Complications Of Diabetes

Can There Be A Diabetes Cure For Horses?

2008-10-04T20:54:00.001-07:00

Horses can get diabetes. Since they are not only beloved companions but incredibly valuable pieces of property, there is a huge interest on the part of drug companies to find a diabetes cure for horses. Part of a horse’s inherent value is that they are so fragile. Unlike catastrophic leg or digestive problems, which come up from out of the blue, a diabetes cure or at least control is very possible.

Property?

Unfortunately, horses as well as other animals, are legally classified as “property”. This has both its advantages and disadvantaged for horse slaves…er, I mean, owners. Because they are property, they have a monetary value. Unlike a car, a horse’s book value tends to either stay the same or grow no matter the age of the horse.

1964 Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer became even more valuable as a breeding stallion, and then more and more valuable as he got older and his offspring cleaned up on the track. In 1961, Northern Dancer could not be sold at auction, because he was “too small”. By 1981, he was worth over $40 million. When he passed away in 1990, the value of all of his surviving offspring skyrocketed.

This is a huge financial incentive for drug companies to find an equine diabetes cure. They know the horse owners will pay for it gladly.

Basic Equine Diabetes Information

Horses get what’s known as Type II diabetes, which happens when the body cannot absorb enough natural insulin because there’s too much fat in the way. Horses are notorious gluttons. When they get older, they can’t metabolize their food as effectively, so they often put on the weight that leads to diabetes. So far, the only sure fire equine diabetes cure there is is prevention.

Horses needing a diabetes cure are overweight, even when put on a diet, sluggish, get laminitis (a recurring, potentially lethal disease in the hooves) and take much longer to recover from simple illnesses. You need to have your veterinarian make an accurate diagnosis. These symptoms are also very close to Cushing’s disease. There’s no sense starting a diabetes cure if your horse doesn’t have diabetes!

Since equine diabetes is common in older horses, there are commercially available feeds made just for diabetic horses that may help you lead your horse to a diabetes cure. You will also need to reduce grain and increase hay. You also need to be sure your horse exercises everyday. Just turning out to pasture may not be sufficient if your horse is feeling sluggish.

Diabetic Diet Facts

2008-10-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

People who are diagnosed with diabetes face many changes in their life. One of the most significant changes they will have to make is to their diet. Diabetics can often control the disease simply by changing their diet and losing excess weight. Even if the disease is not completely controlled the diabetic diet will be a major factor in managing blood sugars and preventing further complications.

It is important for people afflicted with diabetes and their family members to understand the basic facts about the diabetic diet. Knowing about how various foods affect the blood sugars will allow a person to make the necessary changes that will positively affect the disease. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are all important parts of any diet that will need to be considered in the diabetic diet.

Carbohydrates In The Diabetic Diet

Carbohydrates cover a broad expanse of food items. In fact, if a food is neither a protein nor a fat it can most likely be categorized as a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are important to the human body because they are broken down into sugars and converted to energy. Carbohydrates can be classified as either simple or complex. Simple carbohydrates are the ones that are more simple sugars and are quickly used in the body.

Simple carbohydrates are sugar, honey, juices, and foods that contain these items such as candy, syrups, and sweetened processed food. Complex carbohydrates are foods that require more effort to be broken down by the body and contain many of the vitamins and minerals required by the body.

Complex carbohydrates are whole grain breads, vegetables, cereals, and some fruits. People who are diagnosed with diabetes will need to control their carbohydrate intake and will want to avoid any simple carbohydrates. Choosing the more nutritious, vitamin packed complex carbohydrates will prove very beneficial in the diabetic diet.

Proteins In The Diabetic Diet

Proteins are foods that are used by the body to build tissues and assist in various body functions. Proteins are great for the diabetic to eat because they are not easily converted into sugars but if too much protein is eaten in the diabetic diet the are potential complications especially to the urinary system.

Diabetics will want to choose proteins such as lean red meat, lean chicken and fish to fill this need in their diet. Eggs are also an excellent source of protein. Legumes, peanuts and beans, will provide complete proteins when combined with whole grains. People do need to realize that a serving of protein is not a sixteen ounce sirloin. Only a few ounces of protein are needed to make up once serving. One piece of chicken such as a leg or thigh is considered a serving of protein.

Fats In The Diabetic Diet

Fats are very important in the human diet to provide necessary elements for good body functioning but the diabetic diet should focus on reducing the amount of overall fat that is consumed. An important thing to consider in reducing the fats in the diet is to try to cut down on the animal fats and change to vegetable fats.

