Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Create Home Remedies for Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease in which there is improper functioning of insulin and as a result sugar level in the blood increases. Diabetes may cause heart problem, kidney failure, blurred vision if not treated timely. Diabetes is a lifelong, chronic health condition, in which the body is unable to break down sugar so the sugar levels are high in the blood, and also can't produce insulin or have resistance to insulin and therefore loses energy. It is also caused due to increase production of glucose level in the blood vessels and less production of glucose in the body, and also caused due to infections caused by viruses.
Home Remedies for Diabetes


Diabetes natural treatment: Eat 1 teaspoon of cinnamon daily.

Yemeni med: Soak 1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds (Hilba) in 1 cup of water at night. Drink the water in the morning on an empty stomach and eat the seeds. Very good for diabetes because it works like insulin.

Take 1 small bitter gourd, remove the seeds and saturate in a cup of water. Drain and drink every morning.

Wash and peel a green plantain, put the peel in a jar, cover with water and drink this water three times a day.

Boil 13-16 mango leaves in one cup of water, saturate over night and filter in the morning. Drink every morning on an empty stomach.

Home remedy for diabetes: eat garlic or take garlic capsules.

Take 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar 3 times a day.

Add turmeric and cinnamon to your cooking, it is very good for diabetes.
Yoga Exercises for Diabetes Treatment

Increased sugar level in the blood leads to diabetes. This is due to many reasons like, obesity, improper diet, and stress. Diabetes disease can be controlled by doing yoga and various other physical exercises.

Exercise helps in keeping sugar level to normal in the blood cells. It helps in controlling stress level which is the primary cause of diabetes. By doing regular exercises various diseases like, heart diseases, kidney disorder, diabetes, constipation are effectively cured, and give much energy to do everyday work.

Walking controls stress level and helps in controlling body weight and in turn diabetes.

Regularly doing pranayam and various other yogic exercises keeps sugar level in the blood under control and gives much strength to perform the daily activities. Stay stress free by doing meditation and try the above remedies it will definitely bring good result.

Read more!

Choosing Aproppriate New Medication

When they first sprang out at their time, drugs were the marvelous choice for diabetes treatment. Many diabetics have used them, and they could lower their blood sugar levels.

But, there were seen some severe side effects of all these diabetes drugs, from hypoglycemia (the most common side effect) to irreversible liver damages.

The great machinery of pharmaceuticals has done its best to come up with new diabetes medications as a choice for the old drugs side effects. But, even with these new drugs, other severe side effects appeared. As a consequence, most of them such as alpha glucosidase inhibitors are not used anymore as a diabetes treatment.

Anyway, basically diabetes treatment depends on the type of diabetes you have. For type 1 diabetes, insulin remains the only drug prescribed, although it has side effects.

Meanwhile, for type2 diabetes, at first it is recommended to use oral hypoglicemiants of one of the following three main groups:

1 Sulfonylurea (Chlorpropamide) - these drugs stimulate beta cells in pancreas to produce insulin.
2 Biguanides (Metformin) - it improved the use of glucose from body cells; and reduce the amount of sugar produced from the liver
3 Thiazolidinediones - they improve the intake of glucose by your fat and muscle tissue

One other group remains Alfa glucosidase inhibitors that inhibit the enzyme alfa glucosidase in intestine. In this way, glucose is not absorbed and gases may be formed and cause many digestive problems.

This is one part of medallion for diabetes treatment using the drugs. There is one other part consisting in changing your everyday lifestyle habits, or even using the all kind foods your body needs.

Read more!

Type of Diabetes

Diabetes is the inability to transfer sugars in blood into the sugar-storage sites of your body, the muscles and liver. Sugars, called carbohydrates, are found mainly in cereals, rice, bread, pastas, potatoes, milk products, fruits, fruit juices and sweets. When we consume these foods, they pass from the stomach into the intestines and get broken down to the most basic sugar form, glucose. Glucose (sugar) normally moves into the blood via a web of blood vessels that are connected to the intestines. When the movement of glucose into the blood stream raises its average level above 100 points (mg/dl), it triggers the secretion of a hormone called insulin from the pancreas. When insulin is secreted into the blood, it causes the excess glucose (sugar) to be stored in muscles and liver cells. It is stored in a form called glycogen, which may be used at a later time as an immediate source of energy.

This energy is used for activities of up to three minutes: lifting or throwing an object, running away from danger, sprinting, stop-and-go actions such as a short walk, or any sports activity. Some people have impairment in their insulin production or in the functioning of their insulin. This insulin impairment causes the level of glucose to rapidly rise above the 100-point mark, and that is the condition we call diabetes. High sugar levels, left untreated, can gradually cause damage to vital tissues, such as blood vessels, the nervous system, kidneys, heart and arteries. This can cause debilitating strokes, heart disease, erectile dysfunction, loss of sensation or pain in the feet and hands, leading to leg amputations, kidney failure and blindness.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes is when someone can produce little or no insulin, due mainly to immune and genetic (inherited) defects in the pancreas. People with Type 1 Diabetes create approximately only 10% of all of people diagnosed with diabetes. Type 1 can occur at a relatively young age, especially during childhood. At the time of diagnosis, people are usually of average weight, experiencing weight loss; frequent urination, blurred vision and dry mouth and their blood fasting sugar are way above 125 points (mg/dl). Type 1 diabetics have to depend on insulin use for the rest of their lives, in order to survive and making good lifestyle choices is integral to diabetes control. Oral Diabetes medications that are Sensitizers (see detailed discussion of this group of drugs in Action Step 2 right after the Insulin section) can be prescribed along with Insulin for people with Type 1 which can help reduce the amount of daily insulin used. Also leading and maintaining an active Lifestyle and making favorable food choices and raising your fiber intake can all help bring Diabetes under control and reduce the amount of total daily insulin dose (decisions about insulin dosing can ONLY be made by your doctor). Refer to Action Step 4 for a detailed discussion on how to start and maintain an active Lifestyle and make favorable food choices.

