If you’re just newly diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes, you might be wondering why something like this happened to you so suddenly. One thing is for sure: this disease does not happen instantaneously. What happens initially is either there is insulin resistance in the body. This is when the body cannot identify insulin and thus unable to utilize it to convert glucose into energy. Or, there is glucose buildup in the bloodstream, which can be caused...
Do you notice your child going to the potty more often than usual? Is he always so hungry and thirsty but still lose weight? Is he always tired and irritable? Does he complain of having a blurry vision? If your answer is yes to more than one of these questions, then your child might have type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. It is typically found in children to young adults. This is a condition in which the pancreas produces very little...
There was a time when my sister came home from the grocery store with several grocery bags with five packets of cinnamon included. Yes, I knew that cinnamon was used for baking and coffee, but I was still dumbfounded. None of us knew how to bake, and we weren’t coffee drinkers, either. She caught my befuddled look, and said, “Cinnamon is healthy.” Duh. I chose to wait and not voice out my mental reaction. My patience was rewarded with, “It’s...
During pregnancy, frequent urination, nausea, fatigue, and recurring bladder and vaginal infections usually happen, that’s why there are pregnant women who don’t know that they have gestational diabetes until their doctor does their blood test. Gestational diabetes is the type of diabetes diagnosed in non-diabetic pregnant women who have high blood sugar levels. 3-6% of all pregnant women are affected by this condition. It often starts in the...
People who suffer from diabetes need to take insulin injections everyday. They have to be aware of the complications if they fail to apply their routine in controlling their blood sugar. Constant consciousness and willpower on deciding what they do and what they eat is a must, such as what kind of food to eat, how much food to eat, how many times to eat, exercise or sleep, and when to check their blood sugar level. Life for people with diabetes is...
Worried that your child might develop diabetes? If you’re a woman who has type 1 diabetes, the chance of your children (or future children) having type 1 diabetes as well is about 5%. If you’re already a mother with it and you gave birth to a child before you turned 25, the probability is decreased to 4%. If you get pregnant and give birth to a child when you’re over 25 years old, the chance of your child ending up with type 1 diabetes is 1%. You’re...
The word diabetes is often associated with glucose level, but there is a type of diabetes that is totally unrelated to glucose levels and sugar. It is diabetes insipidus, and it’s a condition in which an unusual increase in urination occurs, regardless of liquid intake and thirst. Its symptoms are increased frequency and output in urination, bedwetting, and nocturia, which is waking up frequently at night to urinate. There is an increase in the...
Type 2 diabetes, unlike type 1 diabetes, is non-insulin dependent. It is the most widespread type, because out of 21 million people with this disease, more than 90% of them suffer from kind of diabetes. Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes patients can still produce insulin, though insufficiently. There are cases when insulin production is enough, but the body can’t identify the insulin so it is not utilized properly. When the body...
With so much diabetes around these days, you may think that recognizing it should be easy. The truth is that it’s not easy, because diabetes is defined by blood tests. You can’t just look at someone and know the level of glucose in his or her blood. Glucose is the name of the type of sugar found in our bodies that provides all the energy needed by your cells and organs to carry on all the chemical reactions that permit you to live and move. The...
Diabetes is a condition in which insulin production or usage is insufficient. Insulin is the hormone that is produced by the pancreas, and its role is to convert sugar and starches into energy. If there is not enough insulin to convert glucose into energy, there will be a surplus of glucose in the body and it will only be disposed of through urination. When the extra glucose increases, it will just remain in the blood and not go to the cells to supply...