Healthcare Reveal » Necessary Information

What Is Type 1 Diabetes? – Symptoms and Causes

admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:21:47 +0000

Diabetes type 1 is a metabolism disorder where the body does not produce insulin which is important to convert sugar into energy needed in our daily life. What happen is the immune system which is suppose to fight bacteria and foreign viruses started attacking beta cells which is the primary source of insulin for some reason.

Now that these beta cells cannot release the insulin producing hormones, the body has a hard time breaking down sugars. Insulin is important to help transport nutrients throughout the body for energy. The body needs these functions to be able to perform effectively and efficiently. Unfortunately, this does not seems to be the case with type 1 diabetes.

The main problem with those suffering from type 1 diabetes is that sugar is not transported, and this can lead to starvation of the cell, causing it to not be able to perform its important functions. Apart from accumulating sugar, the body suffers from dehydration as well. The amassing of sugar would cause patients to frequently urinate because the glucose would simply be lost through the kidneys instead of being transported to cells. This means that the majority of victims would lose a lot of weight since the cells have no staple carbohydrate intake.

The most life threatening aspect is the fact that patients can develop Ketoacidosis, which is the fatal combo of dehydration, excessive sugar and large build up of acids. The sugar that is not released in urine would continue to build up and harden the arteries in the body, which may lead to a heart attack.

There is no specific age limit to the victims of diabetes type 1. The good news is that this condition only affects a small number of people. However, the main causes of type 1 diabetes is still unclear today. The only clear point that studies found over the years is that it is an inherited disease.

Symptoms of this condition include thirstiness, frequent hunger pangs, nausea, dry mouth, abdominal pain, abrupt weight loss, tiredness, blurry vision and difficulty in breathing. If you are having the symptoms above, consult a doctor immediately. The doctor will get a urine sample to know if you have this condition.

Do not be overly worried if you are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. There are a lot of people who continue to live a normal and fulfilling life with this condition. One would have to regularly monitor one’s own sugar levels to treat and prevent onset of complications.

The main things to do are to keep a close watch on your diet, exercise regularly and undergo insulin therapy. The most common way to treat diabetes type 1 is through insulin injections. This is to make up for the lack of insulin that is not produced by the body. This condition can lead to kidney failure and other ocular complications if it is not treated. Heart disease is one of the possible linked disease as well.

Diabetic Neuropathy: What You Can’t Feel Can Hurt You

admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:21:00 +0000

Diabetic neuropathy, the condition of ongoing loss of sensation in the feet, the hands, and other parts of the sensory nervous system, is a particular challenge to the medical profession. From their earliest training, doctors learn how to diagnose and develop treatment plans on the basis of pain as a system. In diabetic neuropathy, however, not feeling pain is the symptom. It’s very difficult for doctors, and diabetics, to treat a condition characterized by what the diabetic does not feel.

Diabetic neuropathy is depressingly common. Among type 2 diabetics who have diabetes for 10 years or more, about 50 per cent develop neuropathy.

Loss of sensation in the feet is particularly problematic. Cuts, scrapes, and scratches, along with something as simple as dry skin, can present open avenues to infection. Infectious microorganisms, as you have probably heard over and over again, thrive on sugar. Diabetes presents a “sweet” environment for the growth of infectious bacteria. When there is limited sensation in the feet, a simple infection can cause serious tissue damage in a very short time, untreated because it is unnoticed. Up to 25 per cent of type 2 diabetics eventually develop foot ulcers, and sometimes the very first diagnosis of type 2 diabetes occurs only when a foot has to be amputated.

Although the very best prevention of diabetic neuropathy is keeping blood sugar levels under control, there are many routes to treating and reversing neuropathy even after it occurs. The one thing to remember is, just as different diabetics respond best to different diets and different medications, no two diabetics experience diabetic nerve damage in the same way, either. You may have to try more than one method–in addition to keeping your blood sugar levels well controlled–to turn neuropathy around.

