Medical News

Nearly 200 million people in the world suffer from type I or type II diabetes. The number continues to grow with an alarming number of young people being affected by type II. Anyone with either type has an increased risk of heart and vascular diseases along with other complications.
Cheap viagra Canada
What are the Signs and Symptoms?

There are two features of diabetes; hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. The two have different symptoms.

Hyperglycemia is when the amount of glucose (blood sugar) in the blood is too high.

The symptoms include:

· Extreme thirst
· Frequent urination
· Blurry vision
· Dry itchy skin
· Increased hunger
· Weight loss (more commonly seen in type I-the body burns fat for energy because it can no longer burn glucose)
· Tingling or numbness in the extremities; fingers, toes, etc.
· Sexual dysfunction
· Slow wound healing; frequent skin infections

The symptoms of hyperglycemia usually start slowly and can lead to a medical emergency if the blood sugar stays too high for too long. If hyperglycemia occurs on a regular or chronic basis, it damages the vascular system causing the complications that may be life-threatening.

Hypoglycemia is very dangerous, because there is a lack of glucose in the bloodstream. Brain cells must have a constant steady supply of glucose or they can die. A diabetic coma occurs when the brain cells have been deprived of energy for too long.

The warning signs of hypoglycemia include:

· Irritability
· Headache
· Fatigue or feeling weak
· Blurred vision (a common symptom of both features
· Dizziness
· Sweating
· Rapid heartbeat
· Shaking
· Anxiety
· Hunger

Hypoglycemia can occur suddenly and must be addressed quickly.

What Causes Diabetes?

The exact cause of type 1 is unclear. Genetics are known to play a role but other factors must come in to play because studies of identical twins have shown that when one twin develops the disease, the other twin develops it only 30-50% of the time.
Cialis Canada
Factors that scientists believe are involved include:

· Environment-possibly due to toxin chemicals in the environment
· Viruses attacking insulin-producing pancreatic cells
· Diet
· Inadequate nutrient intake
· Imbalances in gut flora
· Drugs-certain drugs destroy pancreatic cells

Type II diabetes seems to run in families indicating that genetics may be involved. But according to nutrition scientists, “Genetics only loads the gun. Lifestyle pulls the trigger.” New research has shown that the use of antidepressant drugs is associated with an increased risk of type II diabetes.

The increase in type II diabetes is associated with the increase in obesity. In these cases, the pancreas is functioning normally but the fat cells have crowded out and reduced the number of insulin receptors in the other cells of the body. This is referred to as insulin resistance. Research has shown that with proper diet, regular physical activity and weight loss, type II diabetes can be reversed.

For any person with diabetes an often overlooked yet critical area of focus in the diabetes treatment plan is with skincare because high and fluctuating blood glucose levels result in a loss of fluid in the body. This starving of fluid, especially in the extremities, leads to dryness; which then leads to the risk of infection should germs get through cracks in the skin. Skin care products are essential diabetes supplies and good skincare habits an integral part of the diabetic treatment plan.

First and foremost, diet directly relates to the stability (or instability) of blood glucose levels, and subsequently to the condition of skin and all other organs. What this means is that any patient who follows with care his or her diabetic treatment plan and whose diet includes the recommended foods, stands a better chance of keeping skin healthy. By regulating spikes in blood glucose, a diabetic protects his or her skin from the inside out; clearly always a better option..

For protection from the outside in, a diabetic can develop the right kind of care routine to ensure skin is kept clean and healthy. Balance, as in many health related self- management issues is always the key; skin neither too dry nor too moist is a good thing for a diabetic. Here are five easy-to -remember tips on what to incorporate into a balanced diabetes treatment plan.

Avoid very hot showers and baths. Steamy water is drying to the skin, even if quite relaxing. For those who love to soak in the tub, there are many ways to enjoy the bath and moisten skin at the same time. Some popular and inexpensive options to add to the bath water are coconut milk or even powdered milk that might be used for cooking. For a slightly higher investment, the patient with diabetes might add a few drops of lavender oil into the bath. While true essential oils may cost a bit more than a can of coconut milk, they are an effective and enjoyable additions to the necessary diabetes testing supplies.

