Does Diabetes Cause Itching?

Does diabetes cause itching?

People with diabetes experience skin itching at higher rates than those without the condition. Ultimately, itching can lead to excessive scratching, which can cause discomfort and pain.
A study of nearly 2,700 people with diabetes and 499 without diabetes found that itching was a common diabetes symptom. An estimated 11.3 percent of those with diabetes reported skin itching versus 2.9 percent of people without diabetes.
A person with diabetes should not ignore itchy skin. Dry, irritated, or itchy skin is more likely to become infected, and someone with diabetes may not be able to fight off infections as well as someone who does not have diabetes.
There are a variety of treatments available that can help to reduce diabetes-related skin itching so that a person can be more comfortable and avoid other skin complications.
Causes of diabetes itching
There are many reasons why a person with diabetes might experience itching more often than someone else. Sometimes itching can result from damaged nerve fibers located in the outer layers of skin.
Often, the cause of diabetes-related itching is diabetic polyneuropathy or peripheral neuropathy. This condition occurs when high blood glucose levels damage nerve fibers, particularly those in the feet and hands.
Before the nerve damage occurs, the body experiences high levels of cytokines. These are inflammatory substances that can lead to a person's skin itching.
Sometimes, persistent itchiness may indicate that someone with diabetes is at risk of nerve damage, so the itchiness should never be ignored.
Also, people with diabetes can expe Continue reading

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Diabetes and the Importance of Sleep

To paraphrase the old Cole Porter love song: Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Let's do it, let's . . . sleep?
"Sleep is a biological imperative," says Stuart Quan, M.D., a Harvard Medical School professor of sleep medicine and editor of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. "You can't not sleep," he says.
Virtually all animals sleep. Fruit flies have been shown to have sleep cycles, and even sea sponges have sleeplike periods, Quan says. While experts have different theories on why we sleep, it's well proven that getting too little has serious consequences for your health and diabetes. Shorting yourself on shut-eye can worsen diabetes and, for some people, even serve as the trigger that causes it.
People who don't sleep enough may:
-- impair the body's use of insulin.
-- have higher levels of hormones that cause hunger.
-- crave junk food.
No snooze, you lose
People who don't get enough sleep often have higher levels of chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. Lack of sleep also can increase production of cortisol (the body's primary stress hormone), impair memory and reflex time, elevate blood sugar, and increase appetite -- ultimately promoting weight gain, says Carol Touma, M.D., an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago who focuses on sleep research and metabolism.
And the more you weigh, the worse you sleep. Research by Madhu H. Rao, M.D., an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, found that a person's body mass index (BMI) affects slow-wave sleep, the deep sleep cycles needed for maximum rest. Very preliminary re Continue reading

Low Blood Sugar? 8 Warning Signs if You Have Diabetes

Do you know the No. 1 cause of blood sugar dips? Changes in food intake. You may go too long without eating carbohydrates, or step up your activity without adding extra food. Certain diabetes medications, such as insulin, can cause low blood sugar as well. Either way, these situations can cause hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.
And it’s sometimes difficult to tell for sure when you’re experiencing problems.
Symptoms may vary from person to person; not everyone has the same warning signs. The problems are sometimes mild, but if they’re severe and left untreated, they could lead to seizures or unconsciousness.
Here’s what you need to know to recognize hypoglycemia when it happens — as well as steps you can take to help avoid the problem.
What are the most common signs of trouble?
Health professionals typically define hypoglycemia as blood sugar in a non-pregnant adult that is lower than 70mg/dl.
However, experts don’t define the severity by the number, but rather by the symptoms:
Mild. In this case, low blood sugar can be treated by the person with diabetes alone.
Moderate. The person experiencing low blood sugar is alert enough to ask for help, but he or she does require assistance.
Severe. This person is completely unable to self-treat and may be awake or unconscious. Talk to your doctor to see what target levels are safe for you.
If you suspect you’re dealing with hypoglycemia, here are the most common symptoms to watch for:
Sweating– One of the first signs of hypoglycemia is sweating or clammy skin. It often occurs regardless of the temperature outside.
Hu Continue reading

Your Diabetes Awareness Month 2017 Action Plan

November is Diabetes Awareness Month, a time to shine the spotlight on diabetes and diabetes research. Ready to get involved? Here are some noteworthy events happening across the country, along with suggestions for creative ways you and your family can raise awareness about diabetes in your community.
Observe JDRF’s T1Day
What better way to kick off the month? The JDRF-sponsored T1Day, held each year on November 1, is an opportunity to get people everywhere more engaged in talking about type 1 diabetes. Suggested T1Day activities include visiting your child’s class for a kid-friendly diabetes Q&A, encouraging your child to write to the local paper about type 1 awareness, and sharing some of your story via social media. Even something as simple as a tweet describing how diabetes has affected your family’s life can be a rich conversation starter. Tag social media posts with #T1Day to connect with others in the diabetes community.
Cheer on NASCAR® Driver Ryan Reed
Ryan Reed was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 17, just as his racing career was taking off. At diagnosis, he was told he’d never race again. Now, at age 24, Ryan is driving for Roush Fenway Racing in the No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Xfinity® Series. Stop by or tune in for races on November 4 (Texas Motor Speedway), November 11 (Phoenix International Speedway), and November 18 (Homestead-Miami Speedway).
Join the #T1DLooksLikeMe Campaign
JDRF wants to show the world what life with T1D really looks like with its #T1DLooksLikeMe campaign. Use the free photo editing tool at jdrf.org/T1 Continue reading

Rates of new diagnosed cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes on the rise among children, teens

Fastest rise seen among racial/ethnic minority groups.
Rates of new diagnosed cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are increasing among youth in the United States, according to a report, Incidence Trends of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes among Youths, 2002-2012 (link is external), published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the United States, 29.1 million people are living with diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, and about 208,000 people younger than 20 years are living with diagnosed diabetes.
This study is the first ever to estimate trends in new diagnosed cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in youth (those under the age of 20), from the five major racial/ethnic groups in the U.S.: non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. However, the Native American youth who participated in the SEARCH study are not representative of all Native American youth in the United States. Thus, these rates cannot be generalized to all Native American youth nationwide.
The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study (link is external), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that from 2002 to 2012, incidence, or the rate of new diagnosed cases of type 1 diabetes in youth increased by about 1.8 percent each year. During the same period, the rate of new diagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes increased even more quickly, at 4.8 percent. The study included 11,244 youth ages 0-19 with type 1 diabetes and 2,846 youth ages 10-19 with type 2.
“Because of the early a Continue reading