Heading towards being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
A sedentary lifestyle and excess weight can predispose a person to diabetes mellitus. Extra fatty tissue releases cytokines- inflammatory markers- into the blood stream, causing inflammation. Inflammation inhibits the action of insulin made in the pancreas and as a result, the body cannot use the insulin effectively and increases the demand for it. This damages body tissues.
Large amounts of insulin in the blood stream help to keep blood glucose normal, but lipid levels rise and begin to become abnormal. Triglycerides rise and HDL lowers. Blood pressure often rises.
Blood glucose climbs slowly. Pancreatic β-cells cannot make enough insulin to keep blood glucose normal and blood glucose rises to pre- diabetes level. This can take 5 – 10 years in adults, and even less in children.
Soon the pancreas cannot keep up with the demand for insulin and the stage is reached where the person is diagnosed for diabetes. By the time most people are diagnosed with diabetes, they have lost 50 % insulin making capacity.
With time, the ability to make insulin goes further down. Now, to lower blood glucose, one needs drugs which help the body release more insulin and decrease insulin resistance.
Eventually, as insulin production decreases, a person needs insulin injections to control blood glucose.
(- Diabetic Living Mar-Apr 2012)
Follow these steps to get a good drop of blood on the first stick with the least pain and an accurate result.
Wash your hands in soap and running water wherever available. If you don’t clean your hands, you could have a blood glucose level that is artificially high and if you use insulin, it can become an issue. For example, if you have just eaten an apple, you may have some residue on your fingers. Hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes may leave residue on your finger.
Dry your hands well . Blood tends to spread on a damp finger. On dry skin it forms a nice bead.
Shake your hands briskly at your sides 3- 5 times just as you would do before using a mercury thermometer, to get your blood down to the fingertips.
Shake your hands briskly at your sides 3- 5 times just as you would do before using a mercury thermometer, to get your blood down to the fingertips.
Stick – set your lancet to the right depth- you need just a drop of blood. Use the side of your finger for less pain - there are fewer nerve endings.
Milk the finger down gently. Don’t squeeze hard or you may change the composition of the blood thereby affecting the result.
Test your blood glucose also if you are sick or if you have an infection, before you start a new medication, if you are under a lot of stress, or if feel as though your blood glucose level is too low.
(- Diabetic Living Jan-Feb 2012)
(- Diabetic Living Jan-Feb 2012)
Weighty medications
Some diabetes drugs cause weight gain. They put more insulin into circulation to lower blood glucose or cause the insulin the body produces to be more effective . The disadvantage of having more insulin is that it’s a growth hormone and likes to build tissues like fat cells with any extra calories. The growth of fat tissue means added weight.
(- Diabetic Living Jan-Feb 2012)
For Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus , Support is Key to Coping.
There are many teenagers and young married men and women who have dropped out of work or school, or have been abandoned by their spouses because they could not cope with their diabetes.
They would not have eaten after injecting insulin, would have eaten much later, or would have forgotten to take the mid- day snack and gone into hypoglycemia. They may have lived in places where it is difficult to get insulin .Many times, chronic diabetics are unable to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia and so their condition deteriorates.
Many people give up their jobs because they are afraid of ‘hypo’s’ at work. Once a teenager was injecting insulin in the school toilet and school authorities thought he was injecting drugs!
There are many teenagers and young married men and women who have dropped out of work or school, or have been abandoned by their spouses because they could not cope with their diabetes.
They would not have eaten after injecting insulin, would have eaten much later, or would have forgotten to take the mid- day snack and gone into hypoglycemia. They may have lived in places where it is difficult to get insulin .Many times, chronic diabetics are unable to recognize the symptoms of hypoglycemia and so their condition deteriorates.
Many people give up their jobs because they are afraid of ‘hypo’s’ at work. Once a teenager was injecting insulin in the school toilet and school authorities thought he was injecting drugs!
For coping with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, one needs a good support system of family, doctor, educator and dietitian and the school/workplace/ spouses. In addition one needs to be open about the condition so that others are aware of how they should respond in times of emergency.
(- The Hindu- September 13, 2012)
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