How a Healthy Diabetic Diet Plan Can Help to Manage Blood Glucose Level

admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:20:23 +0000

One of the most important things when it comes to diabetes management is to watch your diet. Having a specific diet is necessary to help maintain the blood glucose level and ensure that they are under control. Contrary to what many believe, there is nothing special or expensive about a diabetic diet. It comprises mainly normal food that we eat on the daily basis. The main differences are the careful selection of carbohydrate foods, frequency and quantity of food intake.

The first thing you should know about custom diet for diabetics is that they are tailored to give you a healthy weight. All the servings are low in fat and won’t increase your cholesterol levels. To some extent, it’s a diet that can help you lose weight, but not exponentially if it’s used in isolation. Diabetic diets are usually comprised of 3 main servings, which are breakfast, lunch and dinner. Including mid-morning, afternoon and evening snacks is important, to ensure your glucose levels stay somewhat constant.

The best diets for diabetic will consist of a variety of fruits, vegetables and high starch foods, and discourage the consumption of fats, more so unsaturated fats. Try to reduce your meat intake. It is a never ending debate as to whether carbohydrate is beneficial or bad for blood glucose management. While it’s true that eating carbohydrates can elevate your blood sugar reading, some diets encourage this, but with some conditions.

One example is the Pritikin Diet which emphasizes on the intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and regular servings of carbohydrates as well. A lot of roughage has to be included in the diet as well as exercise. The extra energy from the carbohydrates is expended this way. There are low carb diets that encourage on the replacement of carbohydrates with healthy fat (unsaturated fat is highly discouraged as it increases cholesterol levels in the body) sources like nuts, fish, eggs, and high intake of fruits and vegetables.

It’s hard to draw a conclusion on which precise diet for diabetics to follow. The best plan is to however understand your requirements. You should take more carbohydrates if you lead an active lifestyle. On the other hand, if you are less active, a diet with lower carbohydrates would be better. The constant thing in all the diets is the requirement for fruits and vegetables, more preferably those rich in fiber and roughage. These will help to keep your digestive system to perform better, while at the same time slowing the rate at which glucose is absorbed into the body.

As far as the unhealthy junk foods and snacks are concern, they have to be reduce as much as possible. Everything you eat, more so if it is rich in carbohydrate and sugar, will have an impact on your blood sugar. But if your cravings are too much, you can try an exchange scheme as a way of compromising. For instance, if you want to take a piece of dessert, you can take half a serving of rice or pasta during the main course. Following a diabetic diet is not rocket science, just a simple routine that you will get used to pretty fast.

Buying Consistency: Purchasing Your Own Blood Pressure Cuff

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:30:59 +0000

Unfortunately, not all providers carry larger cuffs. Sometimes, clinics try to cut costs by not ordering larger cuffs, and cover by telling women that the large cuffs are “out for repair,” “broken,” or “lost.” Other times, larger cuffs are available but medical personnel do not want to go to the trouble of finding them. You cannot always count on the doctor’s office or even the hospital to have the correct size blood pressure cuff, for it to be in working order, or for medical personnel to be willing to use it.
Supersized people may particularly want to invest in their own blood pressure cuffs. While many offices carry “large” cuffs, not all carry a “thigh” cuff. If your arm is over 17-18 inches in circumference or you weigh significantly over 300 lbs., you might especially want to consider buying an appropriately-sized cuff of your own. “Undercuffing” is chronic in these groups, as few providers know when a thigh cuff is required. Even fewer use it, even in very large people.

If your blood pressure is borderline, if your arm is heavy, or if you are supersized, investing in your own cuff is probably a good idea. The internet company, Amplestuff, sells blood pressure cuffs in varying sizes (including extremely large sizes). These cuffs attach easily to the blood pressure devices in most offices, and then accuracy is always at your fingertips.

There are 4 blood pressure cuffs available from Amplestuff.

