posted on January 11, 2006 03:40:39 PM
I was watching parts of CNN last night and they reported the number of diabetes cases in the U.S. (probably Canada too) keep rising each year - it was something like 30 million. They said 1 out of every 8 New Yorkers has diabetes. Isn't that awful? I think this was a combination of Type 1 and Type 2 (Type 2 can be cured by diet), but am not sure. Anyone know more about this disease?
A lot of it has to do with obesity. High cholesterol, high blood pressure and a host of other complications can be caused by obesity. Unfortunately, diabetes can also be one of them.
Cheryl
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
It's not necessarily caused by overweight. I've had it for about 10 years and was never overweight. No member of my family has had it either. Before I was diagnosed, I was afraid that I had a serious disease because I was losing too much weight.
posted on January 11, 2006 07:45:10 PM
You a type I or II helen?
I take metformin and glyburide for mine. And I thought I was doing a good job losing weight LOL But the constant having to go and dry mouth got annoying.
Ron
"Better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not."
posted on January 11, 2006 07:58:39 PM
Apparently, I have a very serious case and so I use insulin four times a day. By the time I found out, I only weighed 115 pounds and I'm 5'6" so I was very thin. One doctor called it type 1 and another doctor called it type 11. It's strange that there was no history of diabetes in my family on either side.
posted on January 11, 2006 08:24:25 PM
I was just talking about this topic to my daughter the other day. Her Mother-in-law was just diagnosed with diabetes. She is the 5th person that I know who has been diagnosed this past year! Two other friends and my sister and my sister-in-law as well. I was beginning to think it was the diagnosis du jour, you know how hysterectomies were in the 80's. But they are all over weight, obese and over 50 years of age. So I think that has contributed.
I'm not losing any weight, so I guess I'm not diabetic..
posted on January 11, 2006 08:30:53 PM
I always thought only Type 1's were insulin dependent. (??) I know Mary Tyler Moore is Type 1 and is a rake. Is it because you're so limited to what you can eat?
posted on January 11, 2006 08:35:19 PM
"I always thought only Type 1's were insulin dependent."
Nope. I'm a type II and so is my Dad. He's been on insulin for a couple of years now, and my doctor keeps trying to talk me into it as well. I'm currently doing two diffreent prescriptions, and I'm trying to put off the shots as long as possible... But it's going to happen eventually.
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on January 14, 2006 08:05:32 AM
diabetics lose weight comes later,and will get worse .
It will affect your eyes and infections wil follow.
Doctors always ask if there is any feeling in your toes as the heart has to be strong enough to pump the blood going down the longest path of a body and back to the heart.
Stay away from sweets-no soda and no cream pies .
EAT MORE VEGGIES,EAT MORE VEGGIES,EAT MORE VEGGIES,if you dont like veggies,TRY TO LIKE IT NOW.
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on January 14, 2006 08:13:26 AM
hwahwa: I heard a nurse say that at first you get skinny, then you get real fat because your body is not processing right. mary tyler moore spoke of how she almost lost her eyesight. btw, diabetics should even stay away from whole milk as any 'cose' is a sugar (if I remember right from biology.)
posted on January 14, 2006 09:11:27 AM
Dbl, you don't get fat with uncontrolled diabetes because you are pissing away calories. I've never been overweight or considered fat. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes I attended an education class in a local hospital and very few members of the class could be considered fat.
Being overweight may be a predisposing factor for some, but not all. So if you are tired all the time, with overwhelming thirst and frequent need to urinate, you should check to make sure that you don't have diabetes. Usually all that it takes is a glucose test...first just a finger prick.
posted on January 14, 2006 09:18:52 AM
Type 2 diabetes mellitus occurs mostly in individuals over 40 years old, and is also known as adult onset diabetes mellitus. The incidence of type 2 diabetes increases with age. Unlike type 1 diabetes mellitus, the majority of type 2 diabetic patients are obese. Type 2 diabetes mellitus also has a strong genetic tendency.
Helen, I just read the above, and it seems to concur with all five of the people I know who have recently been diagnosed. I have to wonder if their obesity caused the type 2 diabetes or the other way around?
posted on January 14, 2006 09:44:38 AM
Helen, I think you may fall into a minority of diabetics. It is my understanding that although you piss out the calories (if that is even the case) with the insulin and kidneys et al non-functioning, the body has a tendency to store more fat. Or maybe its just because you become tired all the time you become more sedentary?
My fathers mother was diabetic. My mothers father was a diabetic. All type II after 40. My brother inherited it. I have been tested three times and they keep telling me no. But since it is in my family, I had some concerns when my hands and feet were experiering numbness at intervals. But that may be caused from smoking and the arteries clogging up as well.
posted on January 14, 2006 09:45:32 AM
Maggie, I don't know anyone personally who has diabetes. I am only familiar with the people who attended the same diabetic education class that I attended. Most were over 40 and most were not fat. It may be the case that some of those people were type 1 diabetics... I don't really know.