Impaired Glucose Tolerance or Pre-diabetes

This is a condition where glucose levels are higher than normal but not enough to be diagnosed as diabetes namely at a range from 100 to 125 mg/dl on a fasting state (first thing in the morning before eating). Typically, the more than 54 million people in this category are overweight or obese. They are people who consume large amounts of “junk food” (nutrient-deficient foods and drinks such as soft drinks and all other sugar containing juices and drinks. Foods that are loaded with sugars and unfavorable sources of fat such as animal fat, butter, margarine and Trans Fatty Acids that are found in the majority of packaged processed sweet and or salty snacks) and lead totally sedentary lifestyles; they also have high cholesterol and triglycerides and have low HDL (the good cholesterol). Studies show that these people will eventually develop diabetes and other preventable chronic ailments, such as: high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease, “unless” they are identified early and they start making favorable lifestyle choices.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes affects some women during pregnancy and is characterized by consistently higher than 95 points (mg/dl) on a fasting state first thing in the morning, and over 120 points 2 hours after a meal. Most women who suffer from Gestational Diabetes will return to having normal blood glucose levels after delivery. Up to 45% of women who develop diabetes during pregnancy may progress to having full-blown diabetes later in life unless they make favorable lifestyle choices and change their eating and activity habits. The main predisposing factors for gestational diabetes are family history of diabetes, obesity and sedentary lifestyles . It is crucial that women at risk be identified, since high blood sugar causes fetal harm.

Who Should Test?

All women, early on in their pregnancy, who have the following criteria must be tested for high blood sugar; women who are: overweight, over the age of 25, who have family history of diabetes, those who belong to ethnic groups other than Caucasian, those who have previously had gestational diabetes, or who have previously delivered large babies over 9 pounds.

Treatment

Gestational diabetes is initially treated with Lifestyle interventions such as making balanced food choices and increasing activity as described in Action Step 4. If fasting (first thing in the morning before eating) blood sugar is not brought to 95 points (mg/dl) or to 120 points 2 hours after lunch or dinner then Insulin is the ideal drug that is used. Your doctor will decide which insulin product and dose is appropriate for you. (See the discussion about insulin in Action Step 2).

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, usually affects people later on in life, after the age of 25 or 30. However, Type 2 Diabetes has alarmingly been plaguing children at a much younger age than ever witnessed. Kids as young as 15 and 17 who are obese and leading sedentary lifestyles and commonly seen in grocery stores shopping while riding electric shopping scooters, are now diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. About 90% of people with diabetes have Type 2. People with Type 2 Diabetes produce insulin from their pancreas, but due to lifestyle factors such as obesity and inactivity the insulin is not able to perform and move the extra sugar from the blood into the muscle and liver cells, resulting in the buildup of sugar levels in the blood. This defect is referred to technically as insulin resistance. The diagnosis for Type 2 Diabetes is when people have a fasting (before eating in the morning) blood sugar level of 126 points (mg/dl) and over on 2 separate readings.

Type 2 Diabetes can be of hereditary origin. Non-Caucasians are more predisposed to getting it. But the vast majority of people get it due to inadequate lifestyles such obesity, overeating and sedentary lifestyles. A staggering 75% of people with diabetes are obese and inactive . This lends to the worsening of their conditions. I witness this trend every single day in my pharmacy practice. People drop off several prescriptions for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure, and they sit the entire time in the pharmacy waiting area. When I counsel them about their medications and suggest they might increase the amount of daily walking, their invariable answer is, “I don't have time.” Sometimes, they drop off their prescriptions and go food shopping; they bring back a cart full of bacon, cookies and other packaged snacks such as popcorn, jugs of soft drinks, pretzels, butter, white bread, and let's not forget the cigarettes!

People with Type 2 Diabetes may be treated with: medications, either taken by mouth and/or through insulin injections, and by making favorable lifestyle choices . Medications alone without an active lifestyle will never be an efficient way to control diabetes and/or other chronic lifestyle-related diseases. Your doctor has many medication options from which to choose. What is important is to get diabetes under control in order to avoid deadly complications ! Your health is your responsibility, and staying in close contact with your doctor and pharmacist is the only way to avoid diabetes complications and hugely important in keeping your diabetes under control.

The message that I bring you is that, “You are not doomed.” Certainly, you can control diabetes, but you have to be aware of some simple facts and act on them . Inaction will cause these deadly ailments to creep up on you and systematically destroy your internal organs and claim your life prematurely. You can become involved, seriously and consistently, in your health; take the lead and the primary responsibility for managing your health and disease! It is simpler than you think.

If you take charge of this responsibility, you reap the benefits of living your lifespan to the fullest, enjoying the best quality of life. It is very simple. You just have to take charge by starting to apply the reliable, simple, and practical recommendations in LIFESTYLE MAKEOVER FOR DIABETICS AND PRE-DIABETICS


Read more!