Entries from May 2011 ↓

The word diabetes was coined by the 2nd-century A.D. Greek physician, Aretus the Cappadocian, meaning ‘the siphon’ as the condition is characterized by excessive urination.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas either does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels. The word mellitus was added to diabetes in 1675 by Thomas Willis. Mel in Latin means honey and refers to the excess of glucose in the urine and blood of people with diabetes.

Types of diabetes

According to WHO, there are three main types of diabetes:
Diabetes Type 1 – The body does not produce insulin at all. Also called early onset or juvenile diabetes, it requires the person to inject insulin throughout his/her life. People suffering from this types of diabetes are also very prone to ketoacidosis. The cause is not certain and could be genetic, viral, or multifactorial.

Diabetes Type 2 – Also called maturity onset, Type 2 diabetes is a result of insulin resistance. The body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or is not able to utilize insulin effectively.
Gestational Diabetes – A form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy.
Diabetes Types 1 & 2 are chronic, lifelong medical conditions. Gestational diabetes usually disappears after the birth of a child but can later lead to type 2 diabetes.

Juvenile diabetes may be either Type 1 or Type 2, and is seen in children or adolescents.

Symptoms

Common symptoms of diabetes are:

Frequent urination
Disproportionate thirst
Intense hunger
Weight gain
Unusual weight loss (More common among people with Diabetes Type 1)
Increased fatigue
Irritability
Blurred vision
Cuts and bruises don’t heal properly or quickly
More skin and/or yeast infections
Itchy skin
Red or swollen gums
Numbness or tingling, especially in the feet and hands

Diabetes is typically detected by carrying out a urine test, followed by a blood test

High risk groups of diabetes

Certain people are at higher risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. High risk groups include those who:-

Are over 55
Have a family history of diabetes
Are overweight or obese
Have high blood pressure
Had diabetes during pregnancy or gave birth to a big baby (more than 9 pounds)
Are Southeast Asian, Asian Indian, Afro-American, Hispanic American or Native American
Have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
Have heart disease

There is only one way to check if you have diabetes: get your blood sugar level tested.

Diabetes related complications

Diabetes is a chronic, life-long condition that requires careful monitoring and management. Left untreated, it can lead to various complications such as kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, and blindness in some cases. Diabetes causes about 5% of all deaths globally each year. Diabetes deaths are likely to increase by more than 50% in the next 10 years without urgent action and preventive measures.

Short-term complications:

Low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia)

Anyone who suffers from diabetes and takes insulin is going to face the problem of blood sugar falling too low at some point. This state is called hypoglycaemia and can be corrected quickly by eating something sweet, like candy or plain sugar. If it is not corrected, hypoglycaemia can lead to the person losing consciousness.

The typical signs of hypoglycemia are: hunger
shakiness
sweating
dizziness or light-headedness
confusion
weakness

Ketoacidosis

This is a severe condition caused by lack of insulin. It mostly affects people with type 1 diabetes. Acidic waste products called ketones are produced when the body breaks down fats. In the absence of insulin, the body cannot release all the ketones and they build up in your blood, causing ketoacidosis.

Lactic acidosis

Lactic acidosis is the build-up of lactic acid in the body. Too much lactic acid in the body makes people feel ill. Otherwise, Lactic acidosis is a rare ailemnt. It mainly affects people with type 2 diabetes.

Bacterial / fungal infections

Patients are more prone to fungal and bacterial and infections like boils, boils, athlete’s foot, sties, ring worm, and vaginal infections.

Long-term complications:

Eye disease (retinopathy)

As per statistics, about 2% of all people who have had diabetes for 15 years or more become blind, while about 10% develop a severe visual impairment.

Kidney disease (nephropathy)

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease (nephropathy) and failure. About one third of all people with diabetes develop kidney disease and approximately 20% of people with type 1 diabetes develop kidney failure.

Nerve disease (neuropathy)

Diabetic nerve disease, or neuropathy, affects at least half of all people with diabetes. Common complaints are loss of sensation in the feet or in some cases the hands, pain in the foot and problems with the functioning of different parts of the body including the heart, the eye, the stomach, the bladder and the penis. A lack of sensation in the feet and hands can lead to patients to injure themselves without realizing it.

Diseases of the circulatory system

The risk of heart disease is 2-4 times higher in diabetes patients than for those who do not have diabetes. It is the main cause of disability and death for people with type 2 diabetes in industrialized countries.

