Diabetes happens as a result of the body’s inability to metabolize sugar because the pancreas cannot secrete enough insulin. Consequently, the sugar in the blood system will increase to harmful level. Diabetes rank third to the nation’s most serious health threat after heart disease and cancer.
Diabetes is a chronic disease. People who are afflicted with diabetes have high blood glucose levels. Diabetes will make the patient becomes more vulnerable to other health problems such as heart attack or stroke. Diabetes can be controlled and prevented. Doctors that are specialized in treating people with diabetes are called endocrinologist.
There are two types of diabetes which are maturity onset and juvenile. Maturity onset diabetes affects 90% of all diabetics. Most of the sufferers of maturity onset diabetes are over 40 years old with a minority of them being over 30 years old. Hereditary factor is also one of the causes of maturity onset diabetes. About 50 percent of diabetics have a blood relative that suffers from diabetes.
Maturity onset diabetes develops progressively and its symptoms will not appear immediately. The patient may suffer from high sugar blood level for as long as ten years before symptoms of the disease appear. Diabetes can be discovered early if the patient is perceptive to subtle clues. In maturity onset diabetes patient, the pancreas will still continue to produce insulin therefore the fatal effects of ketoacidosis (abnormally high acid blood) and diabetic coma seldom happen.
Juvenile diabetes occurs normally in people before the age of 30. In patient that suffers from juvenile diabetes, the pancreas will stop producing insulin. People that are afflicted with juvenile diabetes produce no insulin of their own therefore they must quickly receive sustaining dosages of insulin to prevent the risk ketoacidosis which will proceed to diabetic coma and then death.
If the sugar in the blood exceeds 185 milligrams per milliliter, it will be presence in the urine. When a doctor performs urine test on a diabetic patient, it will discover the condition glycosuria. If the condition is sustained over a period of time, the sugar will increase the volume of urine, thus the person will feel thirsty and loses weight. Initially, this will increase the patient’s appetite to eat more to compensate the calories loss but if the diabetic patient did not receive any treatment, this will lead to nausea and vomiting and then diabetic coma. The symptoms of diabetes include increased thirst, frequent urination, and sleep interruption at night to urinate and weight loss.
Before the acute signs of diabetes appear, subtle clues such as obesity and a family history of diabetes may indicate the disease. People who suffers from diabetes also have a number of ailments such as boils, carbuncles, furuncles that are diagnoses in patient that undergone poor treatment. Shin spots, a brown pigmented area that is round usually appear on the front leg over the shinbone of a diabetic. A woman that feels itching below may be a warning sign that there is a fungal infection that irritates the vulvar areas. High blood sugar levels make a good medium for fungus but this can be control with the administration of antifungal medication.
Hypoglycemia can occur three to four times after the meal and may be a sign of mild maturity onset diabetes. Hypoglycemia can exist along with diabetes. The symptoms that a person is suffering from hypoglycemia include nervousness, hunger, frontal headaches, heart palpitations, anxiety, anger, and sweating. To treat the condition, the person can eat a candy bar, or drink orange juice which will ease the symptoms within 20 minutes.
Diabetics that change their lifestyle and stick to a proper diet regiment will be able to lower their sugar blood level and thus eliminating the need for oral hypoglycemic drugs and insulin therapy. The adjustment of medications should be performed by a certified physician.