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Diabetes causes

December 20, 2010 by

Causes of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes occurs when an individual does not produce any insulin; insulin is the hormone which controls blood glucose levels. Insulin is produced by the pancreas; when you eat, it is released into the bloodstream, where it takes glucose out of the blood and takes it to the cells to use for energy. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, which means that the glucose is not taken out of the bloodstream and delivered to the cells. Type 1 diabetes is sometimes known as juvenile diabetes or teenage diabetes because it usually develops in younger people.

It is not fully understood why some people do not produce insulin but scientists believe that type 1 diabetes is a form of autoimmune condition, which means that the body’s immune system mistakes a harmless substance or trigger for something harmful and starts to attack it. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the immune system starts to attack the cells in the pancreas that are responsible for producing insulin; this means that they are no longer able to produce insulin. It is not known what triggers the autoimmune response but there is some evidence to suggest that viral infections can sometimes trigger the response.

Type 1 diabetes also tends to run in families so genetics play a part; if you have a close relative with type 1 diabetes, there is a 6 percent chance of developing the condition.

In rare cases, type 1 diabetes may be caused by pancreatitis, a condition which occurs when the pancreas becomes inflamed.

Causes of type 2 diabetes

The exact cause of type 2 diabetes is not yet fully understood; however, a number of risk factors have been identified; these include:

?      Age: risk increases after the age of 40

?      Race and heritage: people who are Asian are most likely to develop type 2 diabetes; type 2 diabetes is six times more common amongst Asian people than white people in the UK. People with Middle-Eastern and African-Caribbean heritage are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes; they are 3 times more likely to develop the condition than white people.

?      Being overweight or obese. Waist size is particularly important; women with a waist measurement of over 31.5 inches and men with a waist measurement of over 35 inches if they are Asian or 37 inches if they are white or black. Losing even 5 percent of your bodyweight can reduce your chance of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 50 percent. You can assess your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by measuring your waist and calculating your BMI (sometimes the BMI result is not very accurate; for example, professional rugby players may be very fit and healthy but their BMI will be higher than the recommended range because they have a lot of muscle).

?      Family history: you are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you have a close relative with the condition.

?      High blood pressure: if you have high blood pressure or you have had a stroke or a heart attack, you are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

?      Impaired glucose tolerance: if you have been diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glycaemia, this may be an early sign of type 2 diabetes.

?      Gestational diabetes: some women develop diabetes during pregnancy; if this is the case, they will be more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

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Filed Under: Health Conditions

Diabetes and puberty

November 20, 2010 by

Puberty can be a very difficult time for all children because of the physical and psychological changes they go through. However, for teenage diabetes youngsters it can be a particularly challenging time. Stress often makes diabetes symptoms worse and as puberty can be a stressful time, many teenagers find that they go through periods of time when their symptoms get worse and they get increasingly fed up with their condition.

How does diabetes affect puberty?

Diabetes affects puberty in different ways depending on the individual; some teenagers may suffer much more than others during puberty. Diabetes can affect puberty in different ways, as follows:

Psychological effects

During puberty many teenagers feel under pressure to fit in and injecting insulin and eating special foods at specific times can be a hindrance to their social life; they may start to feel isolated and different and in extreme cases, teenagers may rebel against their routine in a bid to conform to the life that other teenagers are living; they may stop regulating their insulin and this can potentially be very serious. Most teenagers suffer from self-esteem issues and problems with confidence at some point during puberty, but for teenagers with diabetes, these problems can be ongoing and more severe. Some teenagers may become frustrated, angry and aggressive in reaction to the changes their body is undergoing as a result of puberty.

Physiological effects

As a result of the hormonal changes going on in the body during puberty, it may become more difficult for teenagers with diabetes to control their blood glucose levels; this is particularly true for teenage girls, as their blood glucose levels to change very quickly around the time of their period. Blood sugar levels can swing from high to low and this can be very frustrating. Some teenage girls may experience irregular periods as a result of diabetes.

There is some evidence to suggest that teenagers with type 1 diabetes go through puberty slightly later; this may mean that they do not reach sexual maturation as early as other children.

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Filed Under: Health Conditions

Diabetes treatment

November 11, 2010 by

Type 2 diabetes treatment

Many people with type 2 diabetes do not require medical treatment to control their blood glucose levels; instead, they are encouraged to make lifestyle changes and impose self-treatment measures to treat their condition; examples of this include:

?      Losing weight

?      Adopting a healthy diet

?      Cutting out salty, fatty and sugary foods

?      Exercising on a regular basis (30 minutes 5 times per week)

If these changes are not sufficient to control blood glucose levels and the individual is still experiencing symptoms, they may be prescribed medication; at first, usually one type of medication may be prescribed but as the conditions often gets gradually worse, other medicines may be introduced and in some cases, insulin injections may be used. Examples of medication used to treat type 2 diabetes include Metformin, Sulphonylureas, Gliptins and Glitazones.