Amputation

Diabetics are more likely (20 to 35 times) to require lower-limb amputation.

Prevention & Lifestyle modification

Experts and doctors believe that while there is yet no evidence to suggest that Type 1 diabetes can be prevented, primary prevention of type 2 diabetes is possible.

Weight control, a balanced diet, and increased physical activity are important in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The benefits of reducing body weight and increasing physical activity also play a role in reducing heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.

Secondary prevention involves the early detection and prevention of complications, therefore reducing the need for treatment. Regular annual check-ups go a long way in timely detection of diabetes. Periodic check of blood glucose levels is a must as are the monitoring of blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Healthy eating, regular exercise, weight control all contribute to good cardiovascular health. Diabetics should also quit smoking .

According to the Mayo Clinic, daily intake of calories should consist of:

Carbohydrates 45% to 65%
Proteins 15% to 20%
Fats 20% to 35%

Patients are advised to adhere to meal plans for portion sizes and eating times. This will keep blood sugar and your weight ideal.

Treatment

Though there is no known cure for diabetes, all types of diabetes are treatable. The main treatment for a Type 1 diabetic is injected insulin, along with some dietary and exercise adherence.

If you have Type 1 and follow a healthy eating plan, do adequate exercise, and take insulin, you can lead a normal life. Larry King, Halle Berry, and several well known diabetic US baseball and basketball players lead normal lives. Type 2 patients need to eat healthily, be physically active, and test their blood glucose regularly. They may also be prescribed oral medication to control blood glucose levels. Sometimes, Type 2 patients may also require insulin injections.

Herbal Remedies for Diabetes

Diabet Guard Effective in controlling blood sugar and allied complications. It contains the goodness of Jamun, Karela, Methi, Neem, Purified Shilajit and Gurmar leaves.

Amalaki or Indian gooseberry is a rich concentrated source of Vitamin C and is effective in controlling diabetes. A tablespoon of amla juice, along with a cup of bitter gourd juice, stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin.

Hyponidd by Charak.

Click here to know more about Herbal Supplements for Diabetes

How To Reduce LDL Cholesterol

Heart disease is one of the most common causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States. The development of heart diseases is linked to the levels of LDL cholesterol. In order to protect yourself from the risks associated with high LDL cholesterol levels, you must understand what LDL cholesterol is and how you can.  In this way, you can avoid the fate of million others who are suffering from heart diseases due to LDL cholesterol.

What Is It Important to Reduce LDL Cholesterol?

It is known to almost everyone that cholesterol has bad effects on our health. Lowering total cholesterol levels is therefore essential in maintaining overall health. It must be remembered, though, that when talking about lowering cholesterol levels, LDL cholesterol is being referred to. LDL cholesterol is named as the bad cholesterol because it is responsible for bringing LDL cholesterol to different parts of the body. The liver and the cells of our body have limited capacity to ingest LDL molecules hence excess amounts of LDL cholesterol remain in the blood. High levels of LDL molecules in the blood increase the risk for atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, hypertension and stroke.

It is important to protect yourself from health risks. Atherosclerosis is an indication that one had elevated levels of LDL. Although, not all damages caused by LDL cholesterol are possibly reversed, it is possible to reduce LDL cholesterol levels so that further damage could be prevented.  To reduce LDL cholesterol levels, one has to consider what led to the increase of its levels.

If diet and lifestyle are responsible, you have to make necessary changes in these factors. It cannot be possible to reduce LDL cholesterol without committing yourself to treatment. This is normally a long-term treatment since it takes years to correct the system that took many years to establish. It was found that it takes many years before LDL cholesterol would be able to exert its harmful effects to the blood.

Natural Ways to Reduce LDL Cholesterol

There are so many different natural ways to reduce LDL cholesterol. It could be easy to just buy a prescribed cholesterol medication and wait until your cholesterol level decreases. The effects of medication however are not long-term. You need to keep on taking those medications because your LDL levels keeps on reverting to high levels. Natural methods of reducing LDL cholesterol however have more long-term beneficial effects to health.

To reduce LDL cholesterol naturally, you have to lower consumption of foods with high saturated fat content and you have to exercise regularly. Healthy diet and exercise are both heart-friendly hence both facilitate the body’s natural way to reduce LDL cholesterol. It was also found that taking cholesterol supplements along with diet and exercise promotes better health. The cholesterol supplement Vasacor is known for its ability to reduce LDL cholesterol by acting as the body’s assistant in reducing LDL cholesterol. The active ingredients in Vasacor are effective yet they are safe. If you are one of those people who need to reduce LDL cholesterol, you might as well include Vasacor in your healthy heart regimen.

