Diabetes mellitus disease: how to treat?

Diabetes mellitus: types

Type 1. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in which the body stops secreting enough insulin. As a result, blood glucose levels rise. A person is constantly thirsty, appetite and urine output increase. The disease is constantly progressing without proper treatment. Violation of the diet or untimely use of drugs can lead to hypo – or hyperglycemic coma. There are two types of diabetes mellitus. The first occurs when cells in the pancreas are destroyed. After all, it is she who is responsible for the secretion of the hormone insulin. This hormone is responsible for the entry of glucose into cells. And although it is in the body in sufficient quantities, it cannot fulfill its function. Human cells can be said to “starve” and are destroyed. Your own immune system facilitates this process, or viruses do it. Even with timely diagnosis of the disease and treatment with drugs, the process cannot be reversed, the destroyed cells are not restored back. In this case, the person receives insulin injections. The occurrence of type 1 diabetes is directly related to heredity. If there are people in the family who have a similar disease, the risk of developing it in children increases significantly. Type 2. Diabetes mellitus type 2 occurs when cells lose their sensitivity to incoming insulin. Its amount is sufficient for the normal functioning of the body, but it cannot fulfill its function. Loss of sensitivity in cells occurs due to the fact that they do not bind insulin to their receptors, since they are damaged. Most often, this disease occurs in obese people who are obese. It is also called “obesity diabetes”. In type 2 diabetes, it happens that the receptors of the cells are not destroyed, but insulin still does not work. This happens because it is initially produced “defective”, with an incorrect structure. This type of diabetes is called “the disease of the thin.” The second type does not progress as sharply as the first. The person will not immediately notice the symptoms that appear and seek help. This disease occurs quite often and the number of those suffering from it reaches 90% of all those suffering from diabetes. In the treatment of type 2 diabetes, insulin is not injected into the body, but drugs are used that increase the sensitivity of cells to this hormone. 

The cost of treating diabetes and its complications per year is estimated at $ 215-375 billion. People with low income are most susceptible to this disease. So India, considered a poor country, holds an unenviable leadership in the world. Approximately every fifth diabetic comes from there.

The causes of the disease

Type 1 diabetes mellitus can begin to develop as early as childhood or adolescence. 70,000 cases are reported annually in children under 15 years of age. The most dangerous period is 20-29 years. At this time, external factors are added, which can become a trigger for the development of the disease. These are stress, psychological problems, alcohol and drug use by a person. The risk group also includes people who are obese or endocrine disorders. Heredity is also becoming a common cause of the disease.

Human actions that provoke the onset of the disease

• Irregular eating and frequent overeating. The body immediately notifies with the feeling of hunger that it is time to eat. The appetite begins to wake up the moment food passes from the stomach to the intestines. If you sit down at the table at this time, the feeling of hunger will be satisfied with a small portion of food. If you miss this time and endure hunger, then starting a meal you can lose your sense of proportion and eat too much. It is better to eat fractionally, about 5 times a day in small portions. Get up from the table, not at the moment when you feel full of fullness, but a little earlier. And if you skip a meal and are acutely hungry, eat something sweet first to dull it. After all, ordinary food does not immediately give a feeling of fullness, so there is a risk of eating too much. 

• You can’t eat at night. The pancreas must rest in the dark. If you do not follow this rule, you force her to work overtime, thereby reducing the supply of insulin in the body; 
• Eating sweets. All kinds of delicacies give pleasure to our receptors, but sugar should not be abused; 
• Obesity. Being overweight can make it difficult for insulin to break through the fat to the receptors in the cells. The pancreas tries to fix the problem by producing more and more insulin, thereby quickly depleting its stores; 
• Stress. Strongly negative or even positive emotions cause high blood sugar. To neutralize it, the pancreas secretes insulin and brings glucose levels back to normal. If such incidents happen infrequently, then the body tolerates them normally. But when stress is prolonged, then its consequences can be diabetes mellitus and a number of other serious diseases; 
• Bad habits. Alcohol raises insulin levels, making cells hungry. Even if the stomach is full, the appetite still appears. If a person abuses alcohol, then over time, the pancreas stops responding and releases less and less insulin. 

Diabetes symptoms

Diabetes mellitus has a number of symptoms that you should immediately go to the hospital if you feel.

