Can Diabetes Be Prevented?
en espaolSe puede prevenir la diabetes? Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose , the main type of sugar in the blood. Glucose, which comes from the foods we eat, is the major source of energy needed to fuel the body. To use glucose, the body needs the hormone insulin . But in people withdiabetes, the body either can't make insulin or the insulin doesn't work in the body like it should. Type 1 diabetes, in which the immune system attacks the pancreas and destroys the cells that make insulin. Type 2 diabetes, in which the pancreas can still make insulin, but the body doesn't respond to it properly. In both types of diabetes, glucose can't get into the cells normally. This causes a rise in blood sugar levels , which can make someone sick if not treated. Type 1 diabetes can't be prevented. Doctors can't even tell who will get it and who won't. No one knows for sure what causes type 1 diabetes, but scientists think it has something to do with genes . But just getting the genes for diabetes isn't usually enough. In most cases, a child has to be exposed to something else like a virus to get type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes isn't contagious, so kids and teens can't catch it from another person or pass it along to friends or family members. And eating too much sugar doesn't cause type 1 diabetes, either. There's no reliable way to predict who will get type 1 diabetes, but blood tests can find early signs of it. These tests aren't done routinely, however, because doctors don't have any way to stop a child from developing the disease, even if the tests are positive. Unlike type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes can sometimes be prevented. Excessive weight gain, obesity , and a sedentary lifestyle are all things that put a person at risk for type 2 diabetes. In the Continue reading >>
I Have Diabetes. What Should I Know Before I Get Pregnant?
If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes there are steps you can take to prepare yourself for pregnancy. Rest assured that these steps can make a big difference to how healthy you and your baby are throughout the pregnancy you're hoping for. You will need to be very careful to monitor your blood sugar (glucose) levels, though. That's because, once you're pregnant, you and your unborn baby will have a higher risk of complications. Rarely, these complications caused by diabetes can result in a baby being born with a life-long condition. Sadly, mums-to-be with diabetes are more likely to have a miscarriage, or even experience the loss of a baby at birth. Babies born to mums with diabetes are also more likely to develop diabetes in later life. Most heart defects, kidney problems and nerve and brain defects happen in the first eight weeks of pregnancy. These potential risks are probably due, in part, to the way blood glucose levels can rapidly go up and down beyond the normal range. So controlling your diabetes starting now is key to preventing complications or, in the worst of cases, the loss of a longed-for pregnancy. The good news is that with careful planning and the support of your GP and diabetes specialist, this is very achievable. There may be a preconception diabetes clinic in your area where you can get help too. Taking the following steps will help you to be in the best of health, ready for conception: Aim to control your blood sugar. Your diabetes counsellor will recommend a glycosolated haemoglobin level (HbA1c) for you to maintain. If you don't already have one, you should be offered a kit for testing your own blood sugar levels often. Manage your diet carefully and take regular exercise. Don't drink alcohol, as it can make your blood sugar levels rise and fall ra Continue reading >>
Pre-existing Diabetes And Pregnancy
If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and are planning a family, you should plan your pregnancy as much as possible. Controlling your blood sugars before conception and throughout pregnancy gives you the best chance of having a trouble-free pregnancy and birth and a healthy baby. If you have diabetes and your pregnancy is unplanned, there’s still plenty you can do to give your baby the best start in life. The information on this page is for women who have diabetes before becoming pregnant. If you develop diabetes during pregnancy, it is called gestational diabetes. Planned pregnancy Visit your doctor or diabetes educator at least 6 months before you start trying to fall pregnant, if you can. You will be given advice and guidance on controlling your blood sugars as tightly as possible, and taking necessary supplements like folate. You may also be advised to change medications. If you are healthy and your diabetes is well controlled when you become pregnant, you have a good a chance of having a normal pregnancy and birth. Diabetes that is not well controlled during pregnancy can affect your health long-term and can also be risky for your baby. Unplanned pregnancy Not everybody can plan their pregnancy. If you have diabetes and think you might be pregnant, see your doctor as soon as you can. Your healthcare team You may be cared for by a team of health professionals including: an obstetrician who can handle high risk pregnancies a specialist experienced in diabetes care during pregnancy, who may be an endocrinologist or who may be a general physician a diabetes educator to help you manage your diabetes a dietician who can provide dietary advice at all the different stages - before conception, while pregnant and after the birth a midwife who is experienced in all aspects Continue reading >>
