Hello everyone

[Guest guest]

Hi, everyone, my name is Mannino, and I am interested in learning more

about Diabetes, I am in a class right now at school that requires me to write

a ten page paper on a a topic of my choice. I choose to do my research on

Diabetes. I chose to do so not because I have the disease, because I don't

yet. But because my mother has had it since I was born. She got the

Gestational form of Diabetes when she was pregnant with me, and it then

followed into type II Diabetes. I am interested in what types of treatment

have worked and not worked for people, and the effects of the disease to

different types of people. Please if this is not the list that I should be

asking for help, let me know and try to point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

M. Mannino

[Guest guest]

Mannino wrote:

<< I am in a class right now at school that requires me to write a ten page

paper on a a topic of my choice. I choose to do my research on Diabetes. >>

This is as good of a group as any on the internet, ! You have probably

learned much already about diabetes from your mother. I'm sure she'll

appreciate your interest in something that is a major aspect of her daily

life, and who knows? Maybe you'll learn things in this group that you can

share with her to help her disease management. Despite diabetes being such a

widespread illness, we diabetics feel that not nearly enough research has

been done on it. Type 2, which your mother has, runs in families, whereas

type 1 does not (although many type 1's have type 2's in their families). At

least 90 percent of diabetics are type 2. Don't feel that giving birth to

you " caused " your mother's diabetes. I'm of the opinion that type 2 is a

lifelong process, and all it takes to make it severe enough that the person

is finally diagnosed is some trigger, which could be pregnancy, major

illness or surgery, stress, etc. A good 85 percent of type 2's are obese,

and many think that, in essence, obesity leads to diabetes. I believe that

diabetes leads to obesity. Type 2's collect belly fat, called

intra-abdominal fat - meaning that the fat collects among the internal

organs, rather than being just surface fat. Normally, body fat is this inert

mass that we drag around on our frames that just makes our hearts work

harder. But that intra-abdominal fat is actually metabolically active. It's

" dangerous fat. "

Insulin is a growth hormone. Once we're all " grown up, " high circulating

insulin levels tend to cause us to " grow out, " so it's difficult for us to

lose weight. And yet obesity is strongly associated with insulin resistance.

In a healthy system, the foods that people eat (primarily carbohydrates) are

converted to glucose, which the body uses for energy, but in type 2's, it is

as if the door to each cell is locked. The body breaks down the carbohydrate

s we eat (long-chain sugar molecules) into their separate chain links (sugar

molecules), but then the sugar (glucose) can't get into the cells. So that

glucose circulates in our bloodstream, and if the levels get high enough, it

spills over into our urine. It can become dangerously high and cause

diabetic ketoacidosis. And meanwhile, we're not deriving enough energy from

the foods we eat (because of insulin resistance). The insulin our own bodies

manufacture in the beta cells of our pancreas (islets of Langerhans) works

initially to bring our glucose levels down, but over time - especially with

the high carbohydrate intake typical of our modern diet, something happens.

It's probably our beta cells pooping out, but there could be other factors,

such as the insulin receptors dying off.

Another theory I have is that type 2 is an autoimmune process, like type 1,

and that we gradually become immune to the insulin our own bodies produce.

Whatever the process, our glucose levels climb and climb, and they spike

more and more when we eat carbohydrates. In general, the first organs

affected by the chronic high insulin and high glucose levels are the

kidneys, the eyes, the heart/circulatory system, and the feet. Our

feet/lower extremities can suffer both nerve damage and lack of circulation.

Both conditions are called " peripheral neuropathy. " The conditions

associated with diabetes are numerous; the answer in nearly every case is to

normalize our glucose readings.

Many doctors and dieticians urge newly-diagnosed type 2's to eat a

low-calorie, low-fat diet. I urge them to eat a low-carbohydrate diet (since

carbohydrates are what spike our glucose readings, and diabetes is such a

powerful disease that it causes most of our other health problems). Diet is

the primary treatment method for type 2, followed by weight loss (to improve

insulin resistance) and regular exercise. Pills and/or insulin are advised

only when the primary treatment methods fail.

Metformin (glucophage) is a pill widely used, but many new drugs have

cropped up in the past few years. Drugs in the sulfonylurea class were all

that was available to us for many years, but I urge diabetics not to take

them because they greatly increase risk of heart attack, they cause weight

gain, and they can cause fatal hypos. (In general, only those type 2's on

injected insulin or on sulfonylureas are at risk of dying from a hypo.)

Another problem with sulfonylureas is that, on average, those who take them

lose pancreas function within six years. That is because sulfonylureas work

by overdriving the pancreas to produce yet more and more insulin, whereas

the primary problem for type 2's isn't lack of insulin, but an inability to

use what we make. We in fact generally have an overabundance of circulating

insulin - it's just that we can't use it because of insulin resistance.

Susie