You could be diabetic and not know it

Dec 19, 2006

Did you know you could be diabetic and not even know it? Or that it is not only the overweight person who gets diabetes? Often, people are shocked that they have diabetes because they did not notice any symptoms. Some people with Type II diabetes first learn that they have diabetes when blood tests

GRACE CANADA

Did you know you could be diabetic and not even know it? Or that it is not only the overweight person who gets diabetes? Often, people are shocked that they have diabetes because they did not notice any symptoms. Some people with Type II diabetes first learn that they have diabetes when blood tests are done for other conditions.

What is diabetes?
The medical term diabetes is “diabetes mellitus”, a Latin term referring to sweetness or honey that passes through the urine as a result of the condition.

Diabetes refers to an excess amount of sugar (glucose) in the blood and is often related to a malfunction of the pancreas.

The pancreas is a long thin organ located behind your stomach. It plays an important role in the digestive processes, producing chemicals essential for breaking down the food you eat. It regulates the body’s use of blood sugar derived from the food you eat, providing energy for all of the cells, fuelling your brain, other organs and tissues. When the pancreas is functioning normally, the sugar concentration in your blood changes within a narrow set range in response to meals, exercise, stress and infections.

When this precisely balanced system of control fails, significant amounts of sugar remain in your blood stream, straining your kidneys. Hence, the sugar spills into the urine where it can be detected by urinalysis and other various methods.

Risk factors
lYour chance of developing either Type I or Type II diabetes increases if you have a parent, brother or sister with diabetes.
lBeing significantly overweight increases your risk of getting diabetes. The majority of people with Type II diabetes are over-weight.

The more fatty tissue you have, the more resistant your muscle and other tissue cells become to your own insulin, especially if your excess weight is concentrated around your abdomen.

-The less active you are, the greater the risk of diabetes.

-Risk of type II diabetes increases with age.

-Race. The African race is among the races that are more likely to develop type II diabetes.

-More than half of the women who experience gestational diabetes develop type II diabetes later in life and women who give birth to at least one baby weighing 4kgs or more, are also at increased risk.

-Approximately 1% or 2% of people with diabetes can trace the cause to illnesses or medication that interfere with the production of insulin or its action. These include; inflammation of the pancreas, adrenal or pituitary gland, removal of the pancreas, corticosteroid medication, malnutrition and infection.

Signs and symptoms of diabetes

Type II diabetes: You may experience fatigue, increased urination and thirst, unexplained weight loss; frequent bladder and vaginal infections in women; chronic yeast infection occurring in areas between skin folds; poor wound healing, numbness in the hands and feet; blurred vision and impotence in men.

Type I diabetes: You may experience extreme thirst and hunger; loss of weight despite increased appetite; frequent urination in large volume; blurred vision, fatigue; decreased mental sharpness, nausea and vomiting, frequent infections of the skin, urinary tract and vagina.

Diagnosis
Methods include the finger-prick screening test which is fast, easy and inexpensive.

A drop of blood is placed on a chemically treated strip that is inserted into a small machine that displays your blood sugar level. If the result is 126mg/dl of blood or above, your doctor will most likely perform a more formal diagnostic test.

The writer is a nutritionist
health&beauty@newvision.co.ug

TYPES OF DIABETES
Types of diabetes include: Type I, Type II and Diabetes Insipidus.

Type I Diabetes develops when the pancreas makes little or no insulin. Without insulin in the blood, sugar cannot enter the cells, So, it remains in the blood and is passed out in the urine. This used to be called insulin dependent or juvenile diabetes because it often developed in children and teenagers.

But adults can also develop it. People who have it need to administer insulin medication daily. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease, meaning that your own immune system is the culprit. Your body’s infection fighting system may attack your pancreas, zeroing in on the beta cells that produce insulin. Researchers are not certain why this happens, but they believe that genetic factors, diet and exposure to certain viruses may be involved. Between 5% and 10% of people with diabetes have type I. The disease can remain undetected for several years. It usually occurs following an illness.

Type II diabetes is the most common form. 90-95% of people over 20 years with diabetes have type II. It has become one of the most common diseases in many parts of the world including Uganda. The prevalence is most likely a result of diet, overweight and aging.

Type II diabetes used to be called non-insulin dependent diabetes and adult onset diabetes, but children and teenagers can also develop it. In fact, the incidence of type II diabetes in young people is increasing.

Unlike type I diabetes, type II is not an autoimmune disease. In type II, the pancreas makes some insulin, but the muscle and tissue cells become resistant to insulin and refuse to accept it as a ‘key that unlocks the door’ for sugar to enter into the cells. As a result, sugar accumulates in the blood.

Exactly why the cells become insulin-resistant is uncertain, though excess weight and fatty tissue seem to be an important factor. It is unclear why excess weight is associated with increased risk of type II diabetes.

However, scientists have identified a protein, called ‘resistin’, that is produced by fat cells and appears to induce insulin resistance. Some people with type II diabetes need more insulin than their pancreas can supply. Like people with type I diabetes, these individuals need insulin replacement medication to control their blood sugar.

Diabetes Insipidus should not be confused with diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus, commonly called just diabetes, stems from a deficiency or resistance to insulin.

Diabetes insipidus results from a deficiency or resistance to the Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH), which regulates water balance in the body. The release of the ADH is controlled by the pituitary gland. A shortage of ADH or action can disturb the water balance. Rather than re-absorbing enough water to maintain proper fluid levels, the kidneys simply pass the water out.

The key sign of diabetes insipidus is the large volume of urine that is excreted. Dehydration that results from increased urination causes insatiable thirst and sometimes dry skin.

The cause of diabetes insipidus is unknown in about half of the people who have it. However, a pituitary gland disorder may become evident several years after the symptoms show.

Causes of central diabetes insipidus include damage to the pituitary gland from a head injury, surgery for a pituitary tumour and some inflammatory conditions. Causes of nephrogenic diabetes include certain medication and some kidney disease types.

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