After every shower or bath dry all areas of the body thoroughly. Dampness on skin can become a breeding area for bacteria. It may be helpful to use talcum powder on the skin after bathing, particularly in areas that receive less air. It is recommended that the patient sprinkles feet and in between toes with talcum powder.

Moisturizing the skin is a necessity, and a good hypoallergenic lotion is just as critical. If talc is used immediately following a shower or bath, lotion may be applied an hour or so later so as not to create a paste on the skin. Lotion should be limited to those areas where dryness is more prevalent and never put between the toes.

Any cuts that occur should be treated swiftly with a soap and water wash. Alcohol, iodine, or antiseptic wash is not necessary, and is actually drying to the skin. Good old soap and water is always sufficient.

Monitor air quality within the home. When air is dry, skin will be depleted of moisture. The solution is not to pour on more lotion, but to create a balance between properly humidified air in the house and a moisturizing routine. For those living in colder climates, this is particularly relevant during cold winter months when the heater is in constant use. A humidifier may be the most practical way of controlling the quality of the air in the home environment.

Patients with diabetes can promote, preserve and protect healthy skin as an integral part of their diabetes treatment plan. The right diet with the right foods, a healthy home environment and good skincare habits go hand in hand with quality diabetes supplies!

The main piece of arsenal in the management of diabetes, Type 1 or Type 2, is the testing of the amount of sugar in your blood. While every other aspect of management is also important, they all hinge on the success of this one area. That’s why it is important to know when to check your levels and why you should do so.

Checking your blood sugar levels isn’t that difficult, but let’s face it: it can be annoying to have to keep up with. If you feel fine then there should be no reason to have to go to all of the trouble of checking it anyway, right? After all, who better to know if there was a problem than the diabetic?

Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. If we could go strictly off of feelings then there would be very little need for glucose meters. The fact of the matter is they provide an invaluable service to the diabetic. Without them, proper blood sugar management would be nothing more than mere guesswork.

Before you understand when and why to check your levels, you first have to know what it is that you are looking for.

Do you know what your optimal range is? Your doctor should have discussed it with you at some point.

You will need to know three key numbers:

*your fasting blood sugar… suggestion could be 70 to 100 mg/dL (or less than 5.5 mmol/L),
*2 hours after the start of a meal… suggestion could be 70 to 145 mg/dL (or less than 7.9 mmolL), and
*randon or casual level… suggestion could be 70 to 125 mg/dL (or less than 7 mmol/L)

Once you are armed with this data, then you can move on to the “when” part of the discussion.

Besides the three times just mentioned, you will also want to have your glucose meter on hand at all times. This is so you will be ready if your levels start to go out of whack in between these times. Sometimes you will know when this is and sometimes you won’t. Again, you can never fully rely on how you feel as this is not a good indication that something may be wrong. If you are on insulin, your doctor may recommend that you check it additionally.

Now for the “how” portion of checking. There are many ways this can be done with a lot riding on which type of glucose meter you are using. Some will use a sample from your finger while others can utilize blood from the thigh, forearm, etc. You will find the location that is right for you. Diabetics will often change locations to give their testing area a chance to heal properly.

Regardless of where you take a sample, it will need to be a clean site in order to maximize the accuracy of the result. First, wash your hands thoroughly before you begin. Next, after drying them off, make sure your meter and the test strip you will be using is also free of debris and dirt. Dirt on any of these areas can skew the results.

If you are using your fingertips to extract blood, you will want to rotate to different fingers periodically as they will become sore over time. Plus, after multiple testings there is going to be a formation of scar tissue, making the testing sites tough and harder to penetrate.

So, why do you have to test? There are actually several reasons why it is imperative to check levels. You need to know if there is a problem with your diabetes, as unbalanced blood sugar levels can lead to a plethora of other medical conditions. It doesn’t take long for low or high levels to trigger a glycemic episode that can render you partially or even completely incapacitated.

You also need to know how your diet is affecting your health… either in a good way, or a bad one. This signals whether or not you need to make some changes to your eating plan.

DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, is the molecule that makes up our genetic coding to make us what we are. Telomeres are parts of DNA molecules, located at the ends of the ladder-shaped DNA molecules to keep them from unraveling.

Shortened telomeres have been found in diabetes, and diabetic patients with the shortest telomeres tend to have the most complications of the condition. Investigators at the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Leon Guanajuato, Mexico studied telomere lengths to get an idea of whether telomeres shorten during the course of having diabetes. Their results were published in August 2011 in the journal Aging Male.

