type 2 diabetes is initially treated through weight reduction, exercise and diet. If this fails, insulin
is taken.
Prevention:
Prev ention of diabetes is possible through diet control and ex ercise. Ex ercise burns ex cess fat in the body .
Best exercises to burn fat are regular walks and aerobics. A balanc ed diet low in fat and sugar is an ideal
diet. The meals should be taken in many small supplements spread ov er the day replacing the usual three
meals a day .
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Disclaim er;-
The contents of this site / Blog are for informational purposes only .
They are not meant to be a substitute for professional adv ice .
Please Consult y our family phy sic ian for Adv ice /Treatment .
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