Many of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes resemble those of type 2 diabetes. In both cases there is too much glucose in blood and failure in your body cells.

The high glucose levels in type 1 diabetes are due to a lack of insulin because the cells that produce insulin are destroyed. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body becomes resistant to produced insulin. However, cells in your body are not getting the glucose they need, and your body will send some red flags.

Often roads to the bathroom

You go to the bathroom more often lately? You seem to urinate all day long? Urination becomes more frequent when there is more glucose in the blood.
If insulin is nonexistent or ineffective, the kidneys can not filter glucose back into the blood. They become overburdened and try to get more water to dilute the blood glucose. So you always have a full bladder and need to urinate frequently.

Permanent thirst

Drinking more water than usual, it may be a sign of diabetes, especially if associated with frequent urination.
If your body takes water to dilute the blood glucose and therefore you urinate more often, you will be dehydrated and feel the need to drink more water.

Losing weight without trying it

This symptom is more often seen in type 1 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas ceases to produce insulin, possibly due to a viral attack on pancreas cells or because an autoimmune response that makes the body attack the insulin producing cells.
The body needs an energy source that has no sugar. Consequently, it eats fat and muscle tissue to get energy. Type 2 diabetes occurs gradually with increasing resistance to insulin, so that weight loss is not so obvious.

Weakness and fatigue

All because of glucose. Consumed food glucose gets into the bloodstream where insulin should contribute to its transition into the body cells. Cells use it to produce the energy we need to live.
If insulin is nonexistent or if cells do not react to it, the glucose stays in the blood. Such cells have no energy and you feel exhausted.

Tingling or numbness in hands, legs or feet

This symptom is called neuropathy. Occurs gradually over time as high blood glucose levels damage the nervous system, especially the extremities. Type 2 diabetes is installed gradually, and may not even realize that you are sick.
Therefore, blood glucose levels can be high for a period of time before a diagnosis has been made. Nerve injury can occur without you know. Neuropathy may improve when blood glucose levels are kept under strict control.

Other signs or symptoms that may occur

Blurred vision, dry or irritated skin, frequent infections, cuts or bleeding that heal very slowly, all these are signs and symptomes that something is wrong. Again, when these signs are associated with diabetes, they are the result of high blood glucose level. If you notice any of these symptoms, go to the doctor. He will be able to tell you if you should worry about diabetes.

According to the American Diabetic Association (ADA), almost 8% of the USA population currently have diabetes.  Unfortunately, the ADA estimates much more than one third of those around 17 million sick people only in the United States are not aware they have the disease and might go untreated.

Untreated and undiscovered, diabetes can lead to blindness, nerve illness, heart illness, kidney failure, comas, amputations and/or stroke.

Amongst illnesses, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death within the U.S. and may also contribute to much more deaths.

So be aware of the symptoms and warning signs of Diabetes

I swallow the words that I wanted to say about the twenty-first century and about the new era of communications in Romania, and I’m forced to wait 2 days more so the state will give me a proof that I’m not an employee and I’m not dead, that I don’t have unpaid debts to the bank or the home isn’t mortgaged.
After the favor that IRS is doing for you in just 2 days ( you would not be forced to wait for so long if you would be a wise guy and gave to the counter person at least 5 euros), with the complete file, your return to the expertise commission where you can find what? : a sea of ​​people who actually fight themselves to access faster to the commission, because the month is over and they will lose their financial rights “cutted” by the Romanian government by 25%.They should not be very pissed off because the government “cutted” also unemployment social, the child allowances, maternity leave and many others that I can not enumerate them because of lack of time and space.

Of course, the doorman (your old friend) is there and you make another 10 euros effort to see yourself in front of the doctor that you’ve seen few days ago. This time the file is OK, he looks at you and says with a tone of reproach in his voice: why did you not come a month earlier? Look, now you will lose your allowance!