A Diabetes Diagnosis Can Be Frightening

2008-05-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

A diabetes diagnosis can be frightening for many people because there are many horror stories about the consequences of this disease. There are millions of people all around the world who have been dealt a diabetes diagnosis. Many of these people receive the proper care and take good care of their health so they do not have any serious complications from this disease. Other people suffer heart attacks or amputations of a limb and have a very difficult time coping with this disease. Some people die of the consequences at an early age.

A diabetes diagnosis is usually based on a blood test which is designed to measure blood glucose levels. These tests will provide a positive or negative diabetes diagnosis. These tests will also identify someone who has pre-diabetes. This diagnosis should be taken very seriously because at this stage the condition can be avoided completely with proper care. These tests show that the pancreas of the patient is not producing enough insulin to covert the food eaten into energy. The tests could also be an indication that the system is not using the insulin that is produced properly. High blood glucose levels can be very destructive to the human organism if not properly treated.

A Diabetes Diagnosis Should Trigger Proper Treatment

The diabetes diagnosis should not be viewed as a death sentence. Many people have diabetes without suffering serious complications. These people usually are those that listen to the advice of their physician and other medical professionals who have expert knowledge to share. The people who take the proper treatments after a diabetes diagnosis usually cope well with this condition. The diabetes diagnosis will usually prompt the doctor to recommend a drug therapy to normalize the blood glucose levels.

Those people who have diabetes are usually advised to quit if they smoke because this is more dangerous for a diabetic. The diabetic will usually be advised to maintain an ideal weight through diet and exercise. The diet is often one that is low in fat and calories. The dieticians often advise lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains for diabetics. They also recommend regular meals and snacks. The medical professionals who understand diabetes usually recommend that diabetics have a regular exercise routine. This can make a substantial difference to the control of the disease. Diabetics who follow the advice of the experts on this disease usually cope quite well with this condition. The consequences of not following the advice can be very serious.

Join The American Diabetes Association For Diabetes Education

2008-05-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

For those people who are prone to diabetes, it is important for them to learn more about the disease to fully understand its cause and management. There are many health organizations that give out diabetes education for patients who are suffering from the disease and truly, they are a great help especially when it comes to finding long-term and short-term cures.

There are also great amount of resources in which you could have diabetes education and one of them is through health organizations that you could find online. Whether you are looking for a support group or general information about diabetes, these organizations are a great help for those people who are suffering from this disease.

The American Diabetes Association

The American Diabetes Association is the leading non-profit health organization that contributes a lot to diabetes research, information, and advocacy. Their website, www.diabetes.org is a very informative webpage wherein you could know all about diabetes education. They are founded in 1940 and are conducting programs in all the fifty states and the District of Columbia, making them reach out to many people in different walks of life who may be or may have a loved one suffering from diabetes.

Their main mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of the people who are suffering from it and to achieve this mission, they have been fully active in propagating and supporting diabetes education ever since. To achieve or fulfill this mission, the American Diabetes Association funds research, publishes scientific findings about the disease, provides information, as well as support to the people who are suffering from it, their families, health professionals, and to the public. Ever since the association was formed, they have been very active in advocating the scientific research and the rights of the people who are suffering from diabetes.

Show Your Support

If you want to gain more of diabetes education, you could join the American Diabetes Association by logging on to their website at www.diabetes.org and you can support them by donating funds when it comes to scientific research, donate your vehicle, sponsor a diabetes project, become a corporate friend, workplace giving, planned gifts, participate in any of their events, volunteering, and join the community campaign for diabetes.

By doing so, you not only get to learn more about diabetes information but also in turn, give moral support for anyone who is suffering from diabetes. Truly, it is not impossible to find the cure and absolute prevention for Diabetes if you become one of the supporters of the American Diabetes Association.

The Risks Of Gestational Diabetes

2007-09-23T07:16:00.001-07:00

There are several complications associated with pregnancy that the obstetrician looks for throughout the months of expecting. One complication that almost all women who receive medical care during their pregnancy will be screened for is gestational diabetes. The cause of gestational diabetes is not completely understood but it is thought to be caused by the changing hormones during pregnancy that make the woman insulin resistant.

Gestational diabetes typically occurs in about the 2nd trimester of the pregnancy and brings a lot of risks to both the mother and the baby. A pregnant woman should be sure that her physician tests her for this complication and that if she is diagnosed with the problem she gets treatment.

The Risks To The Mother

The risks with gestational diabetes for the mother are generally the same risks as with other types of diabetes. Untreated diabetes can cause damage to several systems of the body including the nervous system, circulatory system, and the urinary system. The most severe complications with diabetes are diabetic coma and death.

