Archive for October, 2008
October 6th, 2008 -- Posted in The Health Medical |
When suffering from diabetes, it is often the best decision to change your diet. Nutrition is an extremely important part of managing your condition, as, especially with type 2 Diabetes; this is effectively your only necessary treatment. Nutrition is not hard to understand, and your doctor can help you draw up a nutritional plan, or refer you to a nutritionist who can work alongside you.
The best way to create a suitable plan is to make one which is individual to you. By doing this, you can ensure that you are eating the right foods to counteract your own individual condition, and can also ensure that you are not eating food that you will not enjoy. Eating nutritional foods as treatment for your diabetes is not supposed to be a chore, but is supposed to be something easy to incorporate into your daily life.
You can also find a lot of help on nutrition online, or in books. These will make sure you can keep to a suitable plan. Finding such information can benefit you in the long run. Arming yourself with good information about diabetes is a good start in the battle against diabetes. Knowing as much as there is to know about the subject can exponentially increase the chances of success. By following some simple nutritional guidelines you can end up on the right path to healthy diabetes regulation.
Here are some brief guidelines to handling your diabetes through nutrition.
Eat a balanced, healthy diet. This means eating your five a day. Try to lower you salt intake, your fat intake, and your sugar intake. This is not as bad as it sounds. There are many low sodium options on the market, or you can stop adding extra salt to your food. Similarly, there are low fat options, or simply eating a leaner meat can help with this.
Avoiding foods which are high in sugar are extremely important, especially refined sugars. These will immediately go to your blood, increasing your blood glucose levels which can make you seriously ill due to your condition. Another key part to managing your nutrition as a diabetic is to remember to limit your intake of alcoholic beverages. While you do not have to give up drinking, you must ensure never to drink in excess.
Social drinking is also something that must be monitored closely. Drinking with a group of friends can be fun and entertaining, yet many of the times that we go out we can end up drinking more excessively and that can have a negative effect impact upon diabetes. Drinking in a social gathering usually reduces your ability to say no, especially in an environment that promotes binge drinking. This can be dangerous in and of itself, as by letting go of your inhibitions, you will ultimately find yourself with a problem.
To some, changing your lifestyle to suit your diabetes can be a difficult road to go down. It can be very hard to commit to it, but it is essential to living without diabetes complications.
October 3rd, 2008 -- Posted in The Health Medical |
As with most diseases you will find that there will be complications. Diabetes is no different. Diabetes can be something that is very difficult to endure, depending upon your tolerance for pain. It is not an easy disease to live with as many times it can involve daily monitoring and meds. This is no life to live and it can definitely rub you thin regardless of how strong or tolerant you think you are.
Luckily, with the recent developments of medicine and science, Diabetes has become a perfectly manageable condition. However, if a sufferer remains undiagnosed, or if it is not treated correctly, it can lead to a variety of different health problems. The high level of glucose within your blood can cause damage to your blood vessels, nerves, and organs. This can leave a long term effect on your health.
If you do suffer from either type 1 or type 2 Diabetes then there are some long term conditions which you are at a much higher risk of suffering. These are: heart disease and stroke, nerve damage, retinopathy and kidney disease. None of which are fun to have.
As the blood vessels become damaged, the body may become starved of oxygen. This can result in chest pains known as angina. Sufferers of diabetes will find that it also increases the chance that a blood vessel in your heart or brain could suffer from a blockage. This can cause heart attacks, or a stroke.
Many suffers from Diabetes will also complain of a tingling or burning sensation up their limbs, or in fingers and toes. The small blood vessels of your nerves can become damaged due to the high blood glucose levels, causing your nerves to become damaged and tingle. If other areas, such as the digestive system, are affected, suffers can become nauseous, or suffer from problems such as diarrhea and constipation.
Retinopathy is a condition where the retina becomes damaged. The blocked blood vessels within the sufferer’s eye may become broken, or grow dangerously. In left untreated, it can lead to damaged or even lost vision. This is also how kidney disease may be caused. The blood vessels cause the kidneys to work less effectively. In severe cases this could lead to kidney failure, and the sufferer may require a transplant.
Not everyone who has diabetes exhibits many or all of these diabetes complications. Through proper diabetes management diabetes complications can be reduced to little more than small annoyances that can be relatively pain free. Following a regimen that is prescribed by a proper medical authority could also decrease the chances of having diabetes complications.
Diabetes is a very serious disease that needs to be addressed and regulated. Ignoring possible symptoms or prescribed medications could lead to many of the diabetes complications listed below. The worst part is that it is not limited to the complications such as heart disease and kidney failure, but it could also prove to be fatal. This makes it important to follow the proper instructions from your physician.
October 1st, 2008 -- Posted in The Health Medical |
Technically speaking, despite positive efforts at curing diabetes, all attempts to create a cure for diabetes has been met with an unfortunate result. Currently, there is no cure for diabetes. There are only things that can be done to help ensure a normal mortality rate. Once you have been diagnosed with diabetes you will end up having it for the entirety of your life. The good news is that it can be contained and its negative effects can be reduced to little more than annoyances.
Following the directions of your doctor can limit most of the ill effects that diabetes can cause. With minimum negative impact most diabetics can end up living normal lives and live for a normal lifespan. This can only be achieved through proper regulation and medical attention.
Diabetes is a common condition, with type 1 or type 2 affecting a lot of people throughout their life. It is a condition which occurs when the body produces no, or not enough insulin to break down the glucose within the blood. There are around 2.3 million sufferers who have been diagnosed, but there may also be over half a million who are yet to be diagnosed. Diabetes which remains untreated, or which is not treated properly, can be especially dangerous to the sufferer as it increases the risk of their death.
The treatment for Type 1 diabetes is a lifetime series of insulin injections, which provide the body with the necessary insulin that is not created by itself. Similarly, type 2 diabetes must be managed through the strict control of the sufferer’s diet; although, if the condition worsens with age, the sufferer may later need insulin injections with this form of diabetes too.
Scientists and Doctors now understand why diabetes happens, but it is still impossible for an actual cure to the condition to be provided. There are however theoretical causes for the diabetic condition. One of these is the transplant of the pancreas. Some patients have recovered from their diabetes after this transplant, but it is not a conclusive finding.
Scientists are also attempting cell transplants, which they think may cure diabetes. However, although it has been applied to both mice and humans, the immune system of the patient quite often begins to work, and attacks at the transplanted cells. Although stem-cell research continues, if the cells are attacked before they begin to work then it is unlikely that this will ever become a suitable cure for diabetes.
As Diabetes is incurable, it is best to either attempt to avoid suffering, or to manage your symptoms as best as possible. Diabetes has been shown to be a genetic condition, as well as one developed through life. For those sufferers, diabetes is harder to maintain. But it can be controlled with a healthy life style. For others, you should attempt to maintain a healthy life style, as obesity can be a cause of diabetes.
Eventually, scientists may be able to find a cure for sufferers. But until that time maintaining your health, and remembering to take your medication, will allow you to live a full and normal life.