The Study: Two hundred and eighty-seven men were included in the study.

Approximately:

1. one-third of these men had known they had Type 2 diabetes for at least 10 years,
2. one-third had received their Type 2 diabetes diagnosis less than one year ago, and
3. the remaining third were non-diabetic.

Results: It was found the group who had Type 2 diabetes for 10 years or more had the shortest telomeres, followed by the group who had been recently diagnosed. The longest telomeres were found in the non-diabetics. The researchers concluded that telomere shortening increases with the length of time after Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance begins to take effect.

Telomeres are made up of parts of DNA called base pairs, and babies are born with 8,000 of them in each strand of DNA. The number of telomeres can decrease to as few as 1,500 in elderly people. Cells are able to divide about 50 to 70 times, with telomeres shortening each time, until cells become too old to reproduce or become cancerous. Researchers at the University of Utah in the USA discovered that among people over 60 years of age, those with the shortest telomeres were three times more likely to die from heart disease and eight times more likely to die from infectious disease than those with the longest telomeres.

Lengthening telomeres could someday extend lifetimes or end cancer, although much further research will have to be done before that possibility could become a reality.

An association between the length of time of having diabetes and having shorter telomeres does not necessarily show cause and effect. Further investigation will show whether a biological mechanism exists by which diabetes shortens telomeres. If diabetes is responsible for causing telomeres to grow smaller, then controlling your Type 2 diabetes could be one way to remain healthy longer.

Certainly, controlling diabetes is a good way to prevent complications, and slowing down aging could be another benefit. A vegan diet along with an exercise program that includes some weight training and aerobics, along with a medication regimen, if needed, can bring Type 2 diabetes under good control.

A research carried out recently in France stated that the number of adults with diabetes has double in the last 30 years. 70% of the rise in diabetes in adults has been attributed to long lifespan and increase in economic conditions in the last 30 years. So how do we prevent the rise in diabetes. How do individuals infected with the disease control it, live a normal life and increase their life span if possible. The simple answer is eating the right diet.

Eating right is a key step in preventing and controlling the disease. Fortunately, you can still enjoy favorite your food and take pleasure from your meals even when you are managing the disease. Your nutritional needs are still the same as everyone else, no special food or complicated diets. The key to a diabetic diet is moderation, eating a variety of nutritious food at regular intervals and sticking to regular meal times.

The nutritious food needed by diabetes include

VEGETABLES:

Vegetables that have high fiber content is preferable. These include leafy vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, spinach, cucumber, onion, carrots, avocados, green beans and tomatoes. They are rich in vitamins and minerals and help to maintain balance diet.

FRUITS

Fruits that are helpful for diabetics include oranges, mangoes, apples, bananas etc. These are also good source of vitamins and minerals.

MILK

Milk is an essential source of energy for diabetes. However the milk must be low fat milk and yoghurt products.

MEAT

Lean meat such as pork, veal and free range pork meat can be eaten by diabetes.

CARBOHYDRATES:

High fat carbohydrates or refined carbohydrates such as white rice, white potato, white bread, processed cereals and instant oat meals. should be avoided Instead eat brown rice, millet, sweet potatoes and whole grain bread. These are good for your health.

FOOD TO AVOID

Avoid food with high salt content and alcohol. These food interfere with the normal functioning of the heart and liver. Also avoid taking soda and juice drink mixed with preservatives.

Essentially, a diabetic diet should contain food from all classes of food with vegetables making a large part of the diet. Eating carbohydrate along with little fat or protein helps reduce blood sugar level, make you live a normal lifestyle and increase your life span. Thus the above tips provided should be adhere strictly to. It is difficult to forgo some of your likes but discipline should be your watch word.

Don’t you believe that the food you eat every day has great relevance to your health? If not, you are making a grave mistake. Your daily diet- the types of food, quantity of food, quality of food, frequency of taking food is closely correlated to the health conditions as well as diseases. By changing the lifestyle and the eating habits you can help your body to control any disease or even keep it aside from happening.

Diabetes is a world known chronic disease causing increased blood sugar level in the body. If not attended to from the beginning diabetes may pose and worsen many other health problems. So it is your interest to amend your life style including eating habits for overcoming diabetes.

