Things to know about Diabetes
Most of us know that the diabetes is a disease in which the level of blood glucose, which is also called as blood sugar, is above normal value. People suffering with diabetes face problem converting food to energy. Normally, after a meal, the body breaks food down into glucose, which the blood carries to cells throughout the body. Cells use insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas, to help them convert blood glucose into energy. People develop diabetes because the pancreas does not make enough insulin or because the cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly, or both. As a result, the level of glucose in the blood increases while the cells are starved of energy, which can lead to complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, nerve problems, and gum infections.
Three Main Types of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes: Type 1 diabetes results when body fails to produce insulin and requires the person to inject insulin.
Type 2 diabetes: Type 2 diabetes results in a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly sometimes combined with an absolute insulin deficiency.
Gestational diabetes: Gestational diabetes occurs during late pregnancy. During pregnancy the need for insulin appears to increase which develop gestational diabetes during the late stages of pregnancy.
How to diagnose diabetes?
The following tests are used for diagnosis:
– A fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test
– An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
– A random plasma glucose test
Few myths about diabetes:
Diabetes is not really all that serious: The truth is that Diabetes is as serious disease as any other life taking disease. The American Diabetes association brought the fact that Diabetes kills more people than Breast Cancer and AIDS combined each year and two out of every three diabetics die from heart attack or stroke. Now you only decide how serious disease it is.
Diabetics can’t eat any good food: A well balanced diet of healthy food is what a diabetic person should take. While it is true that Diabetics should not eat lots of sweets, neither should anyone else. This leads us to the third myth:
Diabetes is caused by eating too many sweets: Unfortunately, this is a myth that has been around for sometime. Eating a lot of sugar doesn’t give you Diabetes; however, being overweight does increase your risk for Diabetes. Since lots of sweets can because you pack on the pounds some people have made that correlation. Type 1 Diabetes is all genetics and Type 2 Diabetes is a combination of genetics and lifestyle choices.
I can’t do anything to stop complications from Diabetes: This is the worst myth of them all. Maintaining your blood sugar level, lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as getting plenty of exercise can all help to reduce your chances of having major complications from Diabetes.
I must say that the life is not over because you have diabetes.A Diabetics can still lead a normal life through monitoring their blood sugar level with the help of proper diabetic testing supplies, in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise.
I expect you have been filled with enough knowledge and information after going through an article and how to manage diabetes with appropriate use of diabetes supplies.
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