Browsing: Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is a serious disease. Treatment needs monitoring your blood sugar (glucose) levels. Eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy body weight and engaging in regular physical activity are important for managing the diabetes. Oral diabetes drugs are usually used only after lifestyle changes have been unsuccessful in lowering your glucose levels.

Diabetes is a multi-factorial disease. The reason for developing it depends on the type of diabetes, genetics, lifestyle and environment-related factors. Genetics is certainly the most important reason why some people develop it and others do not. Lifestyle and growing age are other risk factors.

Diabetes symptoms occur become some or all of the glucose you get from food stays in your blood and does not get converted into energy as a fuel for the body. Your body tries to remove excess glucose in your urine. Main symptoms are such as fatigue and extreme thirst, peeing more often, infections, weight loss.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends that everyone above the age of 45 should be tested for diabetes. If the results are normal, a person must be re-tested every three years. Testing should be conducted at earlier ages and more frequently in people who are at higher risk of the disease.

World Health Organization has issued special dietary and nutritional recommendations for the Holy month of Ramadan. During this month, healthy adult Muslims practise daily fasting from dawn until sunset. People break their fast at sunset with a meal called ‘iftar’ and then eat again with a pre-dawn meal called ‘suhoor’ next day.

Diabetes may affect various parts of your eye, including the retina, macula, lens and the optic nerve. More than 25 million Americans have diabetes, and the number is considerably increasing. People with diabetes are at risk for diabetic eye diseases and risk for losing vision. Diabetic retinopathy creates a greater risk to the vision.