Economy Cuffs – These run about $40 and are good basic cuffs that should be fine for most midsized or barely supersized people
- Size L is for 13″-19″ arms
- Size XL is for 17″-26″ arms
Deluxe cuffs – Much more expensive (about $120!) but these are tapered to fit better, have ‘stays’ to help keep shape on very large arms, and tend to be more comfortable for the very super-sized
- Size XL for arms from 17″-26″
- Size XXL, for arms from 26″-35″.

It can be very empowering to have your own perfectly fitting cuff with you at all times and not have to depend on your clinic to have the correct size for you. Although buying your own blood pressure cuff is not cheap, some are reasonably priced. Depending on your situation, they might be an excellent investment for you.

If you are interested in buying your own blood pressure cuff, check out http://amplestuff.safeshopper.com/42/cat42.htm?276. [Kmom is not associated with any company and does not receive any compensation for listing this resource.] Amplestuff also has a portable home blood pressure monitor for sale that can be used with their larger cuffs, although it is uncertain just how accurate any home BP monitor truly is.

Figuring Out What Size Cuff You Need

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:28:42 +0000

One of the most difficult issues is knowing what size cuff to use. There are several different adult-sized cuffs and none of the sizes are standardized. If you go to one office, you may need a “large” cuff, but if you go to another office you may need a “thigh” cuff with the same arm. Therefore it is important to know exactly what size your arm is ahead of time and what the general cuff size guidelines are, and then look at EACH cuff being used to see its specific size specifications.

If you depend on your medical personnel to know which is the best cuff size to use, there is no guarantee that they will choose the correct size. Research shows that “undercuffing” (using a BP cuff that is too small for the arm) is one of the most common blood pressure errors and occurs very frequently with obese patients.

Women who are close to average size should be fine with a regular cuff, but most “overweight” people should use a large cuff. However, a lot depends on your arm size. Women with larger arms need the bigger cuffs; if your arms are relatively small you may not need a larger cuff. If you have very heavy arms, you may need a cuff size even bigger than “large.”

To know whether you need a larger cuff, measure the circumference of your upper arm. Even if you are sure which size cuff you should use, it is good to know exactly what your arm measures so that if there is ever any question, you’ll be able to know which cuff is most appropriate for YOU.

Why a Large Blood Pressure Cuff Is Needed

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:28:14 +0000

As noted, it is extremely important to make sure your health provider uses the correct size of blood pressure cuff for you. Using a regular cuff on a fat person has been found to artificially inflate blood pressure significantly. If they do not use the correct-sized cuff on you, they will be basing your medical diagnosis and treatment plan on INVALID DATA. It is essential that this number be accurate.

It is particularly critical to have an accurate reading of blood pressure in pregnancy due to concerns about Pre-Eclampsia/Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension (PE/PIH). Outside of pregnancy, a borderline BP number is not pursued as vigorously, but in pregnancy most OBs get very nervous about borderline blood pressures, and will start very aggressive interventions very quickly. Because some cases of PIH progress rapidly to PE and can endanger the baby and the mother, OBs tend to be extremely interventive about borderline blood pressures in pregnancy. Therefore it is extremely important to have accurate data on which to base these critical decisions.

Unfortunately, using the wrong size blood pressure cuff (“miscuffing”) is incredibly common. Iyriboz et al. (1994) states:

Using an inappropriate cuff—the most common error in indirect BP measurement—can significantly distort BP readings. This error probably is due to the failure in common practice to measure arm circumference prior to BP measurement. Considering the other common errors committed during BP measurement, together with using the wrong cuff, incorrect measurement of BP is very common.

A classic early blood pressure study (Manning, 1983) agreed. It found that in the group of patients studied who needed a nonstandard-sized cuff, 72% were miscuffed with the wrong size cuff. Almost three-fourths of people who needed a special-sized cuff in that study were miscuffed! Of course, that was years ago and attention to the miscuffing problem has been improved since then, but research shows that miscuffing still happens with appalling regularity.

