Dealing with Diabetes to Enjoy Healthy Aging

Living With Diabetes

by Mariluz Billoch
February 17th, 2011

Learning to live with diabetes is not easy. Still, those with diabetes can live healthy lives provided they adhere to diet, medications and exercise. This is a serious condition requiring discipline and consistency in its management.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your body does not produce enough insulin to break down sugar in the bloodstream. Even though genetics is at the root of it, diabetes is a disease that you can develop as an adult as well ( adult onset diabetes ).

There two general types of diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus type 1 (Type 1 diabetes, IDDM, or, obsoletely, juvenile diabetes) is a form of diabetes mellitus that results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The subsequent lack of insulin leads to increased blood and urine glucose.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 (Type 2 diabetes, formerly non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes – is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency

How would you know if you are diabetic?

By having regular check ups.
Family history of diabetes, let your doctor know so he/she can conduct random testing.
A glucose test
Blood lab tests

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Type 1 Diabetes

Frequent urination
Unusual thirst
Extreme hunger
Unusual weight loss
Extreme fatigue and Irritability

Type 2 Diabetes

Any of the type 1 symptoms
Frequent infections
Blurred vision
Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal
Tingling/numbness in the hands/feet
Recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections

Is diabetes avoidable?

Hard to say, especially when genetics is such a big factor. However if you adhere to regular checkups, and the condition is spotted early then it can be better managed from the onset.

Lifestyle is such a big part of managing diabetes that it often does not get mentioned enough.

Diabetes is at the forefront of biomedical research. It is estimated that we spent $174 billion on diagnosed diabetes alone in 2007 (the most recent year for which data are available).

Yet I can’t help but think that all the technology and medical advances in the world can’t cure human nature and negative habit forming behavior. That’s up to us!

The fight against conditions such as diabetes is rooted in education and prevention, lifestyle and research. We have to put in the human effort to want to curb certain lifestyle choices in order to create a more balanced lifestyle in which conditions such as diabetes don’t have fertile ground on which to grow on.

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