There are many kinds of strategy that can be done by business owners in order to make their business more successful and earn more business profits. One of the strategies is by expanding the business. The thing is you might have to deal with complicated requirements and long process if you want to start a corporation. The best solution is by buying aged shelf corporations . Aged corporations are the kind of corporation that created and left with no activity.

With aged shelf corporations, you can save much of your time, energy and money on starting new corporation. You don’t have to manage all of the processes, because it is already managed for you. As a result, you can start the corporation as soon as you want. If you don’t have big budget for buying an aged corporation, you can try to find aged shelf corporations for sale. There are many companies that offer good quality of aged corporations for sale.

It is necessary for you to compare the options in order to get the best quality aged corporation with affordable price. You can also buy aged shelf corporations with credit if you want to. The most important thing is to know about the advantages and disadvantages of buying aged corporations with credit. With a good aged corporation, you can enjoy a lot of benefits for yourself and your business.

When you want more profit to your online merchant business, you need to catch new customer. If you only provide PayPal payment for your customer, it is time to seek PayPal Alternative to reach more customers who don’t have PayPal account. And first thing to do is finding the right account from numerous Merchant Accounts available in the internet.

Provider of merchant account online is various; since a lot of Credit Card Processing Companies grows along with the fast grow of online merchant business. You have to read review of Credit Card Processing to know what the benefit of every account to your business and don’t forget to concern with the disadvantages too. Words can be tricky, so read everything carefully and decide which Online Credit Card Processing will give you optimum benefit.

Merchant Accounts allow you to Accept Credit Cards from your customer. There are so many credit card holders in the world that love to shop online and it is your job to catch their attention to your online merchant business. When you are using Merchant Credit Card Processing, there is more possibility of new customer that more comfort with credit card payment online than using PayPal payment.

Copyright (c) 2007 SharpBrains

Who has not heard “Use It or Lose It”. Now, what is “It”? Last week I gave a talk at the Italian Consulate in San Francisco, and one of the areas attendants seemed to enjoy the most was learning what our brains are and how they work, peaking into the “black box” of our minds. Without understanding at least the basics, how can we make good decisions about our own brain health and fitness?

Let’s review at a glance:

The brain is composed of 3 “brains” or main sub-systems, each named after the evolutionary moment in which the sub-system is believed to have appeared.

1) Neocortex, or Human Brain, is the most recent area, where we perform high-level thinking and complex integrative tasks. Other mammals do have this part too, but in smaller proportion of the whole brain volume. This is where we have our right and left hemispheres.

The Neocortex is composed of

-Frontal Lobes: or the CEO of the Brain, for sophisticated brain functions such as planning and conceptualizing.

-Parietal lobes: dealing with movement, the senses, and some forms of recognition

-Temporal lobes: auditory processes and language

-Occipital: visual processing center (credit: Morphonix)

B) Limbic System, or Mammalian Brain, critical for emotions and for memory,

Emotions are generated here, as well as the appetites and urges that help us survive. For instance, the amygdala gets triggered to prepare us to deal with a threatening situation, resulting in our feeling of fear. The hippocampus is key in the formation of memory.

C) Cerebellum and Stem, or Reptilian Brain, that regulates basic vital variables such as breathing, heartbeat and motor coordination.

When we exercise our brains, we put our Neurons and connections between neurons in action.

Given the diversity of functions outlined above, it is clear that different activities are going to activate different brain areas, which scientists now know thanks to neuroimaging techniques. There is no one magic bullet that is best (either crosswords puzzles, or computer-based programs, or physical exercise): we do need a variety of mental stimulation or “brain exercises”.

“Cells that fire together wire together” means that synapses-unions between neurons- get solidified the more often the respective neurons “talk” to each other.

Here you have some tips that can help you put all this theory into practice:

- Be curious! Get to know your local library and community college, look for local organizations or churches that offer classes or workshops

- Do a variety of things, including things you aren’t good at (if you like to sing, try painting too)

- Work puzzles like crosswords and sudoku or play games like chess and bridge

- Try a computerized brain fitness program for a customized workout

- If you can only do one thing, learn something new every day!