I have also heard that obesity is a predisposing factor for SOME type 2 diabetics. But not all people who are affected with diabetes are overweight.
I know that for a fact since I have diabetes and neither I nor anyone in my family has been fat.
Usually type 1 diabetes is genetic. I haven't been able to find anyone in my family with the disease.
posted on January 14, 2006 09:55:28 AM
What is it that converts the insulin? I dont really have it all at the ready in my head. The pancreas? Liver? Something...
Maggie, Of course if someone is obese it stands to reason their intake probably involves alot of sugars or fats and carbs, so I would think if your system is already weak by predisposition, then, of course, that would contribute to it's breakdown, as its working over time to process/convert all this on a stressed system.
[ edited by dblfugger9 on Jan 14, 2006 09:58 AM ]
posted on January 14, 2006 10:00:04 AM
Not know much about diabetes until my mother was diagnosed with it 2 years ago (at age 76), I read a fairly new study that indicates a correlation between diabetes and high cholesterol. Something about the cholesterol interfering with the absorption of sugar in the body.
She has fought the cholesterol issue for many years before being diagnosed with diabetes.
Also it appears some forms of diabetes are hereditary as her younger brother is also diabetic, though he must take the injections.
"“More Iraqis think things are going well in Iraq than Americans do. I guess they don’t get the New York Times over there.”—Jay Leno".
posted on January 14, 2006 10:13:03 AM
Helen, you want to laugh? I remember going to my grandmothers house as a kid and what we didnt know anything about diabeties then,but we did find out she bought chocolates and candies and hid them because she wasnt supposed to have them. Every time we went there, it was like an Easter Egg hunt!! LOL!! Who could find the most stashed candies!! Although sometimes she was annoyed and take it back from us, she usually let us keep them as she was so busted for having them. I remember at one point she told my parents she just kept them in the house in case her blood sugar went low and my mother telling her she should be keeping oranges and fruit in the house instead.
[ edited by dblfugger9 on Jan 14, 2006 10:28 AM ]
posted on January 14, 2006 11:55:38 AM
there is a woman whom I know since I was a kid,she worked for my parents ,there is someone in her family who is diabetic,cant recall whom?
She ate a lot of starch,no sweets,and brush her teeth with salt water,never see a dentist,dont recall her seeing a doctor until she retired,she retired in her early 50s.
Then she always felt thirsty,she will sweat and the sweat is sticky on her skin and she started to lose weight,she was kind of heavy before .
One day she was having dinner and she picked up a rice bowl and saw ants crawling all over the rice and she screamed and dropped the rice bowl,it turns out that her blood vessels in her eyes have gone bad.
She cant see well and so she got into accidents,like one day she was coming home and stepped on a dog and the dog jumped up and bit her leg.
Sometimes she cant resist the sweet pastry and she figured she will eat now and take insulin later.
there is less and less oxygen in her blood stream and she has no strength,when she walked,she was like floating in air,hardly carrying herself.
The doctor operated on her eyes,i think it is some kind of laser surgery and she can see better,like watching tv.
She stayed with her relatives and help cook and do housework,she will throw a rag into a soup pot thinking it was neckbones of some sort.
Then one day the phone rang while she was cooking in the kitchen and she ran and tripped on some cord and felt.
She died in the hospital at 82.
The Chinese refer to the disease as the rich man disease,meaning people who eat too well get that disease -all that fat and sweets.
But I wonder about that,as poor people eat more starch to fill their stomach and give them the boost to perform physical labor-such as the rickshaw coolies and construction workers and the farmers,meat is expensive and the farmers are the last to enjoy the fruit of their labor,they sell the best crop,the best cut of meat and eat the scraps.
May be carbohydrates is the culprit,eating bowls and bowls of white rice every day with little veggie or meat.
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on January 14, 2006 12:08:11 PM
Dbl, the problem is that EVERYTHING eventually turns to sugar...even meat. That's why diabetics measure their food very carefully.
The orange juice that you mentioned is just another source of sugar. Since protein is a slower and longer acting source of sugar, skim non fat milk is really preferable to orange juice as a sugar source.
posted on January 14, 2006 01:46:32 PMSince protein is a slower and longer acting source of sugar, skim non fat milk is really preferable to orange juice as a sugar source.
Well, they may have come out with this now. But at the time back then, it was thought you wanted this sugar in your bloodstream as fast as possible so as not to slip into a diabetic coma or something. I believe the sugar in fruits do not spend as much time in the digestive system as processed sugars.
