You Can Have Diabetes & NOT Know It
By Ted Twietmeter
5-18-12
 

Can you be a diabetic for years and believe you're healthy without ever knowing you are seriously ill?

As someone who cares for a family member who has diabetes, I've learned a few things about the disease along the way and would like to share them with you. I am not a doctor or a health care professional, but encourage everyone I know to have their blood glucose (sugar) level checked at least once if it's never been done. Glucose is most accurately checked in the morning after fasting overnight which is the standard method. The reason for this is to see how low your glucose level gets each day, which is in the morning.

One doctor we know said it this way: "Diabetes is basically glucose circulating in your bloodstream, and your body cannot neutralize it to be rid of it."

I wrote this as it seems that no one addresses the basics of this silent, deadly but treatable disease. I'll provide a URL at the end to read far more detailed advice written by medical professionals later.

First, there are two basic types of diabetic patients:

1. Type 1 diabetics are born with the disease and are usually diagnosed these days within the first few years of life, or even at birth if symptoms appear in routine blood tests. Type 1 patients are usually on insulin injections throughout their life, starting as a child to self-inject as needed. Some of these patients may require an insulin pump or simply have one for convenience.

2. Type 2 diabetics acquire it later in life. The disease can start at most any age and even reach their mid-life years before being diagnosed as a type 2. This type is often characterized by either insufficient insulin production in the pancreas (like a type 1) or a condition known as insulin resistance. We'll talk more about how doctors treat this later.

When talking to health care people and other diabetics, patients often refer to themselves as a "I'm a type 1" or a "I'm a type 2" diabetic. (Not to be confused with a "type A" personality.)

Type 1 or 2 people usually have one of two glucose problems, which indicate the disease is present to a health care professional after diagnosis:

a. Excessive blood glucose ABOVE 100. A glucose reading will be significantly above 100. This is the most common.
b. Low glucose levels significantly BELOW 100 which can be dangerous. These patients can faint or pass out (crash.)

To measure glucose a spring loaded lancet device uses a one-time-use needle. This pokes a finger very shallowly at high speed, causing a tiny drop of blood to appear. This hurts far less than sticking a sewing needle or pin into your finger or stepping on a tiny piece of broken glass, because the lancet needle is sharper and moves extremely fast. To measure the glucose level, a one-time-use test strip protrudes from a small meter (you've probably seen many of these advertised on television.) The end of the strip is touched to the blood droplet, and the meter automatically displays the glucose level after a few seconds.

Most diabetics own one of these meters and usually check their sugar at least twice a day to regulate their medication to lower their glucose readings down to close to 100. If a doctor's office blood draw shows you have a sugar problem, usually your physician will order a fasting blood test so other related compounds in your blood such as A1C can be measured.

For diabetic patients who have LOW blood sugar, increasing glucose levels to near 100 does not require medicine. Although these patients do use insulin, they are still considered diabetic by a doctor. To increase their glucose level up to 100 the patient simply consumes something sweet like a small amount of orange juice to bring their sugar levels up to normal. To control high glucose levels usually one of these three treatment regimens is used:

1. For early stage diabetes - diet and exercise will be ordered as well as avoiding too many sweets.
2. When diet and exercise are not enough an oral medication will be prescribed.
3. When diet, exercise and oral medication cannot bring sugar levels down, one or more daily injections of insulin will be prescribed.

Diabetes is sharply on the rise across the country yet almost no one talks about it.  Are there symptoms? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Here's a few examples of some symptoms:

* One patient I know of found out he was a diabetic when he ate a candy bar at break time and his eyes began to water.
* If your sugar is high you may urinate far more than normal.
* If it rises into the 300 to 400 area, you may become very tired all the time or taste something sweet in your mouth - even though you didn't eat or drink anything sweet.
* You may experience strange vision or balance problems.
* If it reaches 500 glucose meters will display an error. This is because it is out of the range of the test strips to measure it. You need to get to an emergency room if it gets this high. You could have a life-threatening episode like a heart attack.

There may also be NO symptoms at all, and this is why everyone should be tested at least once. The earlier this problem is handled by a doctor the better it will be for your longevity and avoiding other serious problems.

DANGERS OF THIS DISEASE - An untreated diabetic who doesn't control their glucose level can end up with organ problems and amputated toes, feet, hands etc... This happens when sugar (glucose) creates circulation problems in the limbs, causing tissues and organs to die. BOTH kidney's can fail - and suddenly you're going out every day to have dialysis and be on a transplant list. You will no longer be able to work, since most of your time will be spent near a dialysis machine. You can also have a heart attack, heart disease or stroke and find that fighting off a simple cold, flu or other infection takes far longer than it should. When a man stands up and urinates into a toilet who has high blood sugar, it may create a layer of foam on the water more frothy and thicker than usual. This is your body's attempt to dump sugar - but instead you are dumping valuable proteins according to one doctor. This is very bad for your kidneys.

I must re-iterate that ONLY a proper evaluation by your doctor can catch this disease early before it becomes life threatening. I am not diagnosing or treating anything. Your doctor must do that.

REMEMBER - Diabetes is a silent killer. Get tested even if it doesn't run in your family. There are medical experts who blame the increasing numbers of this disease on genetically engineered food, which everywhere today. High fructose corn syrup is yet another problem, so get tested to be sure. You probably won't find health care professionals talking about the problems with engineered foods, aspartame or corn syrup.

All of us should be drinking more purified water (not tap water.) As adults we often lose the thirsty-response to dehydration. Coffee, tea, liquor, beer, sodas and other beverages act like a diuretic and put your kidneys into overdrive, pulling water OUT of your system and dehydrate you. Want proof of that? Some of the busiest bathrooms on Earth are in taverns and bars.

Cinnamon bark capsules have been in alternative health news as an alternative to treat high glucose. Our family member has tried it and found it was ineffective in lowering glucose. Perhaps it works for some people and not others.

This disease is often is accompanied by excessive weight gain and high blood pressure. These are some of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Again, a doctor determines this.

DON'T FORGET TO GET TESTED!

Now that you have the basics here is a link to professionally written symptoms, treatments, etc... by doctors and more information I haven't given:
http://health.nih.gov/topic/Diabetes

Now that I've written this I'm dreading all critical emails I'll get for it. But as I've said, I'm not a doctor and just want people to be aware of the basics of this treatable yet highly dangerous disease.

Ted Twietmeyer
tedtw@frontiernet.net

 

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