Type 1 diabetes treatment

There is no cure for diabetes but there are treatments available to control blood sugar levels and reduce symptoms. For people with type 1 diabetes, the most common treatment is the insulin injection; patients are taught how to inject themselves and inject insulin at specific times during the day; this replaces the natural insulin which should be produced by the pancreas. Some patients prefer to use insulin pumps; pumps allow patients to control the flow of the insulin and enables patients to get their insulin without having to use injections.

Monitoring

Diabetes increases the risk of serious health problems and conditions and it is therefore important for all patients, from people with childhood and teenage diabetes, to adults, to see their care team on a regular basis. This helps to ensure that their blood sugar levels are being controlled effectively and also means that doctors can identify early warning signs and symptoms of associated health conditions.

What happens if diabetes is left untreated?

If diabetes is left untreated, it can be very dangerous. People with diabetes have a higher risk of developing serious health conditions, including heart attacks, strokes, vision problems and kidney disease and if the condition is not controlled and monitored, it is likely that the individual will experience some of these serious conditions.

If you experience symptoms associated with diabetes, including thirst, frequent urination, weight loss and blurred vision or you have family history, you are overweight or you are over the age of 40 you should consider asking your GP for a diabetes test.

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Filed Under: Treatments

Diabetes healthy diet

October 11, 2010 by

Diet is incredibly important for patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes; all patients with diabetes will be offered help and advice with nutrition to ensure that their blood sugar levels are balanced and controlled effectively.

Eating well with type 1 diabetes

It is very important for people with type 1 diabetes to keep an eye on their diet and tailor their diet to suit their condition; this can be challenging at first, but once you get used to it, it will become much easier and there is always help available from your care team.

Having diabetes does not necessarily mean that you need to completely change what you eat it just means that you need to keep an eye on your diet and learn which kinds of foods are best for your health. Learning to eat well can be difficult, especially for people with teenage diabetes, as it can be tempting to indulge in junk food with your friends, but if you are careful, you can eat what you want without paying for it later.

Tips for eating well:

?      Eat three meals a day and never skip meals

?      Include starchy carbohydrates in all your meals; examples include bread, pasta, potatoes and cereals

?      Cut down on saturated fat: you can do this by using margarine instead of butter, trimming the fat off meat, eating low fat dairy foods and grilling, baking and steaming foods instead of frying them

?      Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables

?      Limit your intake of sugary foods

?      Try to eat two portions of oily fish each week; examples include mackerel, salmon, pilchards and sardines

?      Try to eat pulses and lentils

?      Cut down on salt

?      Drink alcohol in moderation

Eating well with type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is commonly linked to obesity and being overweight, which are usually the result of poor eating habits; in many cases, people with type 2 diabetes can reduce their symptoms by switching to a healthy diet, which is low in fatty and salty foods. Adopting a healthy diet and combining this with regular exercise will help you to lose weight, which will be beneficial for your overall health, as well as diabetes.

Tips for eating well:

?      Cut down on salt

?      Limit sugar intake

?      Cut down on saturated fat: use margarine instead of butter, grill and steam foods instead of frying and choose lean meats that are low in fat, such as chicken and turkey

?      Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables (aim for 5 portions per day); this does not mean that you have to eat five separate portions of fruit and vegetables every day, you can also include soups, fruit smoothies, sugar-free fruit juice, sauces and frozen fruit and vegetables in this tally.

?      Choose wholegrain foods, such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, wholegrain cereals and wholegrain pasta

?      Eat plenty of fish; fish is low in fat and contains a range of important nutrients and minerals. Aim to eat two portions of oily fish, such as mackerel and sardines, per week.

?      Include beans and pulses in your diet

?      Eat three meals a day; if you get hungry between meals, have a healthy snack, such as a piece of fruit

?      Drink plenty of water

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Filed Under: Nutrition

Get yourself and family protection from the unexpected

September 20, 2010 by

Without a doubt, life is full of surprises. Surprise marriage proposals, surprise parties, and surprise flower bouquets are just some of life’s grand surprises that bring a smile to one’s face. Sometimes, however, surprises in life are neither grand nor happy. Your child suddenly becomes ill, you are involved in a car accident, or your spouse suddenly suffers from mysterious aches. These are all surprises no one wants, but many have no choice but to confront. Among the stress and worry of dealing with these unfortunate situations, availability of care may either be on the forefront of everyone’s mind or an element of not even the slightest concern.