While taking care of diabetes you have to take care of three aspects of eating i.e. what to eat, when to eat as well as how much to eat. Following precautions may help you to fight diabetes, or maintain the present level or even reduce it to certain extent only by taking right kind of food.

Sugar is considered as the number one enemy of Diabetes. But it is a wrong notion that diabetic person has to give up eating sugar totally. You need not and must not eliminate sugar from your daily diet plan. You only need to cut down the consumption of sweets. You can enjoy the sweets on rare or special occasions. Try to reduce the sugar in your tea or coffee- this you can do every day. Further give up the habit of frequently drinking soda or sweetened drinks- those are most harmful for you. You should rather opt for healthy substitutes to control your intake of sweets and sugar. Give preference to water for soda, select fruit dish instead of ice cream.

Another important aspect of food you need to control very much is the consumption of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are essential for supply of fuel to your body. You need to be selective about quantity of carbohydrates and its forms. Try to be smart in selection of carbohydrates you eat. White rice be substituted by brown rice, also choose whole grain bread in place of white bread. You can do it easily without much trouble. Add the number of vegetables to your diet every day. Eating carbs with protein can help to reduce the impact of blood sugar level.

Another most important thing for a diabetic person is to regularize the eating habits. Establishing and maintaining particular timing for breakfast, lunch or dinner is far more important in this regard. With systemized eating habits your body is in better position to control your blood sugar levels and your weight too. Never commit a mistake of skipping breakfast. It is the most important requirement of your body for healthy life. It is also advisable to have more number of small meals at regular intervals so that you can easily overcome hunger.

The other equally or rather more important aspect of food consumption is to you need to listen to your body. Our body has very sound system and mechanism to give various kinds of signals and therefore try to hear and listen to it, and act upon it wisely. Never be crazy about food but follow conscious signals coming from your body system.

It always tugs at the heart when a child suffers from any kind of disease. Diabetes is no exception to this. Although, Type 1 diabetes is the most common form among children, Type 2 diabetes is increasing among children as well. This is due to our world’s high increase in obesity.

In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas has an inability to produce insulin in the body… the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called beta cells, have been destroyed or are unable to produce insulin. With Type 1 diabetes, blood sugar levels stay high because there is no insulin around to deliver the sugar to the cells… blood sugar will remain elevated unless injections of insulin are given. The body actually attacks its own tissue or organs making it an autoimmune disease.

The cause of diabetes in children is a mystery. One theory is it’s in the child’s genes, or environmental. However, most often children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes do not have a family history of diabetes. The symptoms in children are similar to those in adults with a few exceptions.

The most common symptoms to look for are:

• excessive thirst,
• weight loss,
• tiredness, or
• frequent urination.

There are some differences from adults and children. Children tend to have stomach pains, headaches, and behavior problems. If there are unexplained problems with stomach pains or illnesses in a child for a few weeks, a doctor should consider the possibility of diabetes.

If your child is diagnosed with diabetes they will be assigned a diabetes team. This team, along with the parents, will develop an insulin or medication routine. Most often, a fast acting insulin regimen is used during the day and a slow acting regimen at night. If a child is very young, only one insulin injection at night will be needed, but as they grow older they will need two injections a day. Eventually, they may be able to rely on an insulin pump.

Insulin treatment is not enough. Children need good blood sugar control and they need to avoid low blood sugar attacks, otherwise known as, hypoglycemia. This is important because problems with diabetes increase over the length of time diabetes has been present in the body. Canadian viagra

Children with diabetes can put a great stress on the family… children present with special issues that adults with diabetes do not have. Many doctors believe if a child has diabetes, the whole family takes on the burden of diabetes because everyone must adjust to it. It’s important for parents to surround themselves with a support team. Also, a good understanding of the disease and its treatment is crucial.

Viagra in Canada

The diabetes team can teach you how to give insulin injections and educate you on the symptoms of low blood sugar. As your child gets older, there will be certain things you will need to teach them. For example, you will help them learn how to measure their blood sugar levels and how to administer their own insulin injections. It’s also very important to educate your child’s school and friends about the symptoms of low sugar and what to do about it.

A child being diagnosed with diabetes is scary, but it is manageable. It’s important for parents to be educated and educate others who are involved with their child.