The Chronic Silent Killer Disease - Diabetes that Can make your life miserable, but not after reading this Article.
Today, I am going to explain How the Disease starts and the ways to cure it naturally.
Yes! Type 2 Diabetes is curable.
I am qualified to teach this because I am Doctor.
So, let's start learning about it from basics...
What is Diabetes?
- It is the word derived from the Greek language meaning excessive sweet urination (Polyuria).
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| Diabetes - the lifestyle disease |
- Diabetes mellitus is the disease of elevated blood Glucose due to less or no Insulin depending upon the type of the disease.
As Insulin is the key enzyme to know about Diabetes, Let us learn about Insulin first...
What is Insulin?
- It is a hormone made by beta cells of Pancreas (An organ behind Stomach) to allow the blood glucose to enter in the cells.
- When we eat food, glucose level in our blood will rise. So, insulin will get released from pancreas and will facilitate the entry of the blood glucose in the cells to bring the blood glucose level back to normal and provide energy to cells in the form of Glucose.
- Due to the problem in Insulin secretion, Glucose will not get into cells and will stay in the blood. That will cause the complications of Diabetes...
Types Of Diabetes: -
There are three types of this Disease...
[1]. Type 1: - In this type, Insulin is not secreted enough as some or all beta cells are destructed because of Autoimmune condition - the condition in which immune cells attack body's own cell.
So, the patient requires to take Insulin from outside as a part of treatment because of which, this type is called IDDM - Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.
[2].Type 2: - In this type, body cells are resistant to Insulin; so, no matter how much Insulin is in the blood, it will not act on cells.
Treatment of this type is not dependent on Insulin so is called NIDDM - Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, most common type of the Disease..
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| Insulin is mostly taken near the belly button |
[3].Gestational Diabetes: - This occurs in the pregnancy as the placental hormone - Human Placental Lactogen will result in the blood glucose staying high.
Terminologies used in Blood Sugar report: -
- Fasting Blood Sugar: - Measured blood sugar level after overnight fast. The normal value of it is 80 - 100 mg/dl. Value above 126 mg/dl means that the person is diabetic.
- PPBS - Post Prandial Blood Sugar: - Blood Sugar Level After meal. Value less than 140 mg/dl is considered as normal, and anything above 200 is termed as Diabetic.
- Random Blood Sugar: - It is a Glucose value taken from Non - fasting Individual. The normal value is 80 - 120 mg/dl and, above 140 mg/dl is considered as Diabetic.
What is HbA1c?
- It is also called Glycated hemoglobin because it is chemically linked to sugar. It shows average blood sugar level of last 2-3 months.
- 4% to 5.6% is the healthy range of HbA1c for normal people. The value over 6.5% is diagnosed as Diabetic.
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| HbA1C - The most reliable test we ,Doctors, prefer |
- Blood Sugar level can fluctuate depending upon the recent food intake, but HbA1c will be relatively constant.
- So, HbA1C is the more reliable test for measuring Diabetes then Blood Sugar.
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test: -
- A two-hour, 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is used to test for diabetes. The Doctor will take a blood in a fasting state to test your fasting glucose level first.
- They’ll then ask you to drink 8 ounces of a syrupy glucose solution that contains 75 grams of sugar. You’ll then wait in the office for two hours. The Doctor will draw blood at the one- and two-hour marks.
- Results:
| When blood is drawn | For prediabetes | For diabetes | For gestational diabetes |
| Fasting | 100–125 mg/dL | 126 mg/dL or greater | greater than 92 mg/dL |
| After 1 hour | greater than 180 mg/dL | ||
| After 2 hours | 140–199 mg/dL | 200 mg/dL or greater | greater than 153 mg/dL |
Risk factors for Diabetes: -
----> Individual possessing these factors are at higher risk of developing the Disease.
For type 1 : -
- Positive familial history means that person carries gene that will make him prone to the disease.
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| Diabetes - The disease due to lack of understanding |
- Overweight
- Pre diabetic
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Age 50+
- Family History
- Had Gestational Diabetes
Important: -
As Type 1 Diabetes is the Autoimmune Disease; and the reason of it is not yet proven, we will now talk about type 2 Disease only for some time.
Pathophysiology Of Type 2 Diabetes : -
Among lot of theories, these two theories has logical grounds to support it, in my view.
----> Obesity, Urbanization and Stress will make the receptor of Insulin irresponsive to it. Which will , later on , develop in the Diabetes
----> When we eat frequently for long time, lets say for 30 -40 years in our lifetime, body releases insulin often [ Remember, Insulin gets released when we eat ?] Due frequent Insulin release, cells become less responsive or , at times, unresponsive to it ( Same as how we do not respond to the same dose of medication after taking it for some time, so doctor increase the dose of that medication). That unresponsiveness of the cells is called Diabetes Type 2.
{ You Should be aware of this theory , if you read my Article on Intermittent Fasting }
Symptoms Of Diabetes: -
- Frequent Urination
- Thirst
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Extreme Hunger
Prevention Of Diabetes Type 2: -
- Whatever is stated in the pathophysiology of the Disease, should be avoided.
- To avoid Obesity, we should get rid of the Sedentary Lifestyle that we are enjoying as of now.
- For prevention of Stress, Yoga, physical activity , Laughing like approaches could be tried ; also, taking care of mental health is very useful.
- Autophagy - the art of self healing is looking promising to several researchers for curing Diabetes.
- Apart from it, frequent eating is causing Insulin Insensitivity; so not eating frequently - Intermittent Fasting could crack the code of Diabetes according to several Theories.
