Diabetes and Heart Disease Linked
By Garey Simmons
Posted July 29, 2009
Garey Simmons writes about heart health from personal experience. Diagnosed with high risk of heart disease, Garey studied for 2 years to acquire a different perspective on the natural means of reversing heart disease. Free E-Course “Four Golden Guides of Heart Health.” http://OptimalHealthRSQ.com
If you find yourself craving more carbs and more sugars and feeling tired and sluggish, it may be that your body is not converting the starches and sugars into energy. Your bodies cells may be starving.
Diabetes and heart disease go hand-in-hand. Diabetic persons are at much greater risk to having heart attacks, high blood pressure, and strokes. People who have diabetes have often much higher blood sugar level that can cause damage to many parts of the body including the blood vessels.
Vascular problems due to diabetes may also include poor circulation to the legs and feet, unfortunately these problems can go undetected and can start early in life.
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends early diagnosis, treatment and management of risk factors.
Risks of getting diabetes and heart disease can start before the age of thirty. Two most common types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2.
Type 1 diabetes also called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks the pancreas cells that produce insulin, resulting in low amount of insulin or no insulin at all.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use glucose for energy. When you eat food, the body breaks down all of the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel for the cells in the body. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause two problems:
* Right away, your cells may be starved for energy.
* Over time, high blood glucose levels may hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart.
Diabetes
and heart disease sufferers experience changes in the blood vessels where the linings of the blood vessels may become thicker making it more difficult for the flow of blood through the vessels. Blood vessels in other parts of the body can also be damaged due to diabetes that can lead to kidney problems, eye problems, and poor circulation to the legs and feet.
Heart disease rates in adults are two to four times higher than adults without diabetes. The risk of stroke is also two to four times higher for diabetic people. Seventy- three percent of diabetic adults also has high blood pressure and has heart attacks at an earlier age.
The most common symptoms of heart disease may include chest pain, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, and swollen ankles. However, every person may experience symptoms differently. These symptoms may also resemble other medical conditions and so it is always advisable to seek the help of a physician for diagnosis.
Heart disease may still occur to a person taking proper self-care. The physician will determine specific treatment of the heart disease according to age, medical history and overall health of the person. It will also be based on the extent of the disease and the tolerance for specific medications, procedure or therapies.
When risk factors for a person with diabetes are eliminated or reduced, the risk for heart disease may also be reduced. Taking care of ones health and controlling blood sugar can often slow down or avoid the onset of complications for diabetes and heart disease. The test you need to ask for is the hemoglobin A1C.
Many doctors recommend this test as it gives a look at blood factors over the last 90 days and is more comprehensive than taking the daily blood sugar reading.
Take the A1C test then start a herbal treatment containing chromium, cinnamon, banaba leaf,and guggal for example and retest after 90 days to see how much herbal supplements can change your life and your numbers!
Source: Garey Simmons
Preserving Eyesight for the Diabetic
Older treatment is More Effective than New Treatment in Preserving Sight for Some Patients with Diabetes
Brief Description:
A promising new drug therapy used to treat abnormal swelling in the eye proved less effective than traditional laser treatments in a National Eye Institute study.
Transcript:
Akinso: A promising new drug therapy used to treat abnormal swelling in the eye proved less effective than traditional laser treatments in a National Eye Institute study.
Chew: This study compared the standard treatment with laser, with a more experimental treatment which is the injection of steroids.
Akinso: Dr. Emily Chew is the Deputy Director of Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the NEI.
Chew: The steroid could cause an increase in pressure causing glaucoma, it can also increase the risk of cataract.
Akinso: The study compared the effectiveness between treatments on a condition known as diabetic macular edema. Diabetic macular edema occurs when the center part of the eye’s retina, called the macula, swells — possibly leading to blindness. Dr. Chew says between 40 and 45 percent of the 18 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes have vision problems such as diabetic macular edema.
Chew: Diabetic macular edema occur in patients with diabetes. The macular refers to the center part of the eye that gives you best vision. And the retina is perfectly flat when it’s in good health, but with diabetes the blood vessels leak out fluid and it makes the retina very swollen. So macular edema is one of the major causes of blurred vision in diabetics.
Akinso: Ophthalmologists traditionally use lasers to reduce the swelling in areas of the macula. However, recently, early reports of success in treating diabetic macular edema with injections of a corticosteroid called triamcinolone led to the rise in popularity of this alternative therapy. Dr. Chew talks about how the two treatment options compared.
Chew: The study showed that at one year the vision wasn’t actually different between the steroid people and the laser treated folks. At two years, people who had laser actually did better. So the standard treatment was actually better than the steroids treatment.
Akinso: Researchers found that, while not as effective as the laser treatment, corticosteroid treatment did provide some benefit. Dr. Chew says the findings raise the possibility that combining laser with the corticosteroids therapy might produce greater benefit. This is Wally Akinso at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Date: 8/08/2008
Reporter: Wally Akinso
Sound Bite: Dr. Emily Chew
Topic: Diabetes, Diabetic macular edema, vision, treatment
Institute(s):
NEI
Subcribe Here
