About diabetes

What is diabetes?
Insulin is a hormone made by pancreas; insulin moves a sugar called glucose out of the blood. In diabetes, not enough insulin is made, or the body doesn’t respond to the produced insulin (insulin resistance), as a result levels of glucose are too high in the blood.
Types of diabetes
Type 1 diabetes-Insulin is required for survival.
Type 2 diabetes-satisfactory control achieved with diet, exercise or tablets/insulin. It is the most common form of diabetes, and it is part of a syndrome, which includes other cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol.

Symptoms of diabetes
Weight loss
Excessive thirst and urination
Unhealing wounds
Recurrent infections
Tiredness
Visual disturbances
Tingling feet
most of the people don’t have any symptoms and the diabetes was only detected when a blood test was done for an employment or Hajj medical check up or for some other problem.

How to diagnose
The only way to diagnose diabetes is by blood test; a fasting blood sugar of 7 and above or 11.1 and above at other times confirms diabetes.
(Negative urine sugar test does not exclude diabetes)

Complications of diabetes
Heart disease
Kidney failure
Blindness
Gangrene leading to loss of limb
Stroke
Sexual problems

You are at risk of diabetes if:
Your close relative is diabetic
You are overweight
You had given birth to a big baby

How to prevent diabetes
Diet and exercise can reduce your chance of getting diabetes by up to 60%

How to manage diabetes
Adopting healthy lifestyle is the cornerstone of diabetes management
Diabetes pills and/ or insulin injections will also be needed for almost all people.
It is important to comply with the treatment even if the person feels well.

False believes about diabetes:
Diabetes is caused by eating sweets and it is cured by avoiding sugars
Diabetes is caused by stress in a person’s life
High level of blood sugar is normal for some people
Diabetes and/or its complications are caused by being bewitched or cursed
I don’t need to take my tablets-I don’t feel ill
People with diabetes cannot participate in sports
Type 2 diabetes is less severe than type 1 diabetes because you don’t need injection
Honey, dates, bitter goard and animal pancreas can cure diabetes
Insulin causes impotence