Education for Diabetes

Learn some new ways to maintain your Diabetes! How herbal supplements and vitamins can work in your diabetic diet.

People get diabetes due to genetic factors and unhealthy behavior. Staying at a healthy weight through proper diet and exercise is one of the most important factors in preventing diabetes. Get information on how different types of diabetes develop from a family nurse practitioner in this free video on diabetes.

Recently, I had the opportunity to teach a group of National Registry Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) a refresher course on pre-hospital care and recognizing the signs and symptoms of a diabetic emergency. We discussed terms like the Pancreas, the Endocrine-system, hormones, insulin-production, glucose, Diabetic-Mellitus, Type-I & Type-II- Diabetes, Diabetic-Ketoacidosis, and Hypo/Hyper-glycemia. I was told afterwards how informative (the class) was even for a refresher course. Inspired by the positive feedback, I though it would be a good idea to share some of the less scientific information with everyday people. Here we go! 

The Endocrine-system of the body is responsible for the production of chemicals in the blood called Hormones. In relation to diabetes, the hormone we are concerned with is called Insulin. The organ that produces insulin is called the Pancreas– located almost in the middle of the abdominal cavity near the Stomach and Liver. If you don’t know the importance of this organ listen to this—when we eat food, a metabolic process takes place that converts food into Glucose–a sugar-like substance. In order for our bodies to convert this glucose into a energy source (to enjoy life) insulin has to be present; so our body cells can absorb the glucose. 

When the Pancreas production of insulin is in balance life is good! However, when the production of insulin is not sufficient enough to promote healthy glucose cell absorption this is what can happen.

First, we know that if there is not enough insulin in the bodies system glucose can’t be absorbed by the cells and converted into much needed energy. What happens next is like having a double sink with one side drain being stop with the water flowing; when the water reaches the top it spills over to the other sink. The way the body handles this (lack of insulin production) glucose levels begin backing up in the blood stream and becoming toxic and acidic; eventually spilling over into the urine. When the body get to this point of the increased urine production the person begins to drink a lot of water or anything to quench the thirst; this is known as Diabetes Mellitus or sometimes called “Sugar Diabetes”. 

Moreover, when that toxic and acidic glucose levels begins to happen; this is what I like to call the Dr. Adkins (like the diet) effect, because of the lack of insulin the body to transform glucose into energy our body starts cannibalizing itself for a energy source by eating stored fats also known as Diabetic-Ketoacidoses. This is a life threatening situation for a known diabetic. However, some people use this as a diet to lose weight. 

Now that you know what diabetes is; lets talk about some everyday thing you should be aware of about diabetes everyday! Although Diabetes Awareness month is recognized in November it is too important not to know about it everyday. 

According to the American Diabetic Association (ADA)

~Type-I diabetes is a condition characterterized by high glucose levels caused by a total lack of insulin. Occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and destroy them. The pancreas then produces little or no insulin. Type-I diabetes develops most often in young people but can appear in adults.

~Type-II diabetes is a condition characterized by high glucose levels caused by either a lack of insulin or the body’s inability to use insulin efficiently. Type-II diabetes develops most often in middle-age and older adults but can appear in young people. 

~Gestational Diabetes Usually at around 28 weeks or later–many expecting mothers are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This doesn’t mean that a woman had diabetes before she conceived, or that she will have diabetes after giving birth.  

Did you know that some 6 million people may have Type-II diabetes and not even know it? This is why everyday people need to be aware of diabetes everyday! 

Here is a list of Type II diabetes symptoms that you or someone you love may be experiencing. If so, you need to consult your doctor or physician about your symptoms: 

~Increased Thirst

~Increased Urination (especially at night)

~Weight Loss

~Blurred Vision

~Sores that don’t heal

As I mention before, Diabetes Awareness Month is recognized in November. However, everyday people need to aware of diabetes everyday! 

To find out more about diabetes click on the links below: 

http://www.diabetes.org/  

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/DM/pubs/riskfortype2/

If you like the information that I have shared, please post a comment and share with others. As always stay safe and good luck!

A friend of mine’s husband was cured of diabetes naturally through diet, nutrition, and most especially, detoxing. I have been out of touch with my friend for a while now, but I never found out what detoxing is and if there is any special nutrition.

