Someone is considered to be diabetic if the blood glucose/sugar levels are persistently above normal. People with diabetes usually have problems converting food nutrients into energy for their body use.
What happens is that after a meal, food is broken down into glucose sugar that is carried by the blood to cells throughout the body. Cells use the hormone insulin made in the pancreas to help them process blood glucose into energy.
The pancreas is an elongated small organ that lies just behind the stomach. The pancreas has two major functions in the body that serve for digestive and hormonal function. One of the hormonal functions is the secretion of insulin hormone that plays the role of glucose regulation in the body.
It also secretes some digestive enzymes that help break down carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and acids in the duodenum.
A human body will develop diabetes especially of type2 if the cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly to convert glucose for body use. If the pancreas cannot make enough insulin to accomplish all body demands, the resultant effect is accumulation of sugar wastes in the body.
Also this means some cells in the body will suffer starvation from energy.
Cancer medicine practice involves multidisciplinary management of various associated health issues. This is because some cancer diseases and some drugs induce diseases like high sugar levels in the body.
Through our practice, we therefore learn to manage high extremes of sugar levels in the body among other various health comorbidities. I have encountered many patients suffering from diabetes or others in in diabetic crisis.
Some come when they want to switch from insulin injections to hypoglycemic tablets especially when they are undergoing intolerable situations to inject themselves.
Whereas prevention of diabetes has proven to be very difficult, its control and management to prevent disease progression has seemingly become very difficult.
Diabetes is a situation where you do not only need to rely on prescribed medications alone but instead concentrate more on lifestyle life saving habits like a well-balanced diet low in carbohydrates, low-fats, low sugar or glycemic food staff. Other lifestyle saving habits include resting adequately, regular-well-regulated exercise.
For better outcomes; Diet, resting and exercise provide more benefits than medications alone. A combination of timely and accurate dosage of medicine plus the three mentioned lifestyle habits leads to successful treatment outcomes.
People also need timely check of sugar levels since diabetes is a metabolic disease and metabolism is a mandatory biological process in the body. A diabetic patient should therefore possess a glucometer machine to check sugars regularly just like a student will need a pen and a book.
In management of diabetes, we are always looking at the increase of sugar production by the liver as the control center for metabolism. Insulin resistance is also another checked parameter.
In patients who have suffered diabetes for a long time, the most worrying situation to think about is the occurrence of Diabetic Keto Acidosis in your body. Diabetic ketoacidosis is considered the most high-risk emergencies in diabetic patients because of its nature of occurrence. Ketones are acid crystals produced by the fat breakdown in the body.
It arises when the body has an absolute insulin insufficiency to prevent accumulation of ketones in the blood stream. Ketones in the blood stream leads to severe high blood acidity potentially causing coma, organ damage, and even death if not treated urgently.
This also indicates that patients with poorly controlled diabetes or persistently high blood sugars above 250mg/dl should check for ketones in their blood tests or urine tests.
Diabetic neuropathy is an injury to the nerves as a result of poorly controlled blood sugars. Patients with diabetic neuropathy usually present with numbness of their legs and feet. Additionally, some patients develop wounds at their extremes due to reduced peripheral blood circulation.
Other commonest encountered complications of poorly controlled diabetes include; heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, gum infections, and amputation of dead parts of the body.
For causes especially in type2 diabetes, a person might develop the disease if there is increased intake of sugary food compounds for prolonged periods of time and also refined carbohydrates than the body requires.
By this I mean excessive intake. In such scenarios, the body is forced to produce and release insulin so frequently that one or both of the following conditions may arise. The pancreas may not be able to produce enough insulin to effectively deal with the sugar and refined carbohydrate intake.
One or both of the above-mentioned conditions will eventually lead to a high blood sugar level
Exercise such as movement or other helps the body to handle sugars. The more you move your body throughout the day, the more sugar your cells need to burn up to produce energy.
There is also a need to reduce or eliminate the intake of the most common sugar-rich foods in grocery stores such as soda, conventional store-bought cookies, cakes, and muffins. Also are conventional chocolate or candy bars and many boxed breakfast cereals.
It is also important to eat magnesium-rich foods on a regular basis. Consistent intake of magnesium-rich foods can significantly lower your risk of developing diabetes.
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Some of the common magnesium-rich foods include peanuts and avocado.
There are numerous food staffs that help prevent diabetes type 2 conditions. Green leafy vegetables cut the risk of developing diabetes by a good percentage. Though some green leafy vegetables contain nitrates that reduce oxygen consumption during physical exercise.
On another hand they help to control diseases involving mitochondrial dysfunction such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease
People who get plenty of vitamin K from food may have a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those who get less of the same vitamin.
Vinegar when taken regularly can help manage diabetes, moderate food cravings and increase the body's absorption of calcium resulting in healthier bones.
Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disease caused by the failure of the pancreas to secrete insulin.
Type 1 diabetes only exists in the chronic state because people are born with this condition or with the insulin deficiency that later leads to an aggressive diabetes disease. This also means that it is a hereditary disease that runs in families.
People diagnosed with diabetes type 1 have to rely on the insulin therapy for sugar control in the body as standard therapy.
The writer is a cancer specialist with special focus on solid tumors.
Email: josephkam29@gmail.com