A woman who is diagnosed with gestational diabetes is more likely to have a reoccurrence of the disease within just a few years. Sometimes the diagnosis of gestational diabetes is actually a finding of the disease which has been undiagnosed previously. The woman who is diagnosed needs to understand that this is a potentially life long problem and make lifestyle changes to prevent the complications that can occur.

The Risks To The Baby

The risks of gestational diabetes to the infant are significant and critical. The most severe risks are death either prior to delivery or in infancy. The baby is at risk for being extremely large at delivery, developing jaundice, developing hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, and developing respiratory distress syndrome after delivery. All these complications are potentially life threatening. Infants with mothers who have gestational diabetes are also at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Preventing Complications From Gestational Diabetes

Every mother to be should be screened for gestational diabetes. The earlier a diagnosis is made the better the outcome will be for both the mother and the infant. Most women are quite successful making dietary and exercise changes that will effectively work to treat the problem. Some women will need to take medications to treat the diabetes but this is usually a temporary measure that will be discontinued after the delivery. With good medical treatment and lifestyle changes the risks of gestational diabetes can be completely overcome.

Attention Pregnant Women: Gestational Diabetes Diet For You

2007-08-10T18:25:00.001-07:00

Pregnancy often brings joy to every woman, but sometimes when things could go bad and the woman acquires gestational diabetes or the type of diabetes that is carbohydrate intolerance of variable severity that usually starts or detected during this time. And aside from the fact that pregnant women have to take many supplements for her health and her baby, it is also important that once she is diagnosed with this type of diabetes, she also has to make adjustments for a gestational diabetes diet.

There are many resources that you could find for gestational diabetes diet to help you be wary of what you eat and help you improve your health and your baby’s. Also, there are many online organizations that could help someone with gestational diabetes with her diet wherein you will find recipes to manage your diabetes.

Count Your Carbs

Since sugar could mostly be found in carbohydrates and it is only automatic that you watch your sugar intake if you want to control your gestational diabetes and for you to have an effective gestational diabetes diet, you should count and maintain the sugar that you get to eat every day. To keep your blood sugar within the normal range, keep in mind that for a woman who is pregnant, her gestational diabetes diet should only contain twelve to fifteen grams of carbohydrates in every serving.

Also for a more effective gestational diabetes diet, you should also eat the right amount of protein and fats while you are pregnant and this requires extra food planning especially if you are taking insulin. Remember that most pregnant women only need three hundred extra calories for her to gain enough weight and an extra ten to twenty grams of protein a day is needed for the baby to grow normally.

Helpful Tips

Aside from watching your carbohydrates intake for an effective gestational diabetes diet, there are also many tips in which you could take note of to manage your diabetes. Choosing foods that are high in fiber will also help in lowering your sugar and have regular bowel movements. Eating foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, cooked dried beans, and bran cereals are examples of foods that are rich in fiber that could help you with your gestational diabetes diet.

Regularly check with your doctor and ask if it is okay for you to have an exercise plan and talk to your dietitian about it. Keeping track with your blood sugar is also mandatory for you and your baby to have a healthier life.

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

2007-07-19T00:31:00.001-07:00

There are two types of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes generally sets in during adulthood and type 1 diabetes can occur even in children. Another type of diabetes, closely related to type 2 diabetes, is called gestational diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes, it can occur when the body’s own immune system turns against it. This happens when the body’s immune system actually destroys the beta cells that a person’s body creates in the pancreas.

An Overview of Diabetes

Diabetes is caused when there is instability in the hormone insulin in a person’s body. In a healthy person’s body, insulin is secreted by the pancreas in proper amounts for the amount of food the person has consumed. The main goal of this insulin is to help put certain nutrients, particularly glucose, into the body’s cells. The body cells then use these nutrients as fuel in a healthy person.

Then, the amount of glucose in the blood is lowered because the cells are full of nutrients. When this occurs, a person’s beta cells will be notified in the pancreas that they need to lower the amount of insulin secreted. This helps a person avoid hypoglycemia, also known as low blood sugar. However, in a person’s body that has type 1 diabetes, these beta cells are destroyed. When this occurs, it throws a person’s entire body into confusion. When a person has type 2 or gestational diabetes, however, the causes for it are different.

Type 1 Diabetes

Generally people afflicted with type 1 diabetes find themselves with this disease prior to age 20, it can however occur at any age. While this disease is somewhat uncommon, it does afflicted great many people. Unfortunately, no one knows what causes type 1 diabetes, at least not an exact cause. However it is obvious that at least general tendency toward this disease is inherited. There are also environmental factors that can make a person more prone to this disease. It seems to occur when something in the environment, perhaps a virus, causes a person’s immune system to attack the pancreas to the point where the person cannot produce insulin correctly. This seems to confuse the body and is not curable when it becomes type 1 diabetes.