The holiday has already finished (how long have you initially thought it would take all this process?) and you must run back to your job, to pray the boss to forgive you that you lied to him, and obtain another 2 extra weeks

I do not want to get me wrong: for me, “job” means a company that two of my friends have, and I work there, from time to time, for 100 euros / month and a few hours every day.

You go back in a few days to get your certificate, but you didn’t finished your adventure. You thought it’s so easy to get some civil rights in Romania? Some of us have really struggled in the street and we put our lives in danger in Bucharest in the winter of 1989….

Today you have to do requests to sit in lines, to take some pictures, to make reports, etc. to deposit files for Financial Administration for Departments of Health and many other committees and commissions that help us (no doubt) to have a better life and more carefree for us, those with serious health problems.

I wouldn’t make such a calculation regarding the cost of obtaining a certificate, because I’d probably be scared and I wouldn’t start it in the first place. As for the lost time, this is the way we all lose time in Romania, we, the ones who have no relatives in local government or among physicians, teachers or other social services.

I wish you a good day wherever you are, except Romania!…

Gabriel

Uncontrolled diabetes is a condition that can cause chronic high blood pressure. There are three types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational. Type 1 was earlier referred to as juvenile diabetes and most often diagnosed in patients who are under the age of 15. This form of diabetes occurs when the body cannot produce insulin.

Type 2 diabetes is most often diagnosed in patients who are over the age of 40 and is closely linked to being overweight. This form of diabetes occurs when the body produces insulin, but the body cannot respond well to it. Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy. Health experts believe that this form of diabetes occurs because pregnancy changes the way that a woman’s body processes sugar.

Cancer is a disease that occurs when the cells in the body grow and divide abnormally. It is estimated that 50 percent of men and 33 percent of women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life. There are numerous forms of cancer and some of the most common include: breast, prostate, colon, and skin. Mesothelioma is less common, but the number of people being diagnosed with it has increased drastically in the past few years. The mesothelioma prognosis depends greatly on how early this illness is diagnosed and treated.

Cancer and diabetes are two different illnesses, but there is a connection between the two. Scientists have found that these two conditions have a similar biology. They did a study on mice that were placed on a high-fat diet. The results of the study were that the mice that had high levels of cancer promoting proteins responded better to insulin, which decreased their chances of developing diabetes.

Many people who have beaten cancer ended up being diagnosed with diabetes later in life. Radiation is a common form of cancer treatment. Although radiation can kill cancerous cells, it does not come without side effects. Researchers have found that some forms of radiation may increase a person’s chances of developing cancer by 90 percent.

Chemotherapy is another one of the common forms of cancer treatment. A common side effect of this treatment is dry mouth. As a result, many patients drink beverages that are very high in sugar. Consuming large amounts of sugar makes a person more prone to diabetes.

The good news is that in many cases both cancer and diabetes can be prevented. Eating a well-balanced diet, being physically active every day and maintaining a healthy body weight will go a long way in preventing diabetes and cancer. Additionally, it is important to get a yearly physical in order to protect yourself from cancer and diabetes.

How are Diabetes and Cancer Connected?

The video is about Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation which have as a main goal to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes that affects almost 15.000 children every year.

You will hear the testimony of Gina Guerrero, her daughter Sofia suffer from type 1 diabetes. We’ll find out what is like a diabetes child on a daily basis and that basically she has to check out sugar about 10-12 times daily, a constant worry for she and her mother. She was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 at age of seven.

We will also hear Dr.Melissa Pawelczack and the fact that we really don’t know exactly what causes diabetes, but what we do know is that there are some individuals to have a genetical predisposition to developping it and there are some environmental factors which we really still haven’t identified but might be a virus that attack those individuals.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Video with Dr.Melissa Pawelczack

“The Answered Pacient” and Jane Hanson investigates the different types of diabetes and how they are diagnosed.

She also tells you about one of the symptoms of this disease as well as it may affect your body.