Complication Of Diabetes: -
----> Type 2 Diabetes: -
- All of the issues of the Disease is due to Elevated Sugar Level.
- High Blood Sugar can damage nerves throughout the body termed as Diabetic Neuropathy. It's Complications are: -
- Diabetic Foot : As nerves in the feet are not sensitive as they should be due to Diabetes, any injury will not be recognized by the person and will continue to worsen.
This condition is referred to as Diabetic Foot.
- Retinopathy or Vision loss : The optic nerve of the eye will also be affected in a negative way as described for Diabetic foot.
- Hearing loss
- Dementia
- Infection can occur easily in Diabetic population as bacteria have conducive environment to proliferate there because of High Glucose and weakened immunity.
- Fungal Infection : Because of ease of microorganism proliferation, fungus will infect the parts of the body, Mainly Skin. Also, Bacterial and parasitic Infections are common.
- Non-healing Wounds : Due to excess proliferation of disease causing bacteria, they produce toxins, which will hinder the process of healing.
- Diabetic Nephropathy - Kidney disease : Diabetes can damage the blood vessels and filtering units in the Kidney, so much so that it can even lead to Kidney failure.
----> Gestational Diabetes : -
- premature birth
- Obese baby
- Jaundice
Serious: -
Diabetic ketoacidosis : By now, you all know that cells cannot sense Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes.
- Due to that glucose cannot get into the cells. So, cells need some other fuel source than glucose to carryout day to day work .
- In the absence of Glucose, body has fat storage to turn to. So, body will do that and will generate energy from it via a process called beta oxidation.
- The end product of this process is Ketone. So, ketones (Acidic) will get deposited in the body. This will lead to Acidosis - blood becoming Acidic, which will manifest itself as thirst, frequent urination, nausea, abdominal pain, weakness, confusion and fruity breath odour.
Diabetic Diet: -
According to Glycemic Index(GI) - Categorization of food depending on their effect to person's blood glucose level, Foods are divided into 3 categories.
- Low GI: 1 to 55
- Medium GI: 56 to 69
- High GI: 70 and higher
Food belonging to each category are...
- Low GI: Green vegetables, most fruits, raw carrots, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils and bran breakfast cereals
- Medium GI: Sweet corn, bananas, raw pineapple, raisins, oat breakfast cereals, and multigrain, oat bran or rye bread
- High GI: White rice, white bread and potatoes
Generally, Low GI food are preferred for Diabetic patients.
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| Following it could be the reason of you feeling better |
GI below 55 is ideal for them to consume.
Treatment: -
----> As in type 1 Diabetes, there is lack of Insulin, giving it from outside is the Option along with managing other symptoms of the Disease with Supportive care, if any.
Types of Insulin
There are six main types of insulin available.
- Rapid-acting: These include Apidra, Humalog, and Novolog. They have an onset in less than 15 minutes, peak in 30 to 90 minutes, and duration of two to four hours.
- Regular (short-acting): These include Humulin R and Novolin R. They have an onset of a half an hour, a peak of two to three hours, and duration of three to six hours.
- Intermediate-acting: These include Humulin N and Novolin N. They have an onset of two to four hours, a peak at four to 12 hours, and duration of 12 to 18 hours.
- Long-acting: These include Levemir and Lantus. They have an onset of several hours, minimal or no peak, and a duration of 24 hours or more.
- Ultra long-acting: These include Toujeo. They have an onset of six hours, no peak, and a duration of 36 hours.
- Combinations/pre-mixed: These combine intermediate-acting insulins with regular insulin and are convenient for people who need to use both. These include mixtures of Humulin or Novoline, Novolog Mix, and Humalog Mix. See the chart for actions.
- Inhaled insulin: This became available in 2015 and is used in combination with long-acting insulin. Afrezza has an onset of 12 to 15 minutes, a peak of 30 minutes, and duration of three hours.
Insulin is prescribed by taking in account the need of an individual, age and existing medical condition.
Other Drugs
In type 2 Diabetes, Exercise and diet modification will help a ton, but if they are not effective, Doctor will prescribe medications .....
| Types of drug | How they work | Example(s) |
| Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors | Slow your body’s breakdown of sugars and starchy foods | Acarbose (Precose) and miglitol (Glyset) |
| Biguanides | Reduce the amount of glucose your liver makes | Metformin (Glucophage) |
| DPP-4 inhibitors | Improve your blood sugar without making it drop too low | Linagliptin (Tradjenta), saxagliptin (Onglyza), and sitagliptin (Januvia) |
| Glucagon-like peptides | Change the way your body produces insulin | Dulaglutide (Trulicity), exenatide (Byetta), and liraglutide (Victoza) |
| Meglitinides | Stimulate your pancreas to release more insulin | Nateglinide (Starlix) and repaglinide (Prandin) |
| SGLT2 inhibitors | Release more glucose into the urine | Canagliflozin (Invokana) and dapagliflozin (Farxiga) |
| Sulfonylureas | Stimulate your pancreas to release more insulin | Glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase), glipizide (Glucotrol), and glimepiride (Amaryl) |
| Thiazolidinediones | Help insulin work better | Pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia) |
So, by now, you are Diabetic Expert...Really....!
The content that I just explained you in simple language cannot easily be understood by some Doctors even...!
Even if You have any questions....Leave a comment below....
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Share with your friends, so they can also benefit from the Great Diabetic Guide..
Take Care...!