How to Celebrate Diwali Safely if You Are a Diabetic

Diabetics have to take extreme care at Diwali, as the sweet treats offered up by the festivities can put their wellness and wellbeing at extreme risk. Diwali has always involved a wide variety of sugary foods, and it can be hard for diabetics to refuse everything on the menu. The food is a huge part of the cultural celebrations, and not being able to join in the eating part of the fun can leave diabetics feeling a bit depressed. On the other hand, over-indulging in sweet foods can leave them feeling anxious, as they fear that the rich food and sugar will cause spikes in their blood sugar levels.

 

There are ways to get through Diwali as a diabetic, however, and to enjoy yourself as a diabetic without letting things get completely out of control.

 

The best thing to do is to prepare for your evening well ahead of time. Make sure that along with the sweets, you prepare some treats that are made with artificial sweeteners. This will mean that you have options that will allow you to have a treat without causing any damage to your blood sugar levels. Make sure you also prepare your body ahead of time. Make sure that the food you eat on the morning of an event is low in calories so that you still have room to digest one or two sweet treats that you cannot avoid. This particularly means the sweets that are commonly offered to the deity and then everyone is supposed to have one as ‘prasad’.

 

Diabetics should also make sure that they test their blood sugar before and after any Diwali celebrations. This will enable you to control it immediately. A workout before your celebration will help you to control your blood sugar, too.

Categories: Blood, Blood Sugar, diabetic, diabetics, Diwali, prepare, Sugar, sugar levels, sweet treats

What Every Diabetic Ought to Know About Sleep Apnoea

Diabetics are more likely to suffer from sleep apnoea, according to a major new study. The wellness and wellbeing of those who suffer from diabetes is under threat in a number of ways, due to the effects on the body from the inability to control blood sugar levels effectively, and sleep apnoea is just another way that diabetics are thought to be at risk.

 

Sleep apnoea is a worrying and distressing condition where a person stops breathing for a period of time (or, sometimes, several periods of time) during the night. As well as being very upsetting for the sufferer (and for their loved ones, who may be extremely frightened to witness this), the condition can lead to a very disrupted night of sleep, and, consequently, to fatigue the next day. It is also linked to a huge variety of other health conditions, such as heart disease and depression. The condition can be diagnosed in a specialist sleep clinic, where participants undergo a full night (or sometimes more than one night) of constant monitoring.

 

People who have hypertension or type 2 diabetes are now known to be more at risk from having obstructive sleep apnoea than those without the condition, and should ensure that they discuss their risk from the condition with their healthcare provider. Effective diagnosis and treatment can significantly improve the health of sufferers, with improved insulin sensitivity, cholesterol and blood pressure.

 

Treating sleep apnoea can be a very important part of diabetes management as it helps to improve glucose levels (as well as the aforementioned insulin sensitivity) in diabetics, and can also reduce their risk of succumbing to diabetes-related conditions.

 

Treatment for sleep apnoea is usually in the form of a CPAP, which blows air into your nose and mouth via a mask while you sleep.

Categories: apnea, apnoea, condition, diabetic, insulin sensitivity, nbsp, risk, sleep, Sleep apnoea

How Better Diabetes Control Can Perk Up Your Sex Life!

Sexual dysfunction is a health concern for any man, but particularly if you have diabetes. Though it commonly occurs in diabetic men and women, sexual dysfunction often goes under-reported and unacknowledged by both patients and physicians, who are reluctant to discuss such personal wellness issues. However, it has been well established that diabetes plays a major role in your sexual functioning, and the good news is that taking care of your blood sugar – as you do to prevent diabetic complications to your kidneys, eyes, nerves, feet and heart – can also help you to lead a normal sex life.

 

There is a vast wealth of research to show how diabetes affects your sexual wellbeing. If you’re a man, the most likely problem you’ll experience is erectile dysfunction (ED), meaning you can’t achieve or maintain an erection. The evidence suggests that 35-75% of diabetic men are affected by ED, which is a big leap from the 26% of the general male population who are likewise afflicted. Plus, your diabetes means you’ll likely gradually develop ED 10-15 years earlier than your non-diabetic counterparts. This is because poor diabetes control causes autonomic neuropathy, which is a major cause of ED, as well as blocking up your arteries with plaque, which impedes blood flow to your penis and, as a result, an erection.

 

If your diabetes is indeed causing sexual problems – which your doctor can confirm – there are preventative measures you can take:

 

1. Improve your blood sugar control

2. Lower your blood pressure

3. Reduce your stress levels

4. Quit smoking

5. Reduce your alcohol intake

 

Your doctor can help you with these five measures, and you can also find great resources online. However, while you’re in the doctor’s office, remember to discuss medications. These can include oral agents or testosterone patches and injections, if your low testosterone levels are the primary cause behind the ED. Another viable option is mechanical therapy, which involves vacuum-assisted erection devices and penile prosthesis, but everyone should consider psychotherapy. ED can take its toll on your mental health, as well as your partner’s, so it’s really beneficial to talk it through with a professional.