She’ll provide you with strategies like the daily monitoring of your blood sugar levels called glucose, so that you can keep your diabetes under control. She’ll also give you some tips about diet and exercise which will prevent the complications of this disease.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Video with Dr Jane Hanson

More Diabetes Tips and Tricks on the articles below:

The first one, is to get an appointment with the family doctor to establish a medical letter type (remember the paper from the commission that we spooked in Episode nr.1 ?). You go there, stay in the line, and when when you come in, you find out with a big surprise that a medical letter cannot be drawn up at that very moment, it takes time and the eternal “come tomorrow to see what we can do”. Tomorrow you come prepared with the normal 10 euro fee, which you have to put in an envelope, wait again in line to give these money and get the medical letter.

Phew, all your efforts seem to be coming to an end. But it is not so! Although the documents obtained, the essay from the doctor, with a medical letter from your personal MD and all the other documents (medical tests, hospitalizations, medical history of the last year) I proudly present myself in line, for the commission. Unfortunately, a day is lucky and the next one is unlucky.

Today is unlucky and checking the medical files, the commission rejects the dossier because you do not have attached to document from the financial administration that showing that you are a “no income” person. I forgot to mention that I finished the unemployment payed period since I’m walking dizzy to obtain that bloody certificate.

The unemployment payed period ( 12 months !!! only ) is a small amount that the government has established at 150 euros / month in my case: civil engineer with 25 years of work, advertising and communications expert ).

Do not think that unemployment money you receive helps you at something: that amount is only enough for the food for a very poor the family and nothing else and the unemployment payments are valid for 12 months, after that, you’re free to die or to emigrate to a foreign country.

Mr. Basescu, their president – a bunch of 200 thieves and their families -  (of course you have noticed I writhed President with lowercase, just like our president’s way of thinking ) tells us all: teachers, doctors or other miserable budgetary citizens, if you do not feel all right in the poorness, emigrate. The country would be much better, if in it, it will stay only our relatives: grandchildren, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers or other individuals who can divide the state budget , or the money coming from European funds between their pockets and the pockets of their relatives. To be continued …

Gabriel

After you have arranged this with your office chief, you make the first step and go to your Diabetologist MD. You do not miss the “opportunity” to stand in line waiting, even you were scheduled 1 month before ( No surprise : there are few doctors for hundreds of thousands of diabetics only in Bucharest).

Do not think that standing in line is rewarded by something. Your MD is programming for the same day the blood tests, the oscillometric, ophthalmology, neurology, ECG and/or other laboratory tests.

When you see that you have to do in one day what is supposed to happen in several, you quickly understand the situation and redirect your personal finances: you ask nicely the Diabetologist to make you a favor and give him 30 euros, the same gift goes to the doctor’s assistant and you are now in the position to stick in front of other patients to manage solving your problems. I tell you honestly, more and more doctors in Romania are very poorly paid, and we, the patients, although with health insurance paid, we support them with our own money, otherwise the salary they check is no greater than a cleaning lady hired for a multinational. It’s the same principle as that : although we pay tolls, we do not have roads on which to ride or pay medical insurances and the cardiology clinics are equipped from within our pockets with SMS contributions. Nothing special for Romania, right?

At the neurology cabinet I stop stunned: no program for this day. Why I’m not surprised? Diabetology physician is allowed to make one outpatient hospitalization for a patient only once every three months, and if you are not scheduled on the same day in which the neurology cabinet works, it means that you’re not lucky! All works like this in Romania! Nothing is related to anything. Nothing is coordinated with nothing! Today we pave a street, tomorrow those guys from the gas company come and demolish it. Today we have a tax law, tomorrow it is changing.

We’re alike Sisyphus and the stone that cannot reach the top. There is a ballad in my country about a bricklayer called Manole that builds a monastery today and the next night it collapses. We already used to that. Unfortunately!

To finish the analysis in one day, therefore, there is no hope. We must necessarily go to a neurologist in a private clinic. What’s bad about that, you’ll ask me ? (except that you need to lose time again, make other arrangement with the € 50 paid for your consultation and the time you have to miss at the eternal line).