Diabetes In Children And Teens
Until recently, the common type of diabetes in children and teens was type 1. It was called juvenile diabetes. With Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not make insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps glucose,or sugar, get into your cells to give them energy. Without insulin, too much sugar stays in the blood. Now younger people are also getting type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes used to be called adult-onset diabetes. But now it is becoming more common in children and teens, due to more obesity. With Type 2 diabetes, the body does not make or use insulin well. Children have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes if they are overweight or have obesity, have a family history of diabetes, or are not active. Children who are African American, Hispanic, Native American/Alaska Native, Asian American, or Pacific Islander also have a higher risk. To lower the risk of type 2 diabetes in children Have them maintain a healthy weight Be sure they are physically active Have them eat smaller portions of healthy foods Limit time with the TV, computer, and video Children and teens with type 1 diabetes may need to take insulin. Type 2 diabetes may be controlled with diet and exercise. If not, patients will need to take oral diabetes medicines or insulin. A blood test called the A1C can check on how you are managing your diabetes. Continue reading >>
Thinking About Having A Baby
“Life, like art, should be a celebration of a vision.” —Michael Larson Every person with diabetes has a compelling reason to take good care of his health: It’s the best way to live a long, healthy life with diabetes and to minimize the risk of diabetes-related complications. Women with diabetes who are pregnant or who are even thinking about becoming pregnant have at least two compelling reasons to take the best care possible of their general health and their diabetes: their own well-being, as well as that of their planned child. Having high blood glucose during the first 6—8 weeks of pregnancy raises the risk of birth defects, and the higher a woman’s HbA1c during that time, the higher the risk. (HbA1c is a measure of blood glucose control over a period of 2—3 months.) But many women don’t realize they are pregnant until several weeks after conception. That’s why it’s so important to plan a pregnancy, to use a reliable method of contraception until you’re ready to become pregnant, and to take any steps necessary to get your HbA1c level in goal range (as close to “normal” as possible) at least three months before you become pregnant. The planning stages Even if you’re not ready to have a baby, if you are a woman of childbearing age and think you might like to have a child at some point, it’s worth talking with your diabetes care team about preconception planning. Most likely, your discussions will focus on the benefits of tight blood glucose control before pregnancy. That’s because high blood glucose during pregnancy – even very early in a pregnancy – not only raises the risk of birth defects but also raises the risk of spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage. It can also cause a developing fetus to become too large (called macrosomia), Continue reading >>
Diabetes In Children And Teens: Signs And Symptoms
With more than a third of diabetes cases in the United States occurring in people over the age of 65, diabetes is often referred to as an age-related condition. But around 208,000 children and adolescents are estimated to have diabetes, and this number is increasing. Type 1 diabetes is the most common form of the condition among children and adolescents. A 2009 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that type 1 diabetes prevalence stands at 1.93 in every 1,000 children and adolescents, while type 2 diabetes affects 0.24 in every 1,000. In 2014, Medical News Today reported that, based on a study published in JAMA, rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes have increased significantly among American children and teenagers. The study found that incidence of type 1 diabetes in children aged up to 9 years increased by 21 percent between 2001 and 2009, while incidence of type 2 diabetes among youths aged 10-19 years rose by 30.5 percent. The researchers note: "The increases in prevalence reported herein are important because such youth with diabetes will enter adulthood with several years of disease duration, difficulty in treatment, an increased risk of early complications and increased frequency of diabetes during reproductive years, which may further increase diabetes in the next generation." Contents of this article: Here are some key points about diabetes in children. More detail and supporting information is in the main article. Type 1 and 2 diabetes are both increasing in the youth of America Often, the symptoms of type 1 diabetes in children develop over just a few weeks If type 1 diabetes is not spotted, the child can develop diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) What is diabetes in children? Type 1 diabetes in children, previously called juve Continue reading >>
What It’s Really Like To Have A Child With Type 1 Diabetes
