Image: Shutterstock/ Montri Thipsorn
Diabetes mellitus is a condition that’s become incredibly common throughout much of the developed world. As many countries struggle with the probably of sky-high obesity rates, the rates of diabetes mellitus have increased as well. That’s because the two conditions are closely linked.
In fact, it’s become so common that the statistics suggest that just about everyone in these countries knows someone who has suffered from diabetes. But in spite of that, many people don’t really know that much about the condition. So what exactly is diabetes mellitus? How is it treated? And what can you do to prevent it?
What is Diabetes Mellitus?
Diabetes mellitus is probably better known by the name type 2 diabetes. But diabetes mellitus is the medical term derived from the Greek word “diabetes” meaning “siphon” and the Latin word “mellitus” which means “sweet.” The “sweet” part comes from the fact that diabetes causes excess sugar in the urine, making it sweeter, which is how people in ancient times used to diagnosis the condition.
Essentially, diabetes mellitus is caused by the body becoming resistant to insulin. Everything you eat is eventually broken down into different nutrients. One of the most important of these nutrients is glucose, which your cells use for energy. But to transition from glucose to energy, your body uses insulin. In people who suffer from diabetes, their body is unable to use the insulin it produces, which leads to a dangerous build-up of glucose in the blood.
This excess glucose can lead to the symptoms of diabetes like nerve pain and kidney damage. In serious cases, diabetes can lead to renal failure, coma, or even death. In addition, people with diabetes are at a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases like strokes or heart attacks.
How is it Treated?
Diabetes is usually treated by managing your blood sugar so that glucose doesn’t build up to unsafe levels in your blood stream. And that means frequently monitoring your blood sugar with a meter that pricks your finger and measures the glucose in your blood. In addition, people with diabetes need to watch what they eat carefully so that they don’t eat too many sugary foods, which can lead to a spike in glucose.
And because diabetes mellitus is caused by a lack of insulin, people with diabetes frequently need to self-administer injections of artificial insulin to make up for the lack of natural insulin. There are a number of different kinds of injectable insulin that work at different rates, allowing people with diabetes to adjust the amount of insulin they take based on their diet and their blood sugar.
And finally, people with diabetes can even use a programmable insulin pump that regularly releases insulin into their blood stream.
But by far, the best way to manage diabetes is with diet and exercise. In many cases, people with diabetes mellitus are able to reverse their disease and send it into remission by losing enough weight. Usually, this requires an extremely low-calorie diet which effectively starves the body of the glucose it needs, forcing your body to begin producing insulin again.
How can you Prevent it?
Though, as with all diseases, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And the best way to prevent diabetes is to maintain a healthy weight. The vast majority of diabetes mellitus cases are a direct result of obesity. 90% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.
And when you consider that fact, you see how important a role your weight plays in your risk of developing the condition. Maintain a healthy diet low in carbohydrates, saturated fats, and dietary sugars. And make sure that you exercise regularly.
But you don’t have to run marathons to stay healthy. Study after study has shown that even just 3o minutes of regular exercise, like a walk or a bicycle ride, significantly lower your odds of becoming overweight. And in a world where many people’s jobs require long periods of sitting, making sure to stand up regularly throughout the day and move around a little bit is a must when it comes to maintaining good health.
And not only will regular exercise lower your risk of diabetes, it also helps you keep your heart healthy and helps you avoid a wide range of dangerous medical conditions like strokes. But even if you’re already overweight, it’s not too late. Following these basic steps will help you lose weight and get back to a healthy body mass index.
But let us know, do you have diabetes mellitus? What’s it like? How do you manage it? Tell us in the comments.
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