Well, let me tell you something: in Romania you cannot go to a specialist unless you get a reference by your family doctor! Ha, ha, ha, well, how about that ? You give again a phone call, wait for the doctor to consult his agenda and schedule you when he’ll have some available time. You give him some money, of course (10 euros) and I can tell you that a family doctor have more patients than a specialist one !

You have now received a referral for the neurologist, you schedule your appointment and consultation (when he will be available), you pay for the consultation and you are happy. Nobody knows it why, but it happens …

To be continued ….

If you want to be aware of what documents are needed in order to posses such a certificate, you better move within the working time or office hours, because there is no way to contact the administration institutions otherwise ( !? ) . Some new illumines thought that you should take a vacation to solve some quotidian problems. And so, here we go ! I have to go to the Medical Expertise Commission which is located somewhere in my area ( there are 6 of them al around Bucharest for more than 2 million people. Very funny, isn’t it ? )  After “escaping” from work with the consent of my chief in charge ( I should pay him a drink, let’s not forget that ! ) I finally get to the Commission’s address and surprise : no program for the day and here I am there, looking like a clown !.

Returning to work and postponing your understanding with your boss for another day and another time is a wise thing to do, even if you have already lost 3 from your daily work hours, and so I did. I postponed the trip for another day, and the great day, finally comes : I “escaped” once again and I’m glad that I will find out which documents are need to be submitted for my file preparation.

I’m going to the commission hopeful. You know that to access these information, one must sit in a line for several hours ? …but you are not the only one in this situation ( so, what the hell ! ), let’s stay in line !

Because this commission is allocated to work with nearly 20,000 patients suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes persons, and tens of thousands with other medical problems, the situation in Romania is desperate !

To avoid standing in line and get a standard form, which is unique and accepted in Romania for that very commission, you really need to bribe the door-man with 3 to 5 euros. The door-man !? It will tell you and in a more “protected” way about all other necessary documents, like you two are thieves planning to rub a bank. To be continued…

Gabriel

Nobody forget that although diabetes is a disease that does not kill instantly, in time, an accelerated degradation of the body is increasing geometrically after the age 50, with the well-known complications: retinopathy, pancreatitis, feet problems, erection problems and so on.
Around 50  is the point where you realize that life has taken a toll on your health and you can not turn back !.

If you had a messy life, if you smoked, if you if you took too many medication or drugs, then you should be sure that what follows, will not be an  easy game, and you should prepare yourself for the dark side of your life (and this is not because you’re old and you can not do much, but because you are very sick and you don’t know it yet ! )
If instead you had a sober life, clean out from the sources of pollution, with daily therapy within the acceptable limits, then you can expect an old age but not necessarily more peaceful and carefree. Worries will surely come but they will come later, because any healthy body eventually dies, but it is very important and not the same way to die like a dog or die like an eagle !

Sincerely Yours,

Gabriel

Now, without error, in more than 90% of cases, I can tell my friends, my eyes closed, if the food contains refined sugar or not. I think it is our body’s way to inform us about the substances it ingests. When I drink or eat food that contain refined sugar, my body reacts just like I have seen on TV : people taking drugs or getting poisoned. Conclusion ? Refined sugar is harmful for the organism such as hazardous substances or drug ingestion.
Fortunately, nature is taking care of us. Ways to feel the sweet taste of life are almost limitless (created by the nature, and not by human mind and hand). You can eat fruit whenever you feel like, you can drink your tea or soda, eat your pies or cakes with a little natural help of plants extracts (which are, sometimes, a few hundred times sweeter than refined sugar) and you can forget that man has invented refined sugar. Have you ever seen a natural deposit of candy sugar?
My pleading for nature is present in the article about natural sweeteners, which I advise you to read it. I’ll summarize by the remark that everybody, diabetic or not, we are part of a natural ecosystem and what is artificial is not entirely good for us, or better said, not only that is not always good for us, but sometimes, it makes us sick. So back to the millions of colors and true tastes that surrounds us, and let us not spoil with false advertising! It is our right to be informed and it is our right to choose how we live our lives.