I have two daughters with Type 1 diabetes, and in my experience there’s a disconnect between what people think it’s like to have Type 1 diabetes and what it actually is like. Many people are not aware of all the variables that come into play to control blood sugars. Some people think you take your medicine and you get a steady blood glucose of 120. In reality, you have to guess what the dose of your insulin is based on your guess of what the carbs in the food are based on what your guess is of the portion of food that will be eaten. Plus, you must take into account your guess of the amount of fat and protein in the food, and whether one has just exercised or is about to exercise (and how much exertion that exercise will involve). If you are about to go to sleep that must be taken into account, or if you’re going to be somewhere difficult to treat a low (such as a child on a school bus) keep that in mind as well. And don’t forget to pray that your pump infusion set is working and that your insulin didn’t fry in the heat. Now push go on your pump, or poke your arm with a needle and, voilà, you’re done! A diabetes disconnect also results from confusing headlines, such as Cure for Type 1 Discovered (it’s in mice) or New Drug for Diabetes (it’s for Type 2). Many book titles are misleading as well, often using language like ‘Reversing Diabetes’ or ‘Preventing Diabetes’ while meaning Type 2 diabetes and not Type 1. Even medical journals often don’t distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in their titles. Recently, I saw a friend whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. When I pulled out my daughters’ meters and lancets to check blood sugars, she said “I didn’t think you still had to do that.” This is not the first time I’ve heard someon Continue reading >>
8 Signs Your Child May Have Type 1 Diabetes
Source: Web exclusive, August 2010 Over 300,000 Canadians have type 1 diabetes, yet when your own child is diagnosed with this disease, it can come as a shock. ‘Most kids who get diabetes do not have another family member with it,’ points out diabetes specialist Dr. Maureen Clement in Vernon, B.C. ‘Often, it’s just a bolt of lightning.’ Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed during childhood, often between the ages of 10 to 13. There’s nothing parents can do to prevent this type of diabetes. However, if you notice signs your child might have the disease, you can take action to prevent a serious complication called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), in which the body runs out of insulin to process sugar and begins to break down fat instead. If your child shows indications of type 1 diabetes, says Clement, then don’t delay in visiting your pediatrician. ‘Don’t say, ‘let’s wait a week or two.’ Get your kid tested that day to make sure they don’t have diabetes.’ And if it does turn out that your child is diabetic, remember that as long as the disease is well managed, she can still enjoy good health her whole life. Here’s what to watch out for. Sign 1: Unquenchable thirst Children with undiagnosed type 1 diabetes may be constantly thirsty. That’s because as their blood-glucose level rises, fluid is pulled from their body tissues. These kids may especially crave sweet, cold drinks. Sign 2: Frequent urination What goes in must come out, so it stands to reason that a child who is drinking more will also visit the washroom more. If your kid is taking an unusual number of bathroom breaks, there may be an underlying and serious reason behind it. A younger child who was previously toilet trained at night may start to wet the bed again. Sign 3: Weight loss A Continue reading >>
Can Women With Diabetes Get Pregnant?
Can Women with Diabetes Get Pregnant? Can women with diabetes get pregnant? Diabetes can affect a person without warning and sometimes may even occur without any family history. For a woman of child bearing age, this is stressful as the desire to become a mother and the thought of bringing harm to the child. Although the risks associated with pregnancy in a diabetic woman can’t be ignored, the number of misconceptions is huge and adds to the stress. However, the situation is not as bad as it is made out. Diabetic woman can get pregnant and deliver healthy babies. You just need to take certain precautions to become a mother. The short answer is “Yes”. Since diabetes is a chronic condition, a person is required to take care of their health. Monitoring the sugar levels and keeping them in check is essential. This becomes all the more necessary and important during pregnancy, when your body is undergoing a lot of changes. You should interact more often with your doctor and other healthcare professionals during your pregnancy and try to manage your diabetes as best as you can. This way you can have a successful pregnancy and a healthy baby. How Will Diabetes Affect My Pregnancy? The most commonly seen complications of diabetes are those that affect the kidney, eyes and the nervous system. These are also known as diabetic-nephropathy, retinopathy and neuropathy respectively. After delivery the symptoms might disappear; however, treatment may be required. Ensure that you inform your doctor about any changes in your body as they can be symptoms of a condition. Common conditions seen among mothers are: urinary tract infection leading to fever. high blood pressure leading to fluid build up. swelling in limbs and face. protein excretion in urine. carpal tunnel syndrome leadi Continue reading >>
Fatherhood Fears: Surge In Diabetes Could Leave Thousands Of Men Infertile
