Please let me know how can I know if I am diabetes patient without going to the doctor. What are the symptoms?
Most of the Indians suffer from Type 2 diabetes (almost 95% of all the diabetics in india have type 2 diabetes). So I will always be discussing about type-2 diabetes here, unless type1 is specifically mentioned.
By the time you start getting symptoms, the duration of diabetes is usually 5 to 10 yrs. So if you are diagnosed after getting symptoms, there are chances that you have diabetes from 5-10 years prior!
Symptoms could be vague. They could be very subjective depending on what organ in the body is involved.
Increased frequency and amount of urinationIncreased thirst
Increased appetite
Infections like recurrent boils, urinary tract infections, chest infections
Tingling, pin-prick sensations, burning sensation over the legs (Neuropathy)
Foot- Corn, callus, cellulitis, infection, gangrene - could require amputation in late stages
Sexual Dysfunction
If diagnosed in very late stage, diabetes could present as:-
Heart attack
Paralysis(stroke)
Kidney failure which might require twice a week dialysis
Loss of eyesight - retinopathy
Very large babies are born to diabetic mothers if their sugars are not under control during pregnancy
These are just to name a few. Diabetes can complicate and exaggerate any disease present earlier.
How can I know if I am diabetes patient without going to a doctor?
You must visit a doctor ideally. There is no substitute to this for various reasons.
Ideal candidates who should get themselves checked for diabetes:
- Ones having either mother, father, brother, sister a known diabetic
- Overweight person
- Excess use of oils in cooking
- If your job involves you sitting for many hours during the day time - sedentary lifestyle, complete lack of exercise
- Pregnant woman (every pregnant woman)
Ideal test for such candidates would be
- Fasting venous plasma glucose level
- Post meal (lunch) venous plasma glucose level
- HbA1c test (reflects your bllod sugars over last 3 months)
If the above sugar levels are normal but you still suspect that you could have diabetes in future, you might want to undergo:
- GTT - Glucose tolerance test - which can give a hint whether you could develop diabetes in the near future or not.
All the above should be done only under the guidance of your local doctor. Else, things are incomplete and worthless.
What are diets i should avoid even if i am not a diabetes patient? Is sugar harmful for a normal person?
Trust me. Every doctor and dietician in this world have his own personal opinion on this.
Implementing following things could be helpful:
- Avoid overeating - Our brains have been trained from childhood to eat in excess. Remember mom telling us "Kitne Patle ho..bilkul khana nahi khate..aur jyada khao..."?
Well...it starts from that time! If you have a tummy, you are overweight. Period! You must train your brain to eat less than what you eat.
- Oils - Half Kg oil per person per month. So for a family of 5 members - its 2.5kg of oil per month. It could sound unrealistic but thats what is ideal. If you are consuming more, its getting deposited in your heart blood vessel, blocking them day by day!
- You can cut down carbohydrates (Rice, chapati), and replace them with proteins (dals, sabji, salads, sprouts etc). For those who eat nonveg, fish is supposed to be good. One must avoid red meat (mutton). Chicken occasionally is permissible. Egg white is good.
- One fruit per day is alright (even for a diabetic)
- Its a good habbit to have tea/coffee with less sugar. One or half spoon per cup. Even a diabetic can have half spoon per cup provided his blood sugars are adequately controlled with medications and he is not having excess calorie intake.
- Make it a habbit not to take extra salt on table. Have only what you have already put in the food itself.
- Most important is EXERCISE. Never use a lift. If you go to office and have no time to jog, run, walk- get down from bus one stop earlier. Then walk the way to home. The walk should be brisk. Exercise mobilizes the tummy fat which is known to cause adverse effect on heart. Exercise also decreases insulin resistance so that normal body insulin is used properly and blood sugar is kept in control. I so much wish I should be able to express the importance of daily exercise in words more effectively!
More questions are welcome. I will try my best.
Most of the Indians suffer from Type 2 diabetes (almost 95% of all the diabetics in india have type 2 diabetes). So I will always be discussing about type-2 diabetes here, unless type1 is specifically mentioned.
