Posts Tagged ‘of diabetes care’
Am I Diabetic?
The National Health and Nutrition Examination survey revealed that 6.3 million Americans are diabetic and don’t even know it. Moreover, each year these patients with type 2 diabetes run up an $18 billion health bill. Researchers looked at health care use patterns of people for two years leading up to their diagnosis to determine the results. The study also revealed that 4 to 6% of men ages 25 to 64 and 14% of men ages 65 to 69 have undiagnosed diabetes. Medical costs include $2.3 billion for cardiovascular disease, $720 million for hypertension, $443 million for kidney problems and $293 million for neurological afflictions. Perhaps you may be wondering, “Am I in need of diabetes care?”
There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2 and gestational. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, where the body’s immune system turns against itself, attacking insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Scientists believe viral and genetic factors are at play here, with most people receiving a diagnosis when they are younger. This type of diabetes occurs evenly in males and females, but is more common in Caucasian sectors of the population, particularly in northern European countries like Sweden and Finland. The onset is sudden for a type 1 diabetic, who has blurry vision, feels constantly hungry, thirsty and fatigued, and loses weight rapidly. If they do not receive insulin everyday, they can lapse into a coma. You may need immediate medical attention if you’re always thirsty, you urinate frequently, if your breathing becomes more rapid, if your abdomen hurts or if your breath smells like nail polish remover.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form, accounting for 90 to 95% of all cases. For unknown reasons, African Americans are 1.6 times more likely to develop the disease than Caucasians. Similarly, Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely and American Natives/Alaskan Natives are 2.2 times more likely to become a diabetic. It’s believed that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are twice as likely to get diabetes as well. Eighty percent of those who develop this disease are overweight and many of these patients are also older. Many diabetics will encounter rapid heartbeats, trembling, sweating and irritability, while always feeling hungry and fatigued.
There are several ways to test if a person is diabetic. For type 2, doctors can perform a Fasting Plasma Glucose Test, which is convenient, easy and less expensive than other tests, according to the American Diabetes Association. For this test, you’ll need to fast for eight hours, and then blood will be drawn and sent to a lab. A normal fasting, blood glucose level would come back 70 to 100 milligrams per deci-liter, whereas a person with diabetes would have a level beyond 126. Sometimes the test results will come back inconclusive and a Casual Plasma Glucose Test will be done, with blood drawn at a random interval. If the glucose level is over 200, then diabetes is likely the culprit. Pregnant women may receive an Oral Glucose Test. A Hemoglobin A1c Test is another important diabetes blood test, which examines blood sugar levels over a 6 to 12 week period through home blood glucose monitoring.
All About Type 2 Diabetes
At best, you can still live a long life with type 2 diabetes. If you commit yourself to lifestyle changes to follow a healthier diet and exercise more often, then your symptoms will diminish and your risk of disease development will decline. At worst, the consequences of diabetes can be as severe as needing a foot amputation, losing your teeth, suffering kidney failure, going blind, or having a heart attack or stroke. While the early symptoms may seem easy to ignore, Diabetes is a serious condition that requires careful blood sugar monitoring to ensure good health.
Scientists aren’t entirely sure what causes type 2 diabetes, although the process itself has been observed. In a normal body, a person digests food, which is absorbed into the bloodstream, with the help of insulin produced by the pancreas, and distributed to cells for energy consumption. When the body is through using energy, the remaining insulin then lowers the amount of sugar in the bloodstream, which decreases the amount of insulin secreted from the pancreas. The liver stores and manufactures glucose when insulin levels are low. All these processes keep the body regulated and properly transporting energy throughout your system. However, the system of type 2 diabetics has gone mad, and sugar builds up in the bloodstream rather than dispersing it to cells, because the cells have become resistant to insulin. By contrast, with type 1 diabetes, the body is just not producing any insulin.
The complications of type 2 diabetes are easy to ignore at first. So what if you have to pee every hour or you’re drinking constantly to quench your thirst? Who doesn’t feel a little bit tired or have a sudden pang of extreme hunger every once in a while? Yet doctors caution that diabetes can affect all major organs if left untreated, so it’s very important to monitor blood sugar levels. The short term troubles of diabetes include high blood sugar, an increased number of toxic acid ketones in your urine, which can lead to a coma and low blood sugar, which may lead to unconsciousness. The long-term consequences are far more severe, with a significantly increased risk of developing heart disease, coronary artery disease, strokes, nerve damage, kidney failure, eye damage, foot injuries, tooth loss, skin infections, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s.
When you have type 2 diabetes, monitoring your blood sugar becomes extremely important in preventing heart attacks, strokes and sudden comas. Healthy eating and adhering to portion control are essential components of diabetes care. One to two hours after a meal, the blood sugar will need the most monitoring. Physical activity moves sugar from the blood to the cells, so exercising is an asset to the diabetic. Medications, illnesses, stress, fluctuating hormones during menstrual cycles or menopause and alcohol consumption are all factors that may affect your blood sugar levels and treatments. For this reason, daily A1C testing is often recommended.