Hello all! Many of us have those “sweet” people with diabetes around us. India is already a diabetic capital ranking 2nd in the world for its diabetic population. This population is increasing day by day in spite of Diabetes being a Non-Communicable Disease [NCD]. So what if the prevalence is increasing? Why is diabetes so hyped? Or is it really a life threatening disorder? Let’s know some facts about diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease where your blood sugars increase beyond normal [random BSL<140mg/dl] due to improper production, secretion or action of a hormone called insulin in your pancreas. What happens if blood sugar is raised? It doesn’t even pain! If I have even a hairline crack, I get it cured immediately only because it causes me discomfort, pain and inability. Then why is diabetes so ignored? Diabetes is very well termed as a silent killer as it usually does not show major symptoms that will force you to take aggressive medical treatment and diet regime. Usually the pre-diabetic condition goes unnoticed. It is a condition where your blood sugars are slightly higher than normal but not high enough to diagnose diabetes. It is the golden period where you can prevent and delay diabetes. Now the question may arise that why diabetes should be prevented or delayed? Lets’ see the symptoms and complications!
Diabetes is usually caused due to heredity, obesity, sedentary life style, lack of exercise, increasing age, poor dietary habits, etc.
Diabetes usually gives symptoms like excessive hunger, urine and thirst, fatigue, peeing at night, dry mouth, itchy skin, blurred vision and delayed wound healing, etc. Also there can be unintentional weight loss in long run.
High blood sugars can also affect functioning of your major organs as well. They include your heart, kidney, nerves, vision and also your gastric system.
Have you ever made sugar syrup? The more you add sugar in it, the more thick is the consistency of water losing its fluidity. Then how do you expect your heart to pump blood normally with high blood sugars, or how do you expect kidneys to filter blood with high sugars? The more the sugar in the blood, more is the capacity required by heart, kidneys and other important organs to function which causes a slow damage of these organs. Once damage occurs it cannot be reversed and then options remaining are bypass surgery, dialysis for kidneys or even transplant, blindness to eyes, foot amputations, etc. Thus, diabetes is a serious life threatening affair but unfortunately it is very casually ignored.
People also usually think that after taking some treatment their diabetes is cured! While counseling patients I usually hear, “Some time back I had sugar, but now it’s gone”. Unfortunately Diabetes is never gone! Unfortunately it cannot be cured. But yes it can be kept into control. So once you have Diabetes, it’s your main responsibility to control your sugars or else your sugars will control you as well as your organs! It is important to control sugars and maintain them to normal to delay the complications and maintain your quality of life.
Thus controlling your diabetes is important. It involves many aspects which we will discuss in the consecutive blog article…