• Frequent urination. When there is too much sugar in the blood, the body tries to excrete it through the urine. This causes discomfort to patients, especially at night; 
• Feeling thirsty. The mouth is often dry and the need to constantly drink water or other drinks. If earlier you did not notice this for yourself, then with diabetes this is a pronounced symptom. The body gets rid of glucose through urine and, as a result, loses a lot of fluid; 
• Appetite is increased. Constant hunger occurs with type 2 diabetes. The pancreas produces large amounts of insulin that is not used as intended. The person is constantly hungry, even if the stomach is still full; 
• Numbness of the limbs. If there is too much sugar in the blood, nerves are damaged. The fingers and toes are the first to go numb. If the disease is not treated, then severe pain and trophic ulcers will appear; 
• Deterioration of vision. If type 2 diabetes develops, then in its early stages there is a feeling of a veil on the eyes. When the treatment starts, it goes away. If you start the process, then you can greatly reduce visual acuity or even go blind. 

In addition to these pronounced symptoms, there are a number of signs that may indicate a disease. This is itching in the genital area, slow wound healing, loss or sudden weight gain. If you feel that something is wrong with your body, then immediately consult a doctor for an examination. The effectiveness of diabetes treatment directly depends on how much the process is started.

Complication of diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus can cause serious complications in the body. These can be problems with the blood vessels. Patients with diabetes are more likely to develop atherosclerosis, which leads to heart attacks and strokes. Narrowed blood vessels damage the heart, brain, legs, eyes, and kidneys.

• People with this condition often develop skin ulcers and infections . And the wounds that used to heal in a few days now heal for a very long time, and sometimes they do not disappear at all. And this can lead to the appearance of gangrene and, as a result, amputation of the limb. 
• Vision problems. With diabetes mellitus, the blood vessels of the eyes are affected, which causes a decrease in visual acuity. 
• Disruption of the kidneys. Diabetes mellitus can cause chronic kidney disease, which later leads to the need for dialysis and organ transplants. During illness, the level of albumin protein rises, which indicates kidney damage. With timely treatment of the disease, doctors prescribe angiotensin II receptor blockers and other drugs that stop the progressing process. 
• Nerve damage. Diabetes mellitus can disrupt one specific nerve, causing weakness in an arm or leg. If the nerves of the hands and feet are damaged, then there is a burning pain and weakness of the limb. Skin may also be affected. Her nerves will become less sensitive to changes in pressure or temperature, leading to more frequent injury. 

Six people die from diabetes every minute. Just think about these scary statistics. Every 20th death is people who were killed by diabetes. It and its complications leave 3.2 million people annually around the world.

Diagnosis of the disease

As with other diseases, the earlier diabetes is diagnosed and treatment is started, the easier the disease will be. The difficulty in diagnosing is that there are too many symptoms and the patient may initially turn to the wrong specialist. If you have increased intense thirst, frequent urination, insomnia, and you have lost a lot of weight without dieting, see your doctor immediately. Further, the symptoms will only worsen, nausea, heart pains, dizziness will appear, and a coma may even develop. Type 2 diabetes is more subtle in its early stages. If you feel constant fatigue, itching, dry mouth, become sick with infectious diseases more often, and observe poor wound healing, then this can become the first symptoms of diabetes. Irritability, sleep disturbances, persistent depression and psycho-emotional instability are also noted. Diagnosis of diabetes in people over 65 is difficult due to the fact that symptoms practically do not appear in 50% of cases. And those complaints that exist often overlap with signs of other diseases. Experts are guided by the indications of the value of blood sugar (glycemia). If the analysis done on an empty stomach shows more than 7 mmol / L in venous blood and 6.1 in capillary blood, then these are clear signs of the development of diabetes mellitus.

About 90% of people with diabetes are of the second type. It most often occurs in middle age. This means that the reason is mostly not in heredity, but in the way of life of people. Sedentary work, lack of exercise and poor nutrition are the cause of many problems.

