Have we been under the spell of Corona in the last six months, there are even more diseases that are increasingly prominent. Such as type 2 diabetes, which is also increasingly common in young people. In the Netherlands alone, more than 1.1 million people now suffer from this disease, which used to be nicknamed old-age sugar. Time to put the ins and outs in a row.
Diabetes has several forms that, besides having to do with the processing of sugar in your blood, are very different from each other. With type 1 diabetes, your body no longer produces insulin. As a result, you have to administer insulin yourself in the form of syringes. This form of diabetes cannot be cured itself. It is different with Diabetes type 2 where your body has more and more difficulty processing sugar / glucose, so that too much sugar remains in your blood. Because your blood flows throughout your body, that high-sugar blood can do a lot of damage. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. The good news is that this form is always preceded by Prediabetes.
Cause and effect
Diabetes can have very serious consequences. For your kidneys, your eyes, but you can also get a diabetic foot, so you can even lose your leg. Intervention is therefore often necessary. If you ignore the signals, the result will be worse and the doctor will eventually prescribe medication. You can recognize the signals in the form of having to urinate more, for example. Your body wants to get rid of too much sugar and the only way is through urine. This will cause your body to stimulate the kidneys to pass more fluid. You can notice that you are more thirsty and perhaps more often with a dry mouth. If you notice these signals, intervene. Get your blood checked and make sure you walk more often after a meal. Losing weight is also a good option.
Medicines
If your doctor starts prescribing medication, living healthier is still one way to prevent further damage. In addition, it is good to also carefully examine the advantages and disadvantages of the medicine you receive. Metformin tablets are often a first step in medication. With a starting dose of 500 mg, there is a fairly mild effect, so the chance of a hypo is quite low. Metformin can work in six different ways. It can decrease glucose production in the liver, increase the insulin sensitivity of cells, increase the glucose utilization of cells or the glycogen synthesis in cells, inhibit glucose absorption or increase the activity of the glucose transporters in membranes.
Unfortunately, you can also deal with the side effects of Metformin such as, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, headache, dizziness, fatigue, taste disturbances, vitamin b12 deficiency as well as lactic acidosis (a fatal side effect of metformin).
What you can do yourself
Rather than all of this, you probably want one disease-free life. And then you can because you can influence diabetes 2 yourself. If you eat more healthy carbohydrates and leave bad carbohydrates, you can even get the blood value back to normal with this. You can recognize good carbohydrates because they contain more fiber that you have to chew on longer. Carrots are an example of this. Bad carbohydrates contain less or no fiber but a lot of sugars. You recognize these because they (can) melt in your mouth, such as custard or cookies.
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