With private health coverage, unfortunate medical surprises are less of a burden as the guarantee of immediate care is covered. Monthly payments will allow for routine doctors visits to help prevent medical dilemmas and cover them when they do arise. During a medical crisis and the subsequent recovery time, the last thing that should haunt anyone is money, crowds or waiting-lists. In fact recovery time should be as stress-free as possible so that the healing process may take place faster and things may return to normalcy so that the good surprises in life may resume and the bad surprises become nothing more than distant memories.

The safety net of preventive care and supportive care is just a few clicks away. Medicalcover.co.uk is a website geared towards providing solid detailed information about privately owned healthcare insurance. The website not only provides detailed information about general healthcare plans but also offers access to information about most of the United Kingdom’s major health insurance providers including their plans, rates and special offers. This makes creating security and cushion for unfortunate surprises a lot simpler and quicker. In fact, through medicalcover.co.uk , buyers may also receive quotes from the major UK health providers.

Such easy access allows for anyone to weave their own net of solid security to bolster and protect from them life’s unfortunate surprises, so that the good surprises may be truly enjoyed. Information and medical insurance quotes by medicalcover.co.uk are just a few clicks away.

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Filed Under: Insurance

Diabetes diagnosis

September 12, 2010 by

It is important to diagnose diabetes as early as possible so that a suitable treatment plan can be arranged; if diabetes is not diagnosed and subsequently not treated, severe health complications may arise.

Diagnosing diabetes

You should see a doctor as soon as possible if you experience symptoms of diabetes, including:

?      Constant thirst

?      Blurred vision

?      Frequent urinating, especially during the night

?      Fatigue

?      Weight loss

When you go and see your GP they will carry out a urine test; this test is used to determine whether or not glucose is present in the sample. If glucose is present in the urine sample, a blood test will then be ordered; the results of the blood test will be used to confirm the diagnosis. The blood test is carried out in the morning before you have eaten. If the glucose level in the blood sample is not high enough to confirm a diagnosis, the GP order an oral glucose tolerance test; this test involves the patient drinking a glucose drink; their blood sugar levels are then measured at intervals to see how the body deals with glucose.

All patients with diabetes are referred to a specialist care team and their condition is monitored closely; they undergo regular tests and receive advice and information about diet, exercising and administering insulin.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common and doctors are worried that hundreds of people are experiencing symptoms of type 2 diabetes but not doing anything about them; it is estimated that around one million people have type 2 diabetes without knowing it.

If you experience symptoms listed above or you are in an at risk category (if you are aged over 40, you are obese or overweight, you are Asian, African-Caribbean or Middle-Eastern, you have high blood pressure or family history of diabetes) you should see your GP and ask for a diabetes test.

Coping after diagnosis

Type 1 diabetes usually develops in teenagers; people with teenage diabetes may struggle to control their diabetes because the hormonal changes brought about by puberty make it more difficult to regulate blood sugar levels; insulin doses may need to be increased if this is the case.

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Filed Under: Treatments

How to afford teeth implants

September 11, 2010 by

Can you afford all the costs after the procedure is done? Medical insurance might not cover everything fully so you will need a back up plan if you are going to get this procedure done on your own time and money. Medical insurance is one way you can afford everything that has to do with dental or medical issues and teeth implant. These things cost around a thousand or so, so make sure that all of your expenses are up to date and current so that you can afford the bill later or after insurance pays some of it. This will help you out a lot and you will not have to worry about being hunted down for unpaid expenses.

If you don’t pay there can be a chance that you will not be able to get no more service until everything is paid in full. Paying all of your stuff in full is the right way to go so you will not have to worry about doing it later. There are many different ways to pay for your bills, but you ca make sure that you have the money up front instead of just having it later, because there are many places now that you will not be able to pay later, but sometimes this is the case so you can have some time. Especially if they can put you on a payment plan from month to month until it is all paid off.

A monthly payment plan is great to have and you will be able to pay everything instead of trying to make the payments in full. Monthly payment plans are another way to pay for your teeth implants and any other medical bills that you may in counter in the future. For more information about dental implant.

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Filed Under: Dentists Tagged With:

Hair loss treatments

August 20, 2010 by

Some times you can buy some Nice hair gel or something like that and it will grow your hair back in a few weeks or so. You might be able to see a lot of progress with something like that if you are using it when you are suppose to. Hair loss is big and there are a lot of ways to make sure that you are good at handling it and taking care of it.

There are so many home remedies that will help you with your hair loss and there are a lot of cremes that you can apply and see if they actually work for you if so then you are in great shape. No one should be stressed over losing hair all you have to do is find ways to deal and control everything that you do.

