Balancing Diabetes And Celiac Disease

Balancing Diabetes and Celiac Disease

Have you ever stood in the middle of a see-saw, right over the center with one foot on each side? Trying hard not to put more weight on one side to keep it stable? Unless you are incredibly focused, it can be very difficult to keep a proper balance without one side touching the ground.
The struggle is similar when trying to balance two medical conditions, such as diabetes and celiac disease. While each one has specific needs, they both need to stay balanced which can be hard to achieve.
This article explains celiac disease and its relationship with diabetes.
What is celiac disease?
It’s a condition where the body recognizes gluten, a protein found in some foods, as a poison. The body tries to attack it to prevent it from being digested and entering into the bloodstream. When someone with celiac eats gluten (which is found in foods that are made with rye, wheat, or barley), the small intestines react by changing the lining. Normally, there are long, fingerlike structures that line our intestines that absorb the nutrients in the food that we eat. With celiac disease, those finger-like structures become flat to protect the body from absorbing the gluten. Additionally, the gut stops making digestive enzymes, to also prevent from any absorption. The image below gives a good illustration of what happens in the small intestines when gluten is eaten.
The problem with this is that over time, it permanently damages the small intestines and prevents nutrients and vitamins from being absorbed. Long-term malabsorption can cause issues such as:
Osteoporosis
Anemia
Infertility
Organ dis Continue reading

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Making This 1 Change Can Get Rid of Diabetes for Good

Once you have a chronic disease, your chances of getting rid of it are slim. Type 2 diabetes might be the exception. Its symptoms may be devastating, and its side effects life-altering (and sometimes life-threatening). However, for some people, losing weight means taking fewer medications — or going off them entirely. Being able to control your blood sugar as a diabetic can feel like a miracle — almost like you never had the condition at all.
Here’s how to regain control of your life for good — instead of letting your diabetes control you.
What causes Type 2 diabetes?
Normally when you eat, your body converts your food into glucose, which ends up in your bloodstream. (This is where the term “blood sugar” comes from). According to Mayo Clinic, your pancreas secretes a hormone called insulin, which transports that glucose (sugar) from your blood to your cells. When you eat too much food, excess amounts of sugar build up in your blood. Eventually, your pancreas just can’t produce enough insulin to compensate. Your blood sugar spikes regularly, which makes the problem worse.
If implemented early on, weight loss might be able to mostly resolve this problem.
Why weight loss matters
Losing weight can significantly improve your qualify of life while living with Type 2 diabetes, says Everyday Health. Dropping pounds makes it easier for your body to properly use the insulin it produces. Weight loss also reduces common diabetes complications like high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels. The more efficient your body becomes at keeping you healthy, the less you Continue reading

9 Things a Mom of a Type 1 Diabetes Child Won’t Tell You … or Maybe She Would

Two summers ago, we got word that our 9-year-old nephew Timothy had been rushed to the emergency room, and then admitted to the hospital, with alarming symptoms. He was subsequently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and his mom and dad started a crash course in what that meant, how to care for him, and how it would change their lives.
Although we live hundreds of miles from them, we have been learning too. I am thankful that my sister-in-law has been open about their journey, about the joys and the struggles they have experienced in the last 18 months, giving me a peek into their world and helping me to understand it better. Below are things the mom of a Type 1 diabetic child would like you to know — and would tell you herself if her life slowed down enough to let her breathe.
1. There are two kinds of diabetes and they are not equal. Type 1, also known as juvenile-onset diabetes, is far less common — 5 to 10% of all diabetics. It occurs when the body’s immune system has destroyed the cells in the pancreas that release insulin, without which the body cannot absorb glucose, which is needed to produce energy. Type 2 diabetes is the more common form (90-95% of diabetics). It occurs when the body is insulin resistant, so it can’t use insulin the right way.
2. Type 1 diabetes is not preventable. My child’s diabetes was not caused by a poor diet or obesity, something that can contribute to type 2 diabetes. Nothing in my child’s diet or lifestyle contributed to him getting type 1.
3. There is no cure or possibility of remission with type 1 diabetes. It will not go away i Continue reading

8 Facts About Diabetes That Can Save Your Life

En español l Actress S. Epatha Merkerson still remembers the moment a doctor took her aside and said he needed to talk to her.
Merkerson, best known as Lt. Anita Van Buren on Law & Order, had volunteered at a health event in Washington and, with cameras rolling, had agreed to be tested for type 2 diabetes — a way to encourage people at risk to see their doctors.
When the doctor pulled her aside, "I thought he wanted to get a photo with me or an autograph," Merkerson says with a laugh. "In fact, he told me that my blood sugar levels were way too high. I went to my doctor and discovered that I had type 2 diabetes."
In retrospect, she admits, she shouldn't have been surprised. "My dad died of complications of diabetes. My grandmother went blind because of diabetes. I had an uncle with amputations." Like many, she'd ignored some classic warning signs — excessive thirst and frequent urination. Twelve years later, the Emmy Award-winning actress has joined forces with drugmaker Merck in an initiative called America's Diabetes Challenge, to spread the word about prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.
"What I've learned is that this is a manageable disease," Merkerson says. It's also a preventable one. Yet type 2 diabetes continues to exact a terrible toll. Untreated, diabetes can damage the retina, causing blindness, and destroy the kidneys. Over time, abnormally high blood sugar levels can reduce circulation to the limbs, ultimately necessitating amputations. Recent research links type 2 diabetes to a higher risk of dementia. People with diabetes are also up to four tim Continue reading

5 Surprising Facts About Diabetes

"Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children after asthma, but the percentage of kids who have it is still relatively low," says Parents advisor Lori Laffel, MD, chief of the pediatric, adolescent, and young-adult section at Harvard's Joslin Diabetes Center. Here are five important truths about this serious illness.
Fact: Most Children Who Get Diabetes Aren't Fat
Type 2 diabetes, which is usually triggered by obesity, has gotten a lot of press because it used to strike only adults and is now being diagnosed in kids as young as 6, says Dr. Laffel. Alarming as that is, a greater number of kids get type 1, an autoimmune disease that's been rising 4 percent a year since the 1970s -- especially in young kids. Only 3,700 children are diagnosed with type 2 every year compared with 15,000 who develop type 1, according to a large study that provides the first detailed look at diabetes in U.S. kids. In many ways, the two forms of diabetes are very different. In type 1, which has no known cause, the immune system mistakenly destroys healthy cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, the hormone that helps the body get energy from food. To make up for the shortfall, children typically need injections of insulin several times a day. In type 2, the pancreas usually makes plenty of insulin (at least at first), but cells throughout the body have trouble using it -- a condition known as insulin resistance. But no matter what the type, diabetes causes high blood-sugar levels when glucose from food -- the body's equivalent of gasoline for a car -- builds up because it can Continue reading