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Last Updated: Jul 2nd, 2008 - 21:15:22 |
With modern sedentary lifestyles leading to obesity, one of the fastest growing diseases which cause alarm is diabetes. This is a disease that imposes new ways of living, altering the comfort zones of many people.
Diabetes does not spare any one, be it children, the middle aged or the elderly.
Diabetes can cause other problems such as damage to the kidney, deteriorating vision, damage to the nervous system and blood vessels.
Diabetes affects millions of people with some being more vulnerable to this than others. To find out who is vulnerable and who is not, read further for some startling insights.
Frequent, particularly at night, urination, extreme thirst and inexplicable drop in weight are basic symptoms of diabetes.
There are associated symptoms of diabetes such as, frequent vaginal (yeast) infection for women, swollen ankles, slow healing wounds etc. These are not common to every diabetic, and some have a few or none at all.
The age of the person, the amount of exercise that he indulges in, family history etc, are factors that can influence who will get diabetes. Certain ethnic groups for instance, are more vulnerable than others.
Instead of worrying about whether you have got diabetes or not, if you observe any of the above symptoms in yourself, you may consult a physician.
He will arrange for some tests to determine whether you are diabetic or not. Two popular-with-doctors tests are, 1. Fasting Plasma Glucose Test and, 2. Oral Glucose Tolerance Test. The former is more popular and is best done in the morning, at least eight hours after eating or drinking anything.
This test measures the quantity of glucose in the blood and compares it with a standard norm. The latter is performed eight hours after a meal, immediately before and two hours after drinking a large quantity of glucose solution. These two readings are compared with standard norms. Both tests enable the doctor to make a diagnosis.
Some extremely vulnerable types are overweight/obese people. People with high blood pressure and high cholesterol also are vulnerable.
People over the age of 45 should go for regular medical check ups to forestall getting diabetes. A high-risk group has been identified as minorities particularly for type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is a debilitating disease. It is however possible to catch it early and arrest its development or completely prevent it by a few simple practices. Not all cases of diabetes need to be treated with insulin intake.
Regular and vigorous exercise, proper food habits as suggested by dieticians, reducing weight, regular medical check ups are some of the methods by which the diabetes can be prevented or controlled.
Simple dieting and exercise can control most cases of diabetes, if you catch it early on. There will be no need to fear the painful injections of insulin and insulin dependence.
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