Type II diabetes?

To my great disappointment and sadness, my husband has been diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Can anyone tell me the difference between type I and type II diabetes?

Dear Lahari,

First of all you don't need to panic as your husband has type II diabetes. I understand initially, you will be disappointed. But believe me, a strict diet along with exercise and medicines can keep the diabetes under control. He should not only cut on excess sugar intake, but also control taking lots of carbohydrates and fats. Include a lot of whole grains like brown rice, wheat, vegetables and fruits in his diet. Ragi (nachni) is also very good for diabetes and helps to control sugar levels. I am also having borderline diabetes for the past 4 years and was diagnosed at a very young age. But now I have learnt to live with it. I am taking Hyponidd by Charak pharmaceuticals an Ayurvedic medcine and I am getting good results with it. You can ask the doctor about it if you want.

Diabetes mellitus is of two types:

1. Type 1 is a severe, chronic form of diabetes caused by insufficient production of insulin and resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. The disease, which typically appears in childhood or adolescence, is characterized by increased sugar levels in the blood and urine, excessive thirst, frequent urination, acidosis, and wasting. Also called insulin-dependent diabetes, type 1 diabetes.
2. A mild form of diabetes that typically appears first in adulthood and is exacerbated by obesity and an inactive lifestyle. This disease often has no symptoms, is usually diagnosed by tests that indicate glucose intolerance, and is treated with changes in diet and an exercise regimen. Also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, type 2 diabetes.

In type 2 diabetes, patients can still produce insulin, but do so relatively inadequately. In many cases this actually means the pancreas produces larger than normal quantities of insulin. A major feature of type 2 diabetes is a lack of sensitivity to insulin by the cells of the body (particularly fat and muscle cells) these larger quantities of insulin are produced as an attempt to get these cells to recognize that insulin is present. In addition to the problems with an increase in insulin resistance, the release of insulin by the pancreas may also be defective, and occur late in response to increased glucose levels. Finally, the liver in these patients continues to produce glucose despite elevated glucose levels.

In other words, insulin acts like a key to send glucose to the cells and in type 2 diabetes the cells won't open their gates to glucose and the excess glucose will be in the blood stream, which causes problems if untreated.

Hope this helps you.

Regards
Jaya

Thank you Jaya for your kind words and confidence. The information that you provided was very useful.

After knowing that he has diabetes, we are reading a lot about diabetes. As I know more about this disease, I find that we could prevented (atleast delayed) him from getting diabetes if we were cautious early.

His father had diabetes, he is over weight and has a in-active life style. All of this indicates that he had a high risk of getting diabetes. If I had known this earlier, I would have pushed him to exercise atleast moderately and altered his diet accordingly. I am saying this here so that other women can be a little more cautious than I was.

You're welcome :)

Dear Lahari,

I came across a website called www.diabetopaedia.com. I thought of sharing it with you as your husband has diabetes. It has many useful information. Hope it will be helpful to u.

Love
Jaya