Miscuffing may be especially prevalent in pregnancy. Anecdotally, many large women report needing to remind staff to get the proper cuff. Many also report significant resistance from some staff to using the larger cuffs. Some staff even refuse outright to use the proper cuff. Obviously, even today, cuff size is still an important issue and should not be taken for granted.

It is important that women of size know what cuff size they should use, check to see that the proper cuff is being used EVERY TIME their blood pressure is checked, and see that their labor support also knows to check on cuff size as well.

Target Heart Rates

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:23:09 +0000

AHA Recommendation

health professionals know the importance of proper pacing during exercise. To receive the benefits of physical activity, it’s important not to tire too quickly. Pacing yourself is especially important if you’ve been inactive.

Target heart rates let you measure your initial fitness level and monitor your progress in a fitness program. This approach requires measuring your pulse periodically as you exercise and staying within 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. This range is called your target heart rate.

What is an alternative to target heart rates?

Some people can’t measure their pulse or don’t want to take their pulse when exercising. If this is true for you, try using a “conversational pace” to monitor your efforts during moderate activities like walking. If you can talk and walk at the same time, you aren’t working too hard. If you can sing and maintain your level of effort, you’re probably not working hard enough. If you get out of breath quickly, you’re probably working too hard — especially if you have to stop and catch your breath.

When should I use the target heart rate?

If you participate in more-vigorous activities like brisk walking and jogging, the “conversational pace” approach may not work. Then try using the target heart rate. It works for many people, and it’s a good way for health professionals to monitor your progress.

The table below shows estimated target heart rates for different ages. Look for the age category closest to yours, then read across to find your target heart rate.

Age	Target HR Zone 50–85 %	Average Maximum Heart Rate 100 %
20 years	100–170 beats per minute	200 beats per minute
25 years	98–166 beats per minute	195 beats per minute
30 years	95–162 beats per minute	190 beats per minute
35 years	93–157 beats per minute	185 beats per minute
40 years	90–153 beats per minute	180 beats per minute
45 years	88–149 beats per minute	175 beats per minute
50 years	85–145 beats per minute	170 beats per minute
55 years	83–140 beats per minute	165 beats per minute
60 years	80–136 beats per minute	160 beats per minute
65 years	78–132 beats per minute	155 beats per minute
70 years	75–128 beats per minute	150 beats per minute

Your maximum heart rate is about 220 minus your age. The figures above are averages, so use them as general guidelines.

Note: A few high blood pressure medications lower the maximum heart rate and thus the target zone rate. If you’re taking such medicine, call your physician to find out if you need to use a lower target heart rate.

How should I pace myself?

When starting an exercise program, aim at the lowest part of your target zone (50 percent) during the first few weeks. Gradually build up to the higher part of your target zone (75 percent). After six months or more of regular exercise, you may be able to exercise comfortably at up to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. However, you don’t have to exercise that hard to stay in shape.

How is hepatitis C virus spread and how can transmission be prevented?

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:58:27 +0000

HCV is spread (transmitted) most efficiently through inadvertent exposure to infected blood.

The most common route of transmission is needles shared among users of illicit drugs.
Accidental needle-sticks in healthcare workers also have transmitted the virus.
The average risk of getting HCV from a stick with a contaminated needle is 1.8% (range 0% to 10%).
Prior to 1992, some people acquired the infection from transfusions of blood or blood products. Since 1992, all blood products are screened for HCV, and cases of HCV due to blood transfusionnow are extremely rare.
HCV also can be passed from mother to unborn child. Approximately 4 of every 100 infants born to HCV-infected mothers become infected with the virus.
A small number of cases are transmitted through sexual intercourse. The risk of transmission of HCV from an infected individual to a non-infected spouse or partner without the use ofcondoms over a lifetime has been estimated to be 1% to 4%
Finally, there have been some outbreaks of HCV when instruments or sharp tool have been re-used without appropriate cleaning between patients.

