Diabetes - Things To Know

Hi,

I am Dr. Kulin R Shah, Endocrinologist. I see cases of diabetes, PCOS, thyroid, obesity, and osteoporosis. Today I will be talking on diabetes. Brief information. Now, what is diabetes? It is a disorder of the metabolism where the body produces little or no insulin or probably the insulin is not able to function well. There are 2 kinds of diabetes. Type 1 & 2. Type 1 diabetes is generally found in children. Now we also see this entity in adults. But most commonly it is found in children and here in type 1 diabetes, no insulin is produced by the pancreas. So, such kind of patients needs insulin for life long to control diabetes. Now the other is type 2 diabetes which is very common in our country. 95-97% of diabetes patients have type 2 diabetes. Here, there is the basic defect of insulin. Now, the basic defect is insulin resistance. What does this insulin resistance mean?

In this insulin is not able to carry out its normal function i.e. to transport the sugar from the blood in the cells. So, with that result, the blood sugar level keeps on rising. Now, why is this becoming very common in our country? 20 years ago this was not a grave situation. But now, the epidemic of diabetes is rising in our country. Mostly, because of the lifestyle which we are leading nowadays. Ths same phase was seen in the western countries probably in the 60s or 70s where the lifestyle changed into western lifestyle. So, more readily available food people don't want to eat at home. Most of us need package food. So, all these things are causing diabetes. Why is diabetes treatment very essential? Sugar which rises in the blood, if it is not used by the body or cells of the body, then it circulates in the blood and slowly starts converting into a poisonous substance. If sugar is not metabolized within 28 days then the complications start to begin.

Now the complication is blood flows everywhere in the body and complications occur in each and every cell of the body. The most notable complications are seen in the blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, nerves. Also, it is affecting the heart, brain and the liver. So, in nutshell, high sugar effects each and every organ of the body. That is why controlling sugar is very important. How do we go about controlling diabetes? First thing is to modify the lifestyle. Lifestyle changes mean altering the way of diet pattern and also doing some physical activities. It is very important to include natural products like vegetables, fruits in the diet and also to reduce the number of carbs and fats. Doing physical activity is a must because most of us are involved in a sedentary lifestyle. And we don't have any other activity rather sitting in the office. So, at least minimum of 45 mins exercises per day is a must.

Do brisk walk regularly. We have to avoid sugar, jaggery, honey, refined flour products. We need to have food which is high in fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Third thing is medicine. Thos whose sugar is not controlled with the lifestyle changes then medicines are required. Medicines can be of 2 types: medicines and injections. Type 2 diabetes can be controlled with the medicines for a few years until the insulin secretion in the body. Once the insulin secretion falls down, they might need to go for insulin injections. So, this was I was trying to explain about diabetes.

Thank you!