Diabetes mellitus treatment

Unfortunately, diabetes mellitus occurs quite often in our country. Most of the patients suffer from the second type. When diagnosing this disease, in addition to drugs, a diet is prescribed. It provides for a restriction on alcohol consumption and the need to use a sweetener instead of regular sugar. In addition, a detailed nutritional plan is drawn up and the use of certain foods is minimized or completely eliminated. In combination with proper nutrition, medications and light physical activity are prescribed. The doctor, before prescribing treatment, will refer you to a consultation with an endocrinologist and a nutritionist. Insulin treatment is prescribed together with drugs that lower blood sugar. The use of this method occurs when weight loss or complications appear in patients with the second type of disease. Insulin is not prescribed for women during pregnancy and lactation. Also, the limitation in value is hemorrhagic diseases, precoma and coma. If you have diabetes, the first thing to do is to monitor your blood glucose levels several times a day. Its range is set by the doctor, but there are average numbers that you can focus on. If you performed the analysis on an empty stomach, then they should not exceed 6 mmol / L. After eating, after 2 hours, this indicator should not be more than 8 mmol / l. Treatment of different types of diabetes is specific. If the disease is type 1, then the patient is prescribed insulin therapy throughout his life. At the same time, you need to constantly monitor the level of glucose in the blood and give the body physical activity. In addition, constant monitoring by an endocrinologist is required. To completely get rid of type 1 diabetes, you will have to transplant the pancreas and islet cells. This method of treatment, although effective, is expensive and painful. Anyone with diabetes is assigned a diet. This does not mean at all that you need to give up your favorite food for life. It is worth excluding the intake of hard-to-digest fats. At least 20% of the diet should be proteins, 30% fat and 50% carbohydrates. Alcohol consumption should be limited and the number of calories consumed daily with food should be calculated daily. The treatment process for type 2 diabetes is divided into several levels. A low-carb diet, exercise, medication, and hormone injections are used. Eating restrictions helps to lower blood sugar. The glucose that remains is excreted with the help of physical activity. And if the disease is neglected, drugs and insulin are used. With the disease, you should consume as many vitamins and minerals as possible. Also, it is worth reducing the amount of salt in food. When choosing physical activity, you should pay attention to swimming, walking and cycling. The effect that physical education gives is temporary, so it is worth revising your lifestyle and making physical activity an integral part of it. These are general guidelines that should be followed in case of diabetes mellitus. More specific methods of treatment can only be prescribed by a specialist who will establish at what stage of development the disease is.

Insulin gets its name from the word for acute. Since it is produced by the pancreas and the islets of Langerhans , which are in it.

Prevention of the onset of the disease

If there are people with diabetes in your family, then you should not think that this fate will necessarily befall you, no matter what measures you take. If you lead the right lifestyle, then you can reduce the risk of its occurrence to a minimum. So what should you do?

• Proper nutrition. Cut back on carbohydrates. It is their presence that overloads the pancreas, which produces insulin. You should not abuse food that contains easily digestible carbohydrates and sugar. These products include non-natural juices, cookies, white bread, any confectionery and many others. The best food for your body will be one that includes plant fiber. The diet should look something like this: 60% of foods that contain complex carbohydrates, 20% for fat and 20% for protein. As for the cooking process, fried foods should be replaced with boiled and baked foods. 
• Constant physical activity. Spend at least half an hour a day in sports to positively influence metabolic processes and improve the fat composition of the blood. This will keep you in shape and take one more step to avoid a dangerous illness. Exercise, which is taught from childhood in kindergartens, is the minimum physical activity that must be constantly performed. Find something you like to do. This could be dancing, cycling, or just walking. 
• Avoid stressful situations and remain calm. Controlling your emotional state is one of the most important factors that will protect you from the occurrence of many diseases, not just diabetes. If the work is constantly associated with stress, then it is better to refuse it. An argument like high wages will become completely irrelevant when you spend most of it on treatment. And the constant spending of time in hospitals will lead to the fact that you still lose your job. Therefore, choose an activity for yourself that will bring not only profit, but also pleasure. 
• Get medical checkups regularly, especially if you are at risk. Once every six months, you need to take the necessary tests to fix the moment when the disease is just beginning to develop. 

Athlete Harry Hull in 1999 fell ill with diabetes. The doctor strictly forbade him to continue swimming. But he did not listen to him and later won the Olympic award of the highest standard.

Follow the general guidelines and see your doctor immediately if you feel that your body is not working as usual. Early diagnosis of the disease will greatly facilitate the treatment of diabetes and help avoid complications.