The symptoms for all forms of diabetes can include many different things. Some of them are very unnoticeable others may make living a normal life difficult. Some of these symptoms include increased thirst, increased appetite even after eating, pain in the abdomen, nausea, unexplained weight loss, exhaustion, blurry vision, and urinating far more often than normal.

Living With Type 2 Diabetes

2007-07-19T00:30:00.002-07:00

Many people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes every day. Diabetes has become one of the most common diseases to affect people in the world today. When a person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes they may feel overwhelmed and confused by the diagnosis. It is important for people who are diagnosed to understand that with some basic changes in life style and with careful monitoring living with the disease is completely achievable.

Getting Educated

The first thing a person with type 2 diabetes should do is begin to get educated about the disease, its effects, complications and ways to control it. The physician should help the patient by beginning some basic teaching and be able to recommend further information resources. The person should speak with a registered dietician and with a certified diabetes educator to learn about the disease. People will need to learn many aspects of the disease and the best life style changes to make for their own circumstances. The type 2 diabetic can also subscribe to monthly magazines that are geared towards diabetes and its treatment.

Dietary Changes

The newly diagnosed diabetic will need to get diet counseling from a registered dietician. The dietician can help the type 2 diabetic to learn about the foods they eat and what changes can be made for the best benefit to their body. There are also several cook books and web sites that offer diabetic recipes that will enable a person to eat tasty and healthy meals. The dietary changes will need to be seriously addressed by the diabetic.

Monitoring Blood Sugars

The type 2 diabetic will need to acquire a glucometer so that they can monitor their blood sugar on a daily basis in their own home. There are many types of glucometers available on the market today that are very accurate as long as the person uses them correctly. Most insurance companies will provide a monitor with the initial diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. By closely monitoring their own blood sugar a person can easily see what types of food and activities are having the biggest impact and make changes accordingly.

Exercise For The Type 2 Diabetic

A great thing for any person and especially a type 2 diabetic to do is to establish some type of exercise program. Exercise has a direct affect on lowering the blood sugar levels. The exercise does not have to be highly complex or hard to do. The diabetic can simply start up a walking, swimming or biking regimen. Taking a walk around the neighborhood several times a week will be very beneficial.

Taking Medications

The type 2 diabetic will want to follow all the advice of their physician and take medications as they are prescribed. There are many great oral medications that work well to control diabetes with the use of dietary changes and exercise. For some people insulin injections will be the best way to control the disease. Type 2 diabetics need to take whatever medications are necessary in their individual case to control the blood sugars and maintain a high quality of life.

What is Diabetes and How Does It Work?

2007-07-19T00:30:00.001-07:00

Diabetes is a disease that affects many people; this leads to the question, what is diabetes and how does it work? The question of what is diabetes cannot be answered easily, as there is more than one distinctive form of this disease. There are two main types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. There are also some other forms of diabetes including gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes resembles type 2 diabetes in many ways, for example, many of the causes of it are the same.

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes is an autoimmune disease. This disease generally strikes people under the age of 20 years old. It is incurable, and there seems to be no way to prevent it. This is a disease that is caused when the body’s immune system attacks the beta cells in a person’s pancreas. These are the cells that regulate the amount of glucose in a person’s blood. By attacking these cells, the immune system throws the body out of balance. In a healthy person’s body, the amount of glucose released into the bloodstream is equivalent to the size of the meal that person just ate. In a person’s body that has type 1 diabetes, the cells that notify the body of how much glucose to release are damaged, therefore the amount of glucose is not appropriate.

Although type 1 diabetes is not curable or preventable, there are treatments out there that can help people manage this disease. Generally, the only indicator a person may be more likely to come down with type 1 diabetes is a family history of this disease. This indicates that this disease may have a hereditary factor, although this connection is not absolute. There seem to be several factors working in conjunction that decide whether or not a person will become afflicted with this disease.

What is Type 2 Diabetes?

Unlike type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, generally occurs in adults. Although there is no cut and dried method to figure out who will come down with type 2 diabetes and who will not, there are certain behaviors that can increase a person’s risk. For example, being overweight, eating a diet heavy in fatty foods, smoking, and drinking excessively are all known contributing factors. Individuals with certain ethnic backgrounds and a family history are also more prone to become afflicted with type 2 diabetes

What is Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational diabetes has much in common with type 2 diabetes. Women that are overweight prior to becoming pregnant are more likely to be afflicted with gestational diabetes. Also, women who have had gestational diabetes during prior pregnancies are more likely to become ill with this disease. In most cases, gestational diabetes will go away once the woman is no longer pregnant.