Tag: insulin

Pregnancy and diabetes

admin
Final weeks of pregnancy

Image by storyvillegirl via Flickr – Symbolic photo

How To Have A Healthy Pregnancy When You’re Diabetic

A very common problem for pregnant diabetic women is ensuring the health of their unborn baby. It is a danger when your baby is born with a large body and this condition is referred to as ‘macrosomia’. It occurs when the blood of the mother intermingles with the baby’s blood inside the womb. When this happens the baby produces lots of insulin in order to process the glucose in the blood, leading to fatty deposits. This is what makes the baby larger in size than those produced by non-diabetic mothers.

Steps You Can Take To Protect Your Baby

It is important that you maintain a healthy weight during pregnancy. Of course you are going to put on weight, but you must do it properly and not pile on too much as it will do you and your baby harm. You should not neglect your nutrition either at this time and must make concerted efforts to ingest more vitamins than you normally would for your baby to get the benefits. Take a multi vitamin as well as folic acid. Eating a varied diet from lots of the different food groups will make you feel much better and maintain your health throughout your pregnancy. Don’t neglect the amount of fluid you take either; dehydration is not good for you and your baby. Try to limit the amount of fatty food that you eat too, it is tempting to pig out on comfort food and it should be part of your diet; just try to keep it under control.

Tips For Pregnant Women With Diabetes

1. When diabetic women are pregnant it is more important than ever that they pay attention to their diet and their eating patterns. Monitoring your blood glucose levels is essential during pregnancy to ensure that both mother and baby are getting all of the key nutrients that they need. Do not blindly come up with your own eating plan however; seek the help of a professional dietician or diabetes expert, as they will know what they are doing. Pay special attention to the amount of calories, carbohydrates and protein that you are getting as these are all instrumental in maintaining blood glucose levels.

2. Please make sure that you continue to monitor your blood glucose levels closely. With pregnancy your levels could be a bit more sporadic, so you have to take extra care of yourself. Take your glucose levels more frequently than before. Ideally your SMBG should be taken from 4 to 10 times each day.

3. Now that you are monitoring your blood glucose levels more regularly, you will need to know how to adjust your insulin injections according to the results. Too much insulin could be very dangerous for you, so make sure that you talk every scenario over with a professional or have someone on hand for advice. An adequate supply of insulin is obligatory for pregnant women, so it is important that each woman knows how to inject it correctly by herself. Your babyŐs supply of insulin has to be stable so do your research and get all of the info necessary at the start of your pregnancy.

4. If you are a pregnant diabetic you are more prone to hypoglycemia because of the hormonal changes in your body. Therefore you will also need to know how to treat this condition. Although studies have shown that it does not have a damaging impact on the fetus, it is best to deal with the problem as soon as you can. This will lessen problems for the mother during her pregnancy.

5. Exercise should not be abandoned when you become pregnant, as it is very beneficial for you and your baby. It will also help you with the birth and make you more able to cope with the after effects of labor. Exercise also reduces the risk of hypoglycemia and becoming overweight for diabetic women. Of course you will not be undertaking jogging or high impact workouts, you have to think of your safety. There is nothing better than a swim, walk or yoga for you and the baby as it improves circulation and your general mood too.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Causes of diabetes

admin
Fig. 2 The pancreas. 1. pancreatic head. 4. pa...

Fig. 2 The pancreas. 1. pancreatic head. 4. pancreatic body. 11. pancreatic tail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are a number of causes of diabetes that many people are aware of because of the increase in the media advertising about the disease. However, not all diabetes are as obvious and sometimes getting a formal diagnosis make take years. As such, some causes may not be as obvious or well known as some people may realize, but there are also many misconceptions about the causes as well.

Usually diabetes happens when your pancreas fails to produce sufficient insulin or the insulin that your body has produced does not work as it should, which causes your body’s glucose levels to get too high. However, this varies depending on the type of diabetes. In type one, the destruction of pancreas cells prevents you from producing insulin, which may result possibly from an autoimmune response, a bacterial or viral infection, consumption of chemical toxin contaminated foods, and/or exposure to milk from cows at too young an age. In type two, your pancreas produces the insulin, but your body cells do not respond to it, meaning that you develop an insulin resistance, which may be due to a lack of exercise, obesity, aging, particular medicines, diseases or illnesses that damage or affect your pancreas or pregnancy.

Contrary to popular opinion and rumours, the causes of diabetes cannot be caused by eating bad food, wrong foods or even sweet foods. Though eating those might cause you to become obese, which in regards to the strain on your body due to the weight gain can lead potentially to diabetes, food alone is not the cause. Additionally, stress is not a cause because it has no direct effect on the pancreas or the reaction of the body towards insulin. However, stress can trigger of an immunity reaction whereby the body attacks itself, which can thus lead potentially to diabetes. Most importantly, you cannot catch diabetes as it is not contagious and there is no existing evidence to show that it is hereditary.

The causes of diabetes are very well known. Though many myths exist about its triggers, the reality is that diabetes is mainly caused by the pancreas malfunctioning, the insulin not being effective, excessive weight gain and potentially other illnesses or diseases. However, there are many on-going studies that may yet reveal more information that will help scientists identify which people will get diabetes and why they specifically will get it when others do not. Sometimes, people develop diabetes for completely unknown reasons.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Diabetes

admin
English: Diagram shows insulin release from th...

English: Diagram shows insulin release from the Pancreas and how this lowers blood sugar leves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Through the understanding of the fundamentals of the human digestive system, we can begin to explore the causes and the symptoms that characterize the chronic disease known as diabetes. This is a permanent problem that affects as much as 20 million Americans a year and the efforts to fight back and eliminate this problem are ongoing.

After an ingested meal, the proteins, calories and fats are reduced to a type of sugar, the so called glucose, which provides the nutrition and energy required by the body. It then enters into the bloodstream where it is then distributed throughout the body. This movement is achieved through the aid of a very important organ, called the pancreas. The pancreas produces the insulin needed to transport the glucose to the various components of the human physiology where it is converted to fuel and utilized in muscle, the liver and the cells. To summarize the purpose of this insulin created by the pancreas: it is a hormone that helps to regulate the sugar contained in the blood.

Diabetes is typified by the presence of higher than normal levels of sugar in the blood at any one time. The root causes of diabetic symptoms is the inability of liver cells, of fat and/or muscle to interact well with the insulin produced by the pancreas or the failure of the pancreas to produce enough of the insulin required to ensure adequacy of the digestive system. In some cases, both of these elements of diabetes are present.

Know your enemy. There are varying forms of major diabetes and they are, Type 1 & 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes. Now Type 1 is a diabetes form that is mostly found in children in which the production of insulin is either minimal or not present at all and the necessity of injections on a daily basis is required. Although a lot of people older than the ages of twenty are found to have this disease. Although autoimmune issues, viruses and genetics may have some relevance in the evolution of diabetes in the individual, the actual cause is not yet known.

Type 2 diabetes is a form that is one that is found in the majority of diagnoses, and while it is commonly identified in adults, is known to affect younger people as well. This is primarily owing to the failure of the body to relate positively with the insulin made but as well it can be caused by poor exercise and diet.

Gestational diabetes, finally, occurs at random times for non diabetic women who are at different stages in pregnancy and the effects of this particular form of diabetes can have longer lasting effects such as cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes at a later date in their lives.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta