What Is Diabetes Mellitus?
Diabetes mellitus, also known as diabetes, refers to a group of diseases that affect how the body converts food into energy.
When you eat starch, your body converts it to glucose, a sugar that enters your bloodstream. Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas that aids in the movement of glucose from your bloodstream into your cells, where it is used for energy.
When you don’t get medication for diabetes, the body doesn’t use insulin as well as it can. A disorder known as high blood sugar occurs when too much glucose remains in your blood. This can result in serious or even life-threatening health issues.
Diabetes mellitus is a progressive, lifelong disease that can be caused by a variety of factors. People with a high blood glucose/sugar level are affected. While glucose is required for the body’s energy, it must be transported in the bloodstream by the hormone insulin, which is generated by the pancreas. If glucose is not transported across the body due to a lack of insulin, glucose builds up in the blood. As a result, if insulin is either absent or present in insufficient amounts, the person is at risk of developing diabetes at any time.
Knowing that diabetes is almost always inevitable for most people, particularly if they are obese or have a family history of diabetes, it’s important to recognise the different forms and causes of this chronic illness.
Diabetes manifests itself in a variety of ways, depending on the cause.
TYPES OF DIABETES
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes (also known as diabetes in juveniles) mostly affects children and teenagers.
Causes: This occurs when the body’s antibodies infest the pancreas and cause insulin damage. Causes: The presence of defective beta cells may be a further factor, which is essential for the development of pancreas insulin. These are the reasons why diabetes of Type 1 depends completely on insulin and only requires injections or insulin pumps to be treated.
Many of those complications with type 1 are caused by damage to the small blood vessels in the eyes (known diabetic retinopathy), nerves, and kidneys (diabetic neuropathy) (diabetic nephropathy). Individuals with type 1 may have a greater risk for heart and stroke.
Treatment for diabetes type 1 requires insulin injection into the fatty tissue just below the skin.
Syringes
Insulin pens with a small needle and prefilled cartridges.
Jet injectors used high-pressure air to send insulin sprays through the skin.
Sending pumps of insulin under the skin of the abdomen through a tube to a catheter.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes is described as having a blood sugar level that is higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. It is present in more than a quarter of Indians, but the rest are unaware of it.
Prediabetes increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiac failure rises. Exercising further and loss of weight can minimize risks, including less than 5% to 7% of the body weight.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes has previously been called diabetes that is non-insulin-based or adult diabetes. However, the numbers of young people who are overweight or obese have become more common in children and teens over the last 20 years. This type is present in more than 95 percent of adults and can lead to serious health problems if not properly managed
Causes: diabetes type 2 occurs when insulin is released in inadequate quantities or when insulin released from the body’s cells is repelled. This disorder is more likely to occur in obese persons with insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes is said to be less complex and aggressive than Type 1, but if not treated with medicine, diabetes in any form is harmful and can lead to death.
When you have type 2 diabetes, the pancreas can usually contain insulin. However, the body does not use it correctly or is inadequate. Resistance to insulin is a state in which insulin is not reacted by cells. Fat, liver, and muscle cells are most commonly affected.
Type 2 diabetes is generally lower than Type 1 diabetes. It can, however, also cause serious medical problems, especially in the small blood vessels that pass through the kidneys, nerves, and eyes. The risk of heart disease and stroke is also caused by type 2 diabetes.
Obese people (who exceed 20 percent their ideal body weight for their height) are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and the accompanying complications. In obese people, insulin resistance is frequent, so the pancreas must work harder to produce more insulin. However, it is not enough to maintain the levels of blood sugar in the normal range.
Treatment for diabetes type 2 involves healthy weight, good food, and practice. Some people also need medication.
Gestational Diabetes
Pregnant women are mostly affected by this type of diabetes. Often in the third and fourth trimesters.
Causes: It is responsible for hormonal variability and metabolic pregnancy demands as well as genetics and environmental factors. The higher blood sugars in the mother flow through the placenta which may affect the child. The good news is that the diabetes type is just sporadic and disappears as soon as the pregnancy ends. However, studies show that about 10 percent of women with gestational diabetes ultimately develop Type 2 diabetes after birth. Resistance to insulin is a serious side effect of pregnancy.
It’s known as gestational diabetes if this progresses to diabetes. Doctors also diagnose it in mid- or late pregnancy stages. Because a woman’s blood sugars cross her placenta and her baby, gestational diabetes must be achieved to protect baby development and growth.
Gestational diabetes, according to physicians, affects 2 to 10 percent of births. After the baby is born it usually goes off. However, up to 10% of pregnant women develop type 2 diabetes weeks or years later.
The baby is less likely than the mother to develop gestational diabetes. A baby may have irregular weight gain before birth, trouble breathing at birth, or a higher risk of obesity and diabetes later in life. A big baby can need a cesarean section, or the mother can have heart, nerves, or eyes damaged.
Proper meal planning to provide you with sufficient nutrients without using as much fat or calories.
Read More: Diabetes Mellitus: Types and Causes
Treatment for gestational diabetes involves:
- Exercise periodically
- Maintaining weight balanced
- Take insulin to control blood sugar levels if necessary
Diabetes and Risk Factors
What are the Risk Factors?
The factors that raise your risk vary depending on the type of diabetes you eventually develop.
The following are risk factors for Type 1 diabetes:
- Having a type 1 diabetes family history (parent or sibling).
- Pancreatitis is an injury to the pancreas (such as by infection, tumor, surgery or accident).
- Autoantibodies (antibodies that mistakenly invade your own body’s tissues or organs) are present.
- Physical tension/Stress (such as surgery or illness).
- Exposure to viruses-caused illnesses.
The following are risk factors for Prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes:
- A family history of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes (parent or sibling).
- Being black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian-American, or Pacific Islander.
- Being obese.
- High blood pressure is a condition in which you have a lot of pressure in your
- Having low HDL (the “healthy” cholesterol) and a high triglyceride amount.
- Being physically inactive.
- Being 45 years of age or older.
- Having gestational diabetes or having a baby that weighs more than 9 pounds.
- Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition in which the ovaries are polycystic.
- Having a family history of cardiovascular disease or stroke.
- Being a smoker.
The following are risk factors for Gestational diabetes:
- A family history of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes (parent or sibling).
- Being black, Hispanic, Native American, or Asian-American.
- Being overweight prior to pregnancy
- Being over the age of 25.
Diabetes & Ayurveda Treatments
Depending on the seriousness of the disease, Ayurvedic diabetes therapies range from internal herbal medicines to purifying Panchakarma procedures such as Vamana, Virechana, Vasti, and so on based on the severity of the condition.
These alternative treatments are intended to improve insulin sensitivity of type 4 glucose receptors, thereby reducing insulin resistance, as well as improving insulin secretion and beta-cell regeneration.
Yoga and Exercises: Diabetes can be managed with yoga and regular exercises. This is mostly due to the fact that Yoga helps to control the causes of Diabetes. Diabetes can be caused by a variety of factors, the most common of which are stress and obesity. Regular yoga practice combined with meditation decreases tension and slows the accumulation of fat in the body. Pranayam, surya namaskar, balasana, vajrasana, sarvangasana, halasana, and dhanurasana are a few useful postures.
Our Take
“Maintaining your lifestyle will help you slowly come out of the disorder”, says our lead expert Dr. Soumya Hullannavar, who is extensively involved in treating numerous diabetes patients.
Help yourself to come out of the disorder by consulting at Elite Ayurveda.
