What is Diabetes and How Does it Affect You?

Diabetes Mellitus means to 'flow honey" in Greek and is commonly referred to as diabetes, which means sweet urine. Diabetes is an ailment that affects the body's ability to produce insulin, which is the hormone that allows blood sugar or glucose to enter the cells of the body and be used for energy.

Diabetes results when the body is no longer able to produce enough insulin, which means that too much glucose stays in the blood. When the blood glucose levels are elevated, it leads to the spillage of glucose into the urine. The results of this are that it causes two main problems to appear. # 1 the body's cells become starved for energy and # 2 the high glucose levels causes damage to the eyes, heart, nerves, kidneys and blood vessels.

Diabetes is not passed through infections like a cold or flu, which simply means that you cannot catch it from someone else nor can anyone catch it from you. Once diabetes is diagnosed it is a lifelong disease.

Many men have noticed that before they were even diagnosed with diabetes that they experienced a period of prolonged erectile dysfunction therefore it is highly recommended that men with inexplicable erectile dysfunction be screened for diabetes with a fasting blood glucose test.

How can I tell if I have high Blood Sugar?

Normal blood sugar should fall somewhere along the range of 65 -140. High blood sugar ranges between 250-350 and very high blood sugar will range over 350. As a side note the body will begin a process to increase blood sugar when blood sugar falls too low. The usual steps that it takes are listed below.

Step 1: The pancreas will release a hormone called glucagons, which is a hormone secreted by the pancreas which stimulates an increase in blood sugar levels in the blood.

Step 2:The muscles and liver will begin to convert their stored glycogen back into glucose and when the stored glycogen is used up, the kidneys, liver, and small intestines will begin to break down protein into glucose.

As of today the Cure for Diabetes has not been found yet which means that since it cannot be cured it has to be controlled. Some ways to control it are maintaining blood glucose levels, controlling blood fat levels and weight, exercising, and eating at regular intervals

Some common treatments for diabetes being used today are oral medicines such as pills, insulin and islet Cell Transplantation, dietary changes and proper exercise. However please take note of the fact that most oral medicines may have negative side effects including but not limited to nausea, metallic taste in mouth, diarrhea, low blood glucose, skin rash or itching, and weight gain. In some rare cases oral medicines have been known to cause Liver failure, headaches, respiratory infections and intense feelings of Pain.

If you have any of the above symptoms and suspect that you may have diabetes,, please consult with your Doctor to have yourself tested because "An Ounce of prevention is worth a Pound of Cure."