Genes, excess weight, anxiety | Symptoms | Sugar is in the blood
“It’s so sweet to live without sugar!” — perhaps, this unusual phrase could be signed by each of those suffering from diabetes, who, through bitter personal experience, became convinced of the insidiousness of an incurable disease. Diabetes mellitus is one of the most mysterious diseases that can ever affect a person. But diabetes itself is not so terrible — the achievements of modern medicine make it possible to control the level of glucose quite successfully with the help of hypoglycemic drugs and diet. The greatest threat to human health and life is posed by complications of the disease, which can truly be called formidable: vascular damage leading to myocardial infarction and stroke, kidney disease, the development of leg ulcers …
Genes, excess weight, anxiety …
Type 1 diabetes mellitus usually develops as a result of a malfunction of the pancreas, which stops producing the hormone insulin, a substance that regulates blood sugar levels. In type II diabetes, insulin is produced as expected, but the cells of the body stop accepting it.
To the question: “Why does diabetes occur?” — scientists have so far not found the answer. Only one thing has been established for sure: diabetes cannot be contracted through contact with a sick person. Diabetes can be provoked by:
- Hereditary predisposition. Almost all experts agree that the risk of developing diabetes increases if someone in your family has diabetes — one of your parents, brothers or sisters.
- Obesity. This factor, fortunately, can be neutralized if a person, realizing the full extent of the threat, will strenuously fight excess weight.
- Diseases resulting in damage to the beta cells of the pancreas. These are pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, and diseases of other endocrine glands. The provoking factor in this case may be injury.
- Viral infections. (rubella, chickenpox, viral hepatitis and some other diseases, including influenza). These infections act as a trigger. It is clear that for most people, the flu will not be the onset of diabetes. But if this is an obese person with a genetic predisposition, then the flu is a threat to him. A person whose family was not diabetic can suffer the flu and other infectious diseases many times — and at the same time, they are much less likely to develop diabetes than a person with a hereditary predisposition to diabetes. So, the combination of risk factors increases the risk of the disease several times.
- Anxiety can also be a predisposing factor. This should be especially taken into account by those who are overweight and have a family history of diabetes.
- Age. The older a person is, the more reason he has to fear diabetes. It is believed that for every ten years, the likelihood of developing diabetes doubles.
Many believe that the main cause of diabetes is in food, that diabetics have a sweet tooth, who put five tablespoons of sugar in tea and drink this tea with sweets and cakes. There is some truth in this, if only in the sense that a person with such eating habits is likely to be overweight. And the fact that obesity provokes diabetes is absolutely proven. It should not be forgotten that the number of patients with diabetes mellitus is growing, and it is justly attributed to the diseases of civilization, that is, the cause of diabetes in many cases is excessive, rich in easily digestible carbohydrates.
So, diabetes has several causes, in each case it may be one of them.
Symptoms of diabetes
The main symptoms of diabetes are:
- sudden weight loss;
- dehydration of the body;
- increased fatigue;
- weakness;
- bad sleep;
- itching of the skin.
Diabetes mellitus type I sometimes manifests itself as a sharp deterioration in the condition, when severe weakness occurs, abdominal pain, vomiting, and the smell of acetone from the mouth (ketoacidosis).
Type 2 diabetes usually develops gradually over time.
How much sugar is in the blood
Patients with diabetes mellitus must see an endocrinologist.
To diagnose diabetes mellitus, the following tests are performed:
- A blood glucose test (usually a fingerstick test): High glucose levels (hyperglycemia) are determined. The analysis must be taken on an empty stomach.
- Test for glucose tolerance: on an empty stomach, take a certain amount of sugar (the exact amount is prescribed by the doctor), then determine the concentration of glucose in the blood after 0.5, 2 and 6 hours. On the day of the test, it is advisable not to smoke, not to worry, not to take some medications.
- Urinalysis for glucose and ketone bodies: detection of ketone bodies and glucose confirms the diagnosis of diabetes.