Diabetes - causes, symptoms and treatment

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates blood sugar) or alternatively, when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.

What is Diabetes

Diabetes is when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is the main type of sugar found in your blood and your main source of energy. Glucose comes from the food you eat and is also made in your liver and muscles. Your blood carries glucose to all of your body’s cells to use for energy.

Diabetes is a defect in the body’s ability to convert glucose (sugar) to energy

Your pancreas—an organ, located between your stomach and spine, that helps with digestion—releases a hormone it makes, called insulin, into your blood. Insulin helps your blood carry glucose to all your body’s cells. Sometimes your body doesn’t make enough insulin or the insulin doesn’t work the way it should. Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells. Your blood glucose levels get too high and can cause diabetes or prediabetes. Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause health problems.

What is prediabetes?

Prediabetes is when the amount of glucose in your blood is above normal yet not high enough to be called diabetes. With prediabetes, your chances of getting type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are higher. With some weight loss and moderate physical activity, you can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. You can even return to normal glucose levels, possibly without taking any medicines.

Note: A rare condition called diabetes insipidus is not related to diabetes mellitus, although it has a similar name. It’s a different condition in which your kidneys remove too much fluid from your body..

Ayurvedic Treatment for Diabetes mellitus

Ideal Prescription 

Herbal Combination

• Vijaysar Churn - 20 Grams

• Abhrak Bhasma - 05 grams

• Swarnamakshik Bhasma- 05 grams

• Amrita Sat - 20 grams

• Pravala Panchamrita - 10 grams

• Moti Pishti - 04 grams

Mix all the medicines and prepare 60 doses. Take it twice a day, half an hour before meals with warm water.

Tab Chandraprabha Vati - 2 Tablets twice daily

Tab Basant Kusumakar Ras - 1 Tablet twice daily

Shuddha Shilajit - Take 1 drop with milk daily at bedtime

SM-9 Kwath - 20 ml twice daily with water

Order your diabetes medicines through whatsapp

How is diabetes diagnosed?

The diagnosis of diabetes is made by a simple blood test measuring your blood glucose level. Usually these tests are repeated on a subsequent day to confirm the diagnosis. A diagnosis of diabetes is a frightening and bewildering experience because there is so much information to take in and the diagnosis may come as a shock.

People with Type 2 diabetes may hear their condition described as “mild,” but Type 2 diabetes is not a “mild” medical condition. Both forms and all stages of diabetes are serious, with many possible complications, including eye, heart, kidney, and nerve damage.

Signs and symptoms of diabetes

The signs and symptoms of diabetes are

• being very thirsty
• urinating often
• feeling very hungry
• feeling very tired
• losing weight without trying
• sores that heal slowly
• Dry, itchy skin
• feelings of pins and needles in your feet
• losing feeling in your feet
• blurry eyesight

Some people with diabetes don’t have any of these signs or symptoms. The only way to know if you have diabetes is to have your doctor do a blood test.

In addition to the general symptoms of diabetes, men with diabetes may have a decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction (ED), and poor muscle strength.

Complications of Diabetes

Elevated blood sugar is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes, and over time can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Some health complications from diabetes include:

• Diabetic retinopathy is a significant cause of blindness, and occurs as a result of long- term accumulated damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. After 15 years of diabetes about 10% of patients develop severe visual impairment.

• Diabetic neuropathy is damage to the nerves as a result of diabetes, and affects up to 50% of people with diabetes. Common symptoms are tingling, pain, numbness, or weakness in the feet and hands.

• Combined with reduced blood flow, neuro- pathy in the feet increases the chance of foot ulcers and eventual limb amputation.

• Diabetes is among the leading causes of kidney failure; 10-20% of people with diabetes die of kidney failure.

• Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke; 50% of people with diabetes die of cardiovascular disease (primarily heart disease and stroke).

Untreated high blood sugar from diabetes can damage your nerves, eyes, kidneys, and other organs.

Prevention of Diabetes

To help prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications, people should:

• Achieve and maintain healthy body weight.

• Be physically active - at least 30 minutes of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days.

• Early diagnosis can be accomplished through relatively inexpensive blood testing.

• Treatment of diabetes involves lowering blood sugar and the levels of other known risk factors that damage blood vessels.

• Tobacco cessation is also important to avoid complications. Control of diabetes

• People with type 1 diabetes require insulin; people with type 2 diabetes can be treated with oral medication, but may also require insulin.

• Blood pressure control

• Foot care

Diabetes Risk Factors

Certain factors increase your risk for diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes

You’re more likely to get type 1 diabetes if you’re a child or teenager, you have a parent or sibling with the condition, or you carry certain genes that are linked to the disease.

Type 2 diabetes

You are at risk for type 2 diabetes if you:

• are overweight
• are age 45 or older
• have a parent or sibling with the condition
• aren’t physically active
• have had gestational diabetes
• have prediabetes
• have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high triglycerides

Gestational diabetes

You are at risk for gestational diabetes if you:

• are overweight
• are over age 25
• had gestational diabetes during a past pregnancy
• have given birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds
• have a family history of type 2 diabetes
• have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)