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Hello! I’m Dr. Demo. I'm delighted to be here today! I’ve been tasked to answer all your questions related to diabetes. I have a PhD in diabetes graduating from the Diabetic School of Phoenix.
I look forward to answering all your questions today!
Both types of diabetes are chronic diseases that affect the way your body regulates blood sugar, or glucose.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, which means it results from the immune system mistakenly attacking parts of the body. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the immune system incorrectly targets insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.
Type 2 diabetes is different. The autoimmune systems of people with type 2 diabetes don’t attack beta cells. Instead, type 2 diabetes is characterised by the body losing its ability to respond to insulin. This is known as insulin resistance. People with type 2 diabetes don’t respond to insulin as well as they should and later in the disease often don’t make enough insulin.
Both types of diabetes can lead to chronically high blood sugar levels. That increases the risk of diabetes complications.
Hello Dr. Demo! My husband was recently diagnosed with Diabetes. As we're quite old I'm a very worried about him. Can there be any complications of having Diabetes?
Hello Junklebook! Thank you for asking this question. I can understand how worried you must be. Any complications caused by diabetes usually develop in later on.
Long-term complications of diabetes develop gradually. The longer you have diabetes — and the less controlled your blood sugar — the higher the risk of complications. Possible complications include:
Hello Dr. Demo. I'm quite worried as I think I may have some of the symptoms listed above. If I would like to get this checked out, can you please tell me what is the diagnostic process of Diabetes?
Diagnosis of Diabetes is very simple. It normally only involves a blood test.
HbA1c Blood test has become the most common method of diagnosing diabetes, as recommended by WHO. This test measures recent average blood glucose level.
Hello! I've been recently diagnosed with diabetes and I've been seeing alot of different information on what my diet should be like. So I was just wondering how should my diet change now that I have diabetes and is there any specific foods I should eat?
Hello Dr. Demo. At the moment I am pre-diabetic and my doctor has recommended I mainly focus on my diet to try and reverse it. I was wondering if I am unable to reverse it, what type of treatments are available for those who are diabetic?
The major goal in treating type 1 and type 2 diabetes is to control blood sugar (glucose) levels within the normal range, with minimal excursions to low or high levels.
Type 1 diabetes is treated with:
- insulin,
- exercise
- type 1 diabetes diet
Type 2 diabetes is treated with:
- weight reduction
- type 2 diabetes diet
- exercise
Diabetes medications (oral or injected) are prescribed when these measures fail to control the elevated blood sugars of type 2 diabetes. If other medications become ineffective treatment with insulin may be initiated.
The medications for type 2 diabetes fall into specific classes based upon the way they work to achieve control of blood sugar. These drug classes include:
- Metformin
- Sulfonylureas
- Meglitinides
- Thiazolidinediones
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors
- SGLT2 inhibitors
- DPP-4 inhibitors
- GLP-1 receptor agonists
- Pramlintide (Symlin)
Combination pills:
- Glyburide/metformin (Glucovance),
- Rosiglitazone/metformin (Avandamet)
- Glipizide/metformin(Metaglip)
- Pioglitazone/metformin (Actoplusmet)
- Metformin/sitagliptin (Janumet)
There are many, many more combination pills available.
Type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer have some similar risk factors. Being overweight increases the risk of developing diabetes and cancers of the gullet, bowel, breast, womb and kidney. Both Type 2 diabetes and cancer are more common in people as they get older.
Type 1 diabetes can lead to an increased risk of developing cancer of the cervix and cancer of the stomach.
Research has also found that diabetes doubles the risk of liver, pancreas, and endometrial cancer. It increases the risk of colorectal, breast, and bladder cancer by 20% to 50%. But it cuts men's risk of prostate cancer.
Hello Dr. Demo. I'm afraid my medication is beginning to be less and less effective. I was wondering what are the latest drugs being used for diabetes and if they are developing any more in the future?
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