Also looking for the number of people in the US with hypertension that also have both diabetes and high cholesterol.

People say one of the symptoms to diabetes is having to go to the bathroom frequently. I was just wondering how much is frequently? I think most people go about 3-4 times a day. How would you know?

With millions of people suffering from venous disease each year, you now no longer have to worry about the pain and discomfort this causes, now you can improve your quality of life with compression socks.

The compression sock is guaranteed to improve foot circulation, reduce tiredness and acute venous ulcers, regulate foot temperature, minimise varicose veins and alleviate deep vein thrombosis reducing the risk by 96%.

There are 3 main parts of the leg that the compression sock will focus on, and put variable pressure on. Maximum pressure is applied to the ankle, reduced compression around the mid calf and minimal pressure below the knee. Venous disease and diabetes are becoming very common lately and the compression socks can help to cure and prevent either of these serious problems.

Venous disease can cause problems such as varicose veins, which is a condition where the blood pools in you veins because the valves simply stop working properly and don’t allow blood to flow effectively from your feet or legs to your heart, therefore causing them to rise to the surface of the skin, and looking unsightly.

The compression socks help to put pressure upon the veins helping for them to pump blood from the feet to the heart stopping them from pooling with blood and rising to your skin and looking unsightly.

Compression socks can also help people with type 2 diabetes. For diabetic type 2 sufferers the blood tends to settle down in the extremities and therefore restrict blood flow to major parts of the body, the compression sock helps to combat this by improving circulation from the feet to the heart. Diabetes is fast becoming a major problem for a lot of people, and compression socks can help to treat it.

So, I wanted to start collecting money as donations for the Juvenile Diabetes fund, but I also wanted to be able to give the people who donate a little something. I also think that that would attract more people to donating. For example, when I collected money for the Breast Cancer fund, I gave out little pink Breast Cancer ribbons to each person that donated. I wanted to do something a little different for diabetes though. So, does anyone have an idea?

I recently had a doctors appointment and their was a sign in the exam room saying that if you are a diabetic to please remove your socks and shoes. Why do diabetics have to remove their shoes and socks? I don’t know much about diabetes and I am curious.

We all know that people who are suffering from diabetes are forced to face the everyday challenges in their lives that seem to be unimaginable. These challenges include multiple insulin shots, checking and recording one’s glucose level once in a while, and of course, being cautious about the foods that you eat and when you think of them, these are already enough to make you feel like you could not lead a normal life just like before.

Though for some, they may view it as a burden but there are also persons who have managed to cope with their day-to-day struggles. That is why they say, these are not just the changes that you have to deal with when you have type 1 diabetes. There are also those behavioral changes type 1 diabetes patients are undergoing because of their illness.

The Behavioral Changes

One of the many behavioral changes that type 1 diabetes patients are having is that they feel depressed and anxious brought about by numerous reasons. One of which is because of the demands of the regimen that they would have to adhere to in order for them to cope with the illness. Not only that, behavioral changes of people with type 1 diabetes are also brought about by the unpleasantness of the regimen and being forever prisoner of it that leads to feeling of hopelessness and feelings of isolation. Though unfortunate as it may seem, but these behavioral changes of people with type 1 diabetes are having clearly affects their ability to improve their situation and thus, only affects their health more in a negative way.

Studies have shown that people who had a very positive and healthy outlook on all the regimens and extensive cares that they would have to do for themselves clearly affect their glucose levels and overall health. They have shown more improvement as compared to those people who took it negatively thus; their behavioral changes were affected because of their type 1 diabetes.

What To Do

To help avoid these negative behavioral changes of people with type 1 diabetes and to also help them cope with their everyday struggle to be healthier, health organizations and institutions have conducted lots of methods to improve their outlook. One of the things that they are advocating is to propagate knowledge on what patients could do for themselves, help them have the skills to perform self-care activities, and of course, patients should have more social support.

These may seem little ways, but clearly, these would greatly affect and create a positive impact on those people dealing with type 1 diabetes. If you think you could help in some way, contact www.diabetes.org and become a volunteer and surely, you would make a difference.