If it makes you feel better to have hair and you do not want to buy it then wait for a donor to come along, but you will have to pay for the service at hand. money is involved in everything that you do, so if you have it then you are in a great position to pay for all of your treatments and procedures.

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Filed Under: Hair and Beauty

What is diabetes?

August 11, 2010 by

Diabetes is a lifelong condition, which occurs when the body is unable to regulate the level of glucose in the blood. Blood sugar levels are usually controlled by a hormone called insulin, which is produced by the pancreas; people with diabetes do not produce enough insulin and this means that their body cannot control glucose levels.

There are two types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is much less common than type 2 diabetes; around 90 percent of people with diabetes in the UK have type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes occurs when an individual cannot produce any insulin at all; type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin; it can also result from the insulin not working properly. Type 2 diabetes is usually linked to obesity.

What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes is believed to be an autoimmune condition, which means that the body’s immune system starts to attack a harmless substance, mistaking it for a threat; in the case of diabetes, the immune system starts to attack the cells in the pancreas and this prevents them from being able to produce insulin. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce any insulin and require daily injections of insulin in order to regulate their blood glucose levels.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce sufficient amounts of insulin or the insulin is not working properly. Type 2 diabetes is often linked to obesity and the number of cases has risen significantly in recent years in tandem with the rise in obesity.

What causes diabetes?

It is not known what triggers the autoimmune response in people with type 1 diabetes; there is evidence to suggest that type 1 diabetes runs in families. In rare cases, type 1 diabetes is caused by pancreatitis, which occurs when the pancreas becomes inflamed.

The exact cause of type 2 diabetes is also not fully understood but the following risk factors have been identified:

?      Being overweight or obese (carrying excess weight around the waist is particularly dangerous)

?      Being of Asian, African-Caribbean or Middle-Eastern heritage

?      Family history

?      Age: risk increases in people over the age of 40

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Symptoms for both types of diabetes are similar but symptoms tend to develop very quickly for type 1 diabetes and very gradually for type 2 diabetes; common symptoms include:

?      Thirst

?      Frequent urination (especially at night)

?      Blurred vision

?      Extreme tiredness

?      Weight loss

?      Loss of muscle mass

How is diabetes treated?

There is no cure for diabetes but the symptoms can be managed; in people with type 1 diabetes, daily injections of insulin are required to regulate the level of blood glucose; some people prefer to use insulin pumps. People with type 2 diabetes can often control their symptoms by changing their diet and eating healthily, exercising regularly and giving up smoking and drinking; if their condition gets worse, they may need to take tablets to reduce the levels of glucose in the blood.

What happens if diabetes is not treated?

If diabetes is not treated and managed effectively it can lead to very serious illnesses and complications. Teenage diabetes is something that should be identified as early as possible as to leave it would lead to greater harm. If diabetes is not treated it can lead to conditions, including:

?      Nerve damage

?      Heart attacks

?      Strokes

?      Retinopathy (this occurs when the retina is damaged)

?      Kidney disease

?      Impotence (in men)

?      Lack of sexual libido

?      Miscarriage in pregnant women

?      Foot ulcers

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Filed Under: Health Conditions

Plastic Surgery and You

August 10, 2010 by

As has been discussed all throughout the various blogs, cosmetic surgery seems to be big business. Once a privilege of exclusively the rich and famous, more and more common women-and men are pursuing this medical procedure than ever before.

We live in a society that has become increasingly obsessed with youth and age. It seems that almost everyone wants to be young and attractive-looking. As has been discussed, whether a person feels young or not has a lot to do with several factors, such as attitude or outlook, lifestyle, the activities one engages in or even their religious values.

Some sources have even claimed that using certain drugs that has prolonged the lives of rats and other non-humans can also increase the life-span of humans as well. Of course, that remains to be seen.

But what has been the gist of all the blogs or articles has been the practise of cosmetic surgery. No matter what methods of staying young people have tried, it seems that almost everyone wants to get plastic surgery. As was also discussed, this is a costly and extensive medical procedure. But this hasn’t stopped people from at least trying to appear younger than they seem.

More than anything else today, it seems, people want to be young and stay that way. Of course, in today’s present world, this is clearly not possible, but at least persons are trying to come close to it as humanly possible.

Perhaps you feel the same way. If so, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s only natural that most people want to be young, this is the way humans were originally made. Human are life-oriented, not death-oriented, because no sane person wants to die.

Will you choose cosmetic surgery as an option? Well, that decision is up to you.

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Filed Under: Cosmetic Surgery Tagged With: ,
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