I live in Nigeria and I make a living as a medical doctor.
This means that i get to see sick people a lot. Not a beautiful thing, but its something i am proud of anywhere.
recently, the number of people who come to the hospital with elevated blood sugar has been on the rise.
Well, most times, these patients are asymptomatic, meaning that they don't have any symptoms, and usually, that puts their minds at rest. But, the bad news is that, in Nigeria, most people are fixated on making ends meet that they forget to go for checks and hospital appointments.
What this translates to is more people coming to the hospital as emergency cases.
I am currently part of the management of one of such patients whose blood sugar was insanely high at presentation to the hospital.
Let me give you a brief expose on the subject of diabetes.
When the word diabetes is mentioned, the first thing people think of is elevated blood sugar, which is called hyperglycaemia...
hyper- elevated, high
glyco- from glycogen, meaning sugar
aemia- blood
But elevated blood sugar is only a consequence of an organic problem.
Here's how the WHO defines diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
The definition postulates 2 scenarios.
What is insulin?
In simple terms, Insulin is the hormone(read as chemical) that helps you regulate the amount of sugar in your blood...meaning that it helps your body cells make use of the sugar that enters your blood.
When insulin is deficient, your cells cannot use the sugar in your blood, so the amount of sugar in the blood increases, while your body cells starve.
Diabetes is usually described with the analogy of the one who dies of thirst in the middle of the sea.
Without insulin, your body cells would be bathed in blood rich in sugar, but cannot use any of it for energy.
This explains why people with diabetes feel this unexplainable fatigue.
But how does Insulin get to be deficient?
well, there is one organ of the body that is rarely talked about...
The Pancreas
There are some kind of special cells inside this organ that produce insulin. They are called Beta cells. They are the major source of insulin for the whole body...
In the special case where these cells are destroyed or begin to malfunction, your body's supply of insulin begins to get depleted.
You must be asking... what can destroy these cells and make them malfunction?
Some people have a genetic predisposition to develop antibodies against the beta cells of the pancreas.
Whoa! That's a lot of big words...
Here is what it means... it means that for some people, they have it in their genes for their body to suddenly develop enmity against these beta cells and destroy them...
i can't go into the whole detail now.
But if you remember the WHO definition, there are 2 categories.
I just described the first category...which is type 1 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a little different. In this one, the beta cells are fine and produce insulin. But the problem is that the cells are not responding to the action of insulin.
This is the kind of diabetes that results from obesity and hyperlipidemia( read as too much fat in the blood).
Obesity and hyperlipidemia(read as "too much fat in the blood") are 2 major factors that make the body cells dull and unresponsive to insulin, therefore, the glucose remains in the blood instead of going inside the cells... leading to hyperglycemia (you remember what that is right?)
What Can Be Done
The good thing is that with a glucometer( a device used to measure blood glucose), it is easy to detect any elevation in blood sugar.
The earlier it is detected and treatment begins, the better.
Avoiding obesity by exercising and eating healthy is a very potent way of avoiding or delaying the onset of diabetes, especially type 2.
What Happens Without Treatment?
Well, the plenty of sugar in the blood can cause a variety of problems if it is not controlled.
Prolonged hyperglycemia can damage your blood vessels and nerves.
It can cause damage to the eye making it difficult to see.
it can cause kidney disease
it can cause heart disease.
In summary, it can affect any and every part of the body.
Today's world Cancer day... I thought of writing about cancer, but it's too wide a topic, and i lost all inspiration to write about it.
Maybe I will write about it another time
Thank you for reading.
References
WHO
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Medscape