By the time you start getting symptoms, the duration of diabetes is usually 5 to 10 yrs. So if you are diagnosed after getting symptoms, there are chances that you have diabetes from 5-10 years prior!
Symptoms could be vague. They could be very subjective depending on what organ in the body is involved.
Increased frequency and amount of urinationIncreased thirst
Increased appetite
Infections like recurrent boils, urinary tract infections, chest infections
Tingling, pin-prick sensations, burning sensation over the legs (Neuropathy)
Foot- Corn, callus, cellulitis, infection, gangrene - could require amputation in late stages
Sexual Dysfunction
If diagnosed in very late stage, diabetes could present as:-
Heart attack
Paralysis(stroke)
Kidney failure which might require twice a week dialysis
Loss of eyesight - retinopathy
Very large babies are born to diabetic mothers if their sugars are not under control during pregnancy
These are just to name a few. Diabetes can complicate and exaggerate any disease present earlier.
How can I know if I am diabetes patient without going to a doctor?
You must visit a doctor ideally. There is no substitute to this for various reasons.
Ideal candidates who should get themselves checked for diabetes:
- Ones having either mother, father, brother, sister a known diabetic
- Overweight person
- Excess use of oils in cooking
- If your job involves you sitting for many hours during the day time - sedentary lifestyle, complete lack of exercise
- Pregnant woman (every pregnant woman)
Ideal test for such candidates would be
- Fasting venous plasma glucose level
- Post meal (lunch) venous plasma glucose level
- HbA1c test (reflects your bllod sugars over last 3 months)
If the above sugar levels are normal but you still suspect that you could have diabetes in future, you might want to undergo:
- GTT - Glucose tolerance test - which can give a hint whether you could develop diabetes in the near future or not.
All the above should be done only under the guidance of your local doctor. Else, things are incomplete and worthless.
What are diets i should avoid even if i am not a diabetes patient? Is sugar harmful for a normal person?
Trust me. Every doctor and dietician in this world have his own personal opinion on this.
Implementing following things could be helpful:
- Avoid overeating - Our brains have been trained from childhood to eat in excess. Remember mom telling us "Kitne Patle ho..bilkul khana nahi khate..aur jyada khao..."?
Well...it starts from that time! If you have a tummy, you are overweight. Period! You must train your brain to eat less than what you eat.
- Oils - Half Kg oil per person per month. So for a family of 5 members - its 2.5kg of oil per month. It could sound unrealistic but thats what is ideal. If you are consuming more, its getting deposited in your heart blood vessel, blocking them day by day!
- You can cut down carbohydrates (Rice, chapati), and replace them with proteins (dals, sabji, salads, sprouts etc). For those who eat nonveg, fish is supposed to be good. One must avoid red meat (mutton). Chicken occasionally is permissible. Egg white is good.
- One fruit per day is alright (even for a diabetic)
- Its a good habbit to have tea/coffee with less sugar. One or half spoon per cup. Even a diabetic can have half spoon per cup provided his blood sugars are adequately controlled with medications and he is not having excess calorie intake.
- Make it a habbit not to take extra salt on table. Have only what you have already put in the food itself.
- Most important is EXERCISE. Never use a lift. If you go to office and have no time to jog, run, walk- get down from bus one stop earlier. Then walk the way to home. The walk should be brisk. Exercise mobilizes the tummy fat which is known to cause adverse effect on heart. Exercise also decreases insulin resistance so that normal body insulin is used properly and blood sugar is kept in control. I so much wish I should be able to express the importance of daily exercise in words more effectively!
More questions are welcome. I will try my best.
I really liked the FAQ's. Very informative. I was trying to find a link to the chart that shows calorie content for Indian food. The link you provided was really useful. Most links I found targeted calorie for western food.
ReplyDeleteUsually, doctors say eat less oil but do not specify how much is more or how much is less. Quantifying the intake of oil in your FAQ will make people understand better.
Keep posting more! Great job...