When Neil James-Poole was diagnosed with diabetes, he knew the disease put him at greater risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. But what he wasn’t expecting was that it would mean he might never be able to have children - a problem he didn’t learn of until it was almost too late. Neil was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 21. This is the most serious form of diabetes where the body attacks itself and stops making insulin, which it needs to break down blood sugar. Neil immediately needed insulin injections four times a day. ‘I lost a stone in a week and my blood sugar levels were so dangerously high by the time I was diagnosed I needed hospital treatment for a week,’ he says. In people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t produce the natural hormone insulin, which regulates the amount of glucose in the blood. If left untreated, it can lead to coma or even death. Around 400,000 people in Britain have type 1 diabetes, which might be triggered by a virus or autoimmune disease. It also runs in families. As a result of the diabetes, Neil developed a condition called retrograde ejaculation, which can affect men with either type of diabetes. This means instead of sperm being released from the body on ejaculation, it flows back down the penis and into the bladder. The feeling of orgasm is still experienced and it’s not harmful to the body, but the condition can leave a man permanently infertile. It happens as a result of damage to the nerve fibres that supply the penis, caused in diabetic men by damage to the blood vessels supplying the nerves. Blood vessels are damaged in diabetes because excess glucose can attach to proteins in the blood vessels and alter their normal structure and function. One effect of this is the vessels become thicke Continue reading >>
Could Your Child Have Diabetes?
More than 15,000 children are diagnosed with type 1 every year. Make sure you know the telltale signs -- they're all too easy to dismiss. When Chloe Powell started begging for one more drink of water every night, her father, Charles, thought his then 7-year-old was using a common bedtime stall tactic. "I was irritated that she wouldn't go to sleep," admits Dr. Powell, who's a family physician in Dallas. With all she was drinking, he wasn't surprised when she began wetting the bed. But when Chloe couldn't make it through a conversation without having to use the bathroom, he became concerned. "I figured she had a urinary-tract infection, and she'd take some antibiotics and feel better," says Dr. Powell. He wasn't at all prepared for what his daughter's urine test showed: a dangerously high level of sugar that was a clear indicator of type 1 diabetes. In an instant, Chloe, now 10, went from being a kid who never thought twice about the foods she ate or the energy she burned to one who'd face a lifetime of carbohydrate counting, finger pricks, and insulin injections. A Disease on the Rise Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly destroy healthy cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. (Type 2, on the other hand, occurs when the body doesn't respond to the insulin that's being made.) Insulin ensures that sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream gets into the body's cells where it's needed for energy; without insulin, sugar builds up in the blood, which can be deadly. It's important to begin insulin therapy as soon as possible because high blood-sugar levels can cause permanent vision and nerve problems as well as damage to blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. Since the 198 Continue reading >>
Diabetes And Fertility: How Diabetes Can Affect Your Fertility
You’ve have been trying with no luck to get pregnant and have not been able to a find a reason for your infertility. You may have tried a fertility cleanse, begun eating a fertility diet, and are taking all the right supplements and herbs, but are still having trouble conceiving. It may be time to have a simple blood test to determine if your glucose levels are too high. With the rates of Type II diabetes rising every year in the U.S., more and more infertility specialists are looking toward this health issue as a main cause of some otherwise unexplained infertility cases they see. According to the American Diabetes Association, there are more than 200,000 new cases of Type II diabetes diagnosed every year, with another 2.4% of the general childbearing population suffering from the disease but not knowing it. When it comes to diabetes and infertility the answer is clear: there is a connection. No, in many cases (especially among women), diabetes alone does not keep them from getting pregnant, but it oftentimes keeps them from staying pregnant. In many cases, say fertility doctors, “a woman with higher than normal glucose levels does get pregnant month after month. Unfortunately her diabetes status prevents that embryo from implanting in the uterus, causing a miscarriage before she ever realizes she is pregnant.” In this case, the diabetes isn’t preventing conception, but is preventing an ongoing pregnancy. High glucose levels are reported to increase a woman’s chances of miscarriage by 30-60% according to statistics released by the American Diabetes Association. Even when implantation does occur, there are other risks to consider, including: An increased risk of birth defects due to damage caused to embryonic cells form the high levels of glucose in the blood Continue reading >>
I Have Diabetes. What Do I Need To Know Before I Get Pregnant?