Categories: Blood, Blood Sugar, Blood Sugar Control, Diabetes, Diabetes Control, diabetic, diabetic men, erectile dysfunction, sex life, sexual, sexual dysfunction

Is Your Diabetes Wreaking Havoc on Your Sex Life?

Diabetes is more of a health concern than ever, as new research suggests that the condition could take its toll on your sexual wellbeing. According to the study, which was funded by the US government, middle-aged and older women with diabetes are less satisfied with their sex lives than are women without the blood sugar disease. The same is said of diabetic men, as it has long been established that diabetes makes blokes more prone to sexual wellness problems such as erectile dysfunction. However, it was less well-known how the disease affected the sex lives of women – until now.

 

Lead researcher Dr. Alison Huang of the University of California, San Francisco, commented, ‘It’s an area that is very understudied, particularly in older women.’ Therefore, Huang led a team of researchers to analyse a survey of nearly 2,300 California women aged 40 to 80 years. The findings, which are published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynaecology, revealed that more than a third of women who are on insulin treatment answered “moderately” or “very” when asked how dissatisfied they were with their sex lives. The same was answered by a quarter of diabetic women who weren’t on insulin, but less than one in five non-diabetic women answered likewise.

 

Huang explained, ‘It’s not that diabetic women are not interested in sexual activity. The diabetic women in the study had more sexual problems, but they were just as interested in sexual activities and had a similar level of sexual activity as women without diabetes.’ Sexually active women who took insulin were more likely to complain of problems with lubrication and orgasm compared to non-diabetic women, while those with complications related to the condition – such as heart and kidney disease – were the least likely to have sex at least once a month.

 

According to Huang, following a diabetic diet and getting regular exercise will help you to reduce your problems between the sheets. ‘I think these results do suggest that if you are a diabetic woman, preventing complications may help prevent development of sexual problems,’ she said. However, the team did find one perplexing result; women with elevated blood sugar levels were less likely to report low sexual satisfaction. Nonetheless, Huang noted, ‘I don’t think it’s likely that very poorly controlled blood sugar leads to better sexual function in women.’

Categories: Blood Sugar, Diabetes, diabetic, diabetic women, dissatisfying sex, older women, sex lives, sexual, sexual activity, sexual problems, Women

Which Health Complications can Result from Diabetes?

You may think that diabetes doesn’t really have a major impact on your wellbeing. Sure, you can’t eat as many doughnuts as you used to, but you’ll be fine, right? In fact, diabetes can be a silent killer as, if it goes uncontrolled, it can lead to deadly wellness complications.

Firstly, let’s look at diabetic ketoacidosis. This is an effect that diabetes has on your fat and metabolism, in which your body starts using fat as a fuel source because you’re lacking enough insulin – the hormone responsible for breaking down glucose. This can lead to symptoms such as deep gasping breathing, acute pain in your abdomen, bad dehydration leading to weakness and fainting and vomiting, and if you notice anything like this, you need to take it seriously and contact your doctor.

But the wellness complications don’t end there. Diabetic retinopathy is a condition which affects your eyes and vision. The innermost layer of your eye, your retina, is affected by ineffective blood glucose control. When this happens, the small blood vessels in your retina are damaged and weakened, which can present early symptoms of eye problems related to diabetes such as blurred vision and double vision. However, if you let it get past that stage, you can also develop a severe, permanent loss of vision, cataracts and glaucoma.

Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can also lead to diabetic nephropathy, which affects your kidneys. Hypertension or high blood pressure can increase your risk for this condition even further, and you need to watch out for signs of swelling in your feet and legs or around your eyes. Diabetics with high blood pressure – as well as those who are smokers, grossly overweight and/or have a family history of diabetes – are also at a high risk of developing heart disease and strokes.

Finally, your nerves affect just about every process in your body and uncontrolled diabetes can affect these too. You might experience a loss of sensation, especially around your peripheries like legs, which means you might not be able to figure out if you’ve had an injury and it may end up getting infected. Diabetic gangrene can cause your leg flesh to decay and you may need an amputation. Your nerve damage can also cause diarrhoea, erectile dysfunction, loss of bladder control, and dizziness.

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Which Health Complications can Result from Diabetes?

Categories: Blood, blood pressure, Diabetes, diabetic, diabetic ketoacidosis, diabetic nephropathy, high blood, lead, Nerve Damage, vision, wellness complications