Latent Diabetes - Lifeabetic.com

Latent diabetes. What is it?

The latent form of diabetes proceeds without the symptoms characteristic of this disease. With latent diabetes mellitus, a person does not feel the changes occurring in the body. This form of diabetes is detected using a special carbohydrate tolerance test. The test is performed first on an empty stomach, then after taking 75 g of glucose. Above 120 mg and 200 mg, respectively, are labeled signs of latent diabetes.

Why is latent diabetes dangerous?

As you know, excess glucose in the blood of a person negatively affects his blood vessels. Moreover, the destructive process begins at the stage of latent diabetes. He feels well and does not go to the doctor. Routine clinical blood tests do not reveal any abnormalities. However, in the presence of latent diabetes, the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, significantly increases, one in ten already at this stage, vision deteriorates, and the nervous system suffers.

Risk factors

Hypertension,
Being overweight,
Polycystic ovary in women,
Lack of potassium in the body,
Temporary diabetes during pregnancy
Heredity.

The latent form of diabetes may be a harbinger of a more serious form of the disease, but not in all cases. Only half of patients with latent diabetes get type two diabetes. In order to take measures in time, people at risk need to take a carbohydrate tolerance test, especially for hypertensive patients. In addition to the fact that hypertension alone can lead to metabolic disorders, diuretics that wash potassium out of the body are prescribed for its treatment. As a result, there is an additional risk of developing diabetes.

Symptoms of Latent Diabetes

Despite the fact that the disease proceeds in a latent form, some symptoms still appear, although not in all cases. Increased thirst and increased urination, characteristic of any form of diabetes, may be present, but not to the extent that greatly disturbs the patient. A person may begin to lose weight, he may experience slight skin itching. These signs of the latent form of diabetes can be completely absent, and the very first alarm signal that we rarely take seriously is a decrease in immunity, which manifests itself in more frequent colds and susceptibility to other infections.

Do I need treatment for latent diabetes?

Today, there are drugs that can stop the development of diabetes (Acarbose, Metformin). However, they need to be taken for several years. No less effective will be the treatment of latent diabetes by lifestyle changes. What does it mean?

First, you need to normalize your weight.
Secondly, it is important to provide yourself with sufficient physical activity.
Thirdly, it is important to follow a diet.

In principle, the last two recommendations can easily help normalize weight. Physical activity, in addition, also contributes to the burning of excess blood sugar, because under load, the muscles absorb 20 times more glucose.

You can swim, ride a bike, just walk. Very simple measures are also suitable, for example, avoiding use of an elevator or public transport, a car. Of course, this does not mean that you need to climb the stairs to the twelfth floor and run marathon distances. It is quite enough to climb the stairs to the 4th-5th floor. If you need to travel by public transport two or three stops, then it is better to walk them. For example, the famous singer Fedor Chaliapin chopped firewood before a meal to lower blood glucose.

Diet for latent diabetes

What you need to reduce to a minimum or remove from the diet:

Fatty foods
Alcohol,
Eggs
High fat dairy products
Sweets,
Products containing caffeine
Sweet Carbonated Drinks,
Sausages.

What will be useful:

Vegetables: green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, celery, artichoke.
Blueberries
Lean meats
Seafood.

The main principles of the diet – reducing the amount of fat and easily digestible carbohydrates, a sufficient amount of protein and potassium. To reduce potassium loss during the processing of vegetables, it is better to use them in raw or baked form. Tea, coffee, alcohol by themselves in moderate doses are not dangerous, but they significantly increase the loss of calcium by the body, which is why they are recommended to be excluded from the diet. Fatty foods and eggs increase the risk of atherosclerosis, which is already elevated in diabetes even in a latent form.

Thus, latent diabetes is a disease that we can cope on our own with some effort. This will protect from more serious health problems that real diabetes brings with it. It is only necessary to identify the most insignificant changes in metabolism in time.