.
posted on January 15, 2006 06:45:16 PM newIceland study finds important diabetes gene
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Sun Jan 15, 1:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A single genetic change could predispose close to 40 percent of the population to type-2 diabetes, researchers said on Sunday.
The gene, identified in a study of Iceland's comprehensive genetic records, is carried by 38 percent of the Northern European populations studied, and is also common among African-Americans, the researchers said.
Writing in the journal Nature Genetics, Kari Stefansson of DeCode Genetics and colleagues said their finding could help in the development of an easy test for diabetes risk and might also lead to better drugs for the disease, which affects nearly 200 million people worldwide and 18 million people in the United States alone.
"If you have one copy of this variant, which 38 percent of people do, your risk of developing type-2 diabetes is increased by 40 percent," Stefansson, who is chief executive officer of DeCode, said in a telephone interview.
"Seven percent have two copies and have a 140 percent increase in risk. If you would remove this variant out of the population, you would remove basically 20 percent of the type-2 diabetes cases from our society."
Type-2 diabetes was once known as adult-onset diabetes, and differs from type-1, or juvenile, diabetes. With an inability to use and produce insulin properly, sufferers end up with too much glucose in their blood and have high rates of heart disease, blindness, nerve damage and limb loss.
Type-2 diabetes is associated with obesity, overweight and a lack of exercise and is being found in children more commonly worldwide.
"It is a disease that occurs at the interface of genes and environment," Stefansson said.
The variant his team found, called TCF7L2, is associated with a younger onset of the condition, and sufferers appear to be thinner than the average type-2 diabetes patient.
BIOLOGICAL CAUSES
"This discovery sheds new light on the biological causes of the disease. Importantly, virtually all of this risk can be captured by looking at a single-letter change in DNA -- ideal for the development of a genetic test for assessing individual risk and developing more personalized and effective prevention strategies," Stefansson said.
"This is also an exciting starting point for the discovery of new drugs, and we are actively pursuing the development of both diagnostic and therapeutic products to better prevent and treat T2D," he added.
While his team studied mostly northern Europeans -- Icelanders, Danes and U.S. citizens -- Stefansson said he also saw other variants that are found in people around the world that also confer diabetes risk.
Iceland-based DeCode specializes in trolling the country's DNA database for information. Virtually the entire population of Iceland, a highly inbred group, has voluntarily donated DNA to be sequenced, analyzed and published.
The DeCode team found the gene first in Icelanders with diabetes, and then looked in 228 Danish women with type-2 diabetes and 539 who did not have the condition.
They also looked at 361 American diabetics of European descent and 530 similar people without diabetes.
They said the TCF7L2 gene can be found on chromosome 10q. It is a transcription factor, a gene that controls another gene, in this case the well-known Wnt signaling pathway. Wnt is involved in key developmental and growth regulatory mechanisms of cells.
posted on January 16, 2006 05:23:48 AM new "Ah, yes, nothing quite as eye-opening as having to re-affirm your desire to live. Several times a day."
Most are fortunate in being encouraged and inspired to make that affirmation to live in good health by friends, family and children. For some, life is good, parklane64.
posted on January 16, 2006 05:59:45 AM new
I don't have the problems that are associated with long term uncontrolled diabetes such as high cholesterol and neuropathy. But, I am concerned about the number of poor people who do. Diabetes is a very expensive disease to maintain and keep under control. More than 45 million Americans have no health insurance and cannot afford the very expensive testing supplies, healthy food and medical advice that are vital in keeping diabetes under control.
A single payer Universal Healthcare system should be top priority in the U.S. We should end pharmaceutical profiteering and eliminate the huge administrative costs of the insurance industry...A 2005 Lewin Group study estimates that such a system could save $ 344 billion over the next decade in California alone.
Health care and education should be affordable for everyone.
posted on January 16, 2006 12:42:15 PM newWe should end pharmaceutical profiteering and eliminate the huge administrative costs of the insurance industry
I doubt we will ever see that happen. It is costly to have any illiness even with coverage.
"It is for those who have a job and is willing to work."
Actually, good health care is less available and affordable for the working poor. It's this group whose members do not qualify for help and as a result must go without health care while working in low paying dead end jobs...low paying jobs that we have made essential to our economy.
A good book about this problem is The Working Poor, by David K. Shipler.
posted on January 16, 2006 02:28:36 PM new
"I read a fairly new study that indicates a correlation between diabetes and high cholesterol. "
Diabetes leads to problems with cholesteral and blood pressure.
The first thing the Dr. did when he diagnosed me was put me on Cholesterol and Blood Pressure prescriptions, cuase they were both bad. The last time I went to see him, he said my cholesterol numbers were better than his own.
But yes, these problems definitely run in packs.
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
[ edited by dblfugger9 on Jan 14, 2006 10:28 AM ]