Getting your diabetes under control before you try to conceive can make a huge difference in the outcome of your pregnancy. Before insulin, diabetic women were rarely able to have successful pregnancies, and about 65 percent of babies died in utero or shortly after birth. This statistic has fallen over the years to less than 2 percent, so that when diabetes is un ununder control during pregnancy, the risk of pregnancy loss is not much higher than for non-diabetic pregnancies. Unfortunately, birth defects are still two to four times more common in diabetic pregnancies. We don't know for certain why that is, but it's probably largely due to abnormal blood glucose levels – those that are constantly outside the normal range as well as those that fluctuate in and out significantly. Since the majority of heart, kidney, and central nervous system birth defects start during the first seven weeks of pregnancy, it's critical to get your blood glucose level under control before conception and keep it under control throughout your pregnancy. It may help to get counseling before you get pregnant. Studies have shown that the rate of birth defects decreases from 10 percent to about 1 percent if an expectant mom gets help. To do all you can to prevent birth defects (as well as miscarriage and stillbirth), follow this strategy: Aim to achieve normal glycosolated hemoglobin levels (an indicator of blood sugar control) before conception, and then manage your diet carefully and monitor your glucose levels frequently. Keeping your glucose levels in check can help prevent other problems for your baby, such as preterm birth, weighing too much at birth, or having low blood glucose right after birth. Depending on what diabetes medication you're using, your doctor may need you to switch to one Continue reading >>
Mothers-to-be With Diabetes ‘four Times More Likely To Have Baby With Birth Defects’
Pregnant women with diabetes are almost four times more likely to have a baby with a birth defect than women without the condition, warn researchers. Their findings suggest that higher blood sugar levels in the mother raise the risk. Around one in 13 babies born to a woman with type 1 or type 2 diabetes is affected by a major birth defect, such as heart disease and spina bifida. This compares with a risk of one in 50 for women without diabetes. Doctors at the charity Diabetes UK, which funded the study, are urging women with diabetes who want to start a family to take advice about getting good glucose control first to minimise the risk. But they stressed that the vast majority of pregnancies in women with diabetes did not involve a birth defect. The study, led by researchers at Newcastle University and the Regional Maternity Survey Office, looked at the outcomes of 401,149 pregnancies, including 1,677 pregnancies in women with diabetes, between 1996 and 2008 in the North of England. Researcher Ruth Bell told the journal Diabetologia: ‘The good news is that, with expert help before and during pregnancy, most women with diabetes will have a healthy baby. 'The risk of problems can be reduced by taking extra care to have the best possible glucose control before becoming pregnant.’ 'Any reduction in high glucose levels is likely to improve the chances of a healthy baby. ‘All young women with diabetes need to know about preparing for pregnancy, and should contact their doctor or diabetes team as soon as possible if they are thinking about pregnancy or become pregnant.’ Previous research shows having diabetes increases the chance of birth defects, but this is one of the first studies to quantify the effect of glucose levels on risk. Higher blood sugar levels can be red Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes In Children
Overview Type 1 diabetes in children is a condition in which your child's body no longer produces an important hormone (insulin). Your child needs insulin to survive, so you'll have to replace the missing insulin. Type 1 diabetes in children used to be known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. The diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children can be overwhelming at first. Suddenly you and your child — depending on his or her age — must learn how to give injections, count carbohydrates and monitor blood sugar. Type 1 diabetes in children requires consistent care. But advances in blood sugar monitoring and insulin delivery have improved the daily management of the condition. Symptoms The signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes in children usually develop quickly, over a period of weeks. These signs and symptoms include: Increased thirst and frequent urination. Excess sugar building up in your child's bloodstream pulls fluid from tissues. As a result your child might be thirsty — and drink and urinate more than usual. A young, toilet-trained child might suddenly experience bed-wetting. Extreme hunger. Without enough insulin to move sugar into your child's cells, your child's muscles and organs lack energy. This triggers intense hunger. Weight loss. Despite eating more than usual to relieve hunger, your child may lose weight — sometimes rapidly. Without the energy sugar supplies, muscle tissues and fat stores simply shrink. Unexplained weight loss is often the first sign of type 1 diabetes to be noticed in children. Fatigue. Lack of sugar in your child's cells might make him or her tired and lethargic. Irritability or behavior changes. In addition to mood problems, your child might suddenly have a decline in performance at school. Fruity-smelling breath. Bu Continue reading >>