Transmission of HCV can be prevented in several ways.

Programs have been aimed at avoiding needle sharing among drug addicts. Needle exchange programs and educational interventions have reduced high-risk behaviors. However, the population of drug addicts is a difficult population to reach, and rates of HCV remain high among addicts (30% of younger users).
Among healthcare workers, safe needle-usage techniques have been developed to reduce accidental needle-sticks. Newer syringes have self-capping needle systems that avoid the need to manually replace a cap after drawing blood and reduce the risk of needle-sticks.
There is no clear way to prevent transmission of the HCV from mother to child.
Persons with multiple sexual partners should use barrier precautions such as condoms to limit the risk of HCV as well as other sexually-transmitted diseases.
Monogamous couples should consider the low risk of transmission when deciding whether to use condoms during intercourse. Some couples may decide to use them and some may not.
Screening tests for blood products have almost eliminated the risk of transmission through transfusion, estimated by the CDC to be less than one in two million transfused blood products.
People with HCV should not share razors or toothbrushes with others.
It is critical that physicians and clinics follow manufacturer’s directions for sterilizing/cleaning instruments and that disposable sharp instruments be discarded properly.

It is important to realize that HCV is not spread by casual contact. Thus, shaking hands, kissing, and hugging are not behaviors that increase the risk of transmission. There is no need to use special isolation procedures when dealing with infected patients.

How does liver damage occur in hepatitis C infection?

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:57:13 +0000

The presence of HCV in the liver triggers the human immune system, which leads to inflammation. Over time (usually decades), prolonged inflammation may cause scarring. Extensive scarring in the liver is calledcirrhosis. When the liver becomes cirrhotic, the liver fails to perform its normal functions, (liver failure), and this leads to serious complications and even [...] Related posts:

Hepatitis C

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:50:40 +0000

What is hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is difficult for the human immune system to eliminate the virus from the body, and infection with HCV usually becomes chronic. Over decades, chronic infection with HCV damages the liver and can cause liver failure in some people. In the U.S., the number of new cases of infection with HCV has declined over the last 10 years from a peak of some 200,000 annually to about 19,000 in 2006. When the virus first enters the body, there usually are no symptoms, so these numbers are estimates. Up to 85% of newly infected people fail to clear the virus and become chronically infected. In the U.S., more than three million people are chronically infected with HCV. Infection is most common among people who are 40 to 60 years of age, reflecting the high rates of infection in the 1970s and 1980s. There are 8,000 to 10,000 deaths each year in the U.S. related to HCV. HCV is the leading cause of liver transplantation in the U.S and is a risk factor for liver cancer.

What is the nature (biology) of the hepatitis C virus?

‘Hepatitis’ means inflammation of the liver. HCV is one of several viruses that can cause hepatitis. It is unrelated to the other common hepatitis viruses (for example, hepatitis A or hepatitis B). HCV is a member of theFlaviviridae family of viruses. Other members of this family of viruses include those that cause yellow feverand dengue.

Viruses belonging to this family all have ribonucleic acid (RNA) as their genetic material. All hepatitis C viruses are made up of an outer coat (envelope) and contain enzymes andproteins that allow the virus to reproduce within the cells of the body, in particular, the cells of the liver. Although this basic structure is common to all hepatitis C viruses, there are at least six distinctly different strains of the virus which have different genetic profiles (genotypes). In the U. S., genotype 1 is the most common form of HCV. Even within a single genotype there may be some variations (genotype 1a and 1b, for example). Genotyping is important to guide treatment because some viral genotypes respond better to therapy than others. The genetic diversity of HCV is one reason that it has been difficult to develop an effective vaccine since the vaccine must generate viral proteins from each genotype.

Medical Author: Suresha Rajaguru, MD and Mary Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP