New Clinical Practice Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Hyperthyroidism Published in Current AACE Journal …
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists releases new guidelines for treatment of hyperthyroidism.

Read more on Business Wire

The American Diabetes Association has been preaching about the dangers of being diagnosed with either pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not or cannot produce sufficient insulin, or that the insulin is not being used by the body properly. This results in the body storing glucose as fat rather than using it up as energy. Some of the potential ramifications from having pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes are: heart disease or stroke, kidney disease, gum disease, blindness and poor circulation which in itself can lead to a whole host of other problems.

Patients have long been frustrated by hearing the all too familiar “diet and exercise” as a way to prevent the onslaught of type 2 diabetes, or being handed off to a nutritionist who shows you that a serving of meat is the same size as a deck of cards and teaches you how to count your carbohydrates. As an answer to millions of prayers, a program has been developed in conjunction with the ADA which aids in the managing of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Kathy Smith is the award winning creator of “Project You” who has now created a revolutionary new program called You! Type 2, which works in tandem with the ADA’s mission to prevent and cure diabetes. The fitness diva has created this system to be an all inclusive type 2 diabetes management program containing exercising videos, eating tips, journaling, a cookbook, meal cards and more. The program conforms to the ADA’s strict dietary guidelines for type 2 diabetics, but is made user friendly. Thousands of pages of documentation on how to manage type 2 diabetes have been boiled down into one fun to use program.

Of course, no new diet or exercise program should be commenced without first discussing it with a health care professional, but most will agree that adding more exercise and watching your diet are necessary fundamentals to staving off the symptoms of, or even reversing a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Being told you are pre-diabetic is not the end of the world but a wake up call allowing for the opportunity to embrace a healthy lifestyle program.

The scientists studied autopsy findings of various patients who were both treated and untreated for diabetes. According to the news article, “there were more microvascular infarcts” within the brain among patients with diabetes who were not receiving adequate treatment.
However, patients who were under-treated for their diabetes condition actually showed a difference in dementia levels from their diabetic-treated counterparts.

According to news reports, approximately 71 patients of the 196 whose autopsy reports were studied were found to have suffered from dementia, and nearly 59 patients also suffered from diabetes and received treatment for their disease. While researchers were unable to make a substantial link between the development of diabetes and the onset of dementia, the association between the status of diabetes and the level of dementia has been discovered to be much stronger than previous research.

Developing Dementia

According to the National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “dementia is a word for a group of symptoms caused by disorders that affect the brain and dementia is not actually considered a specific disease.” Dementia is often associated with the following signs and symptoms:

* recent memory loss

* difficulty performing familiar tasks

* problems with language

* time and place disorientation

* poor judgement

* problems with abstract thinking

* misplacing things

* changes in mood

* personality changes

* loss of initiative

It is advisable for patients who may be suffering from dementia to speak with a medical professional as well as to include their family, friends or caretakers in making a decision based on the severity of their condition.

Diabetes Drug Dangers

While there are an array of prescription drugs for diabetes that are available to regulate glucose or insulin levels within the body as well as injectable forms of insulin, including Byetta, there are also several dangers commonly associated with the consumption of a variety of these drugs including Byetta.

In mid-2005, Byetta, also known as exenatide, became available for manufacture from Eli Lilly and Company and Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Byetta has been linked to several damaging side effects, which include the development of pancreatic conditions that could be deadly. The drug is an injectable form of medication used to treat non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetics.

According to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report, in October 2007 several patients were found to have developed pancreatic inflammation — all of whom were consuming the drug. Six patients were again hospitalized in August 2008 for pancreatitis and inflammation of the pancreas. Of the six patients who were hospitalized, two were deemed fatal as a result of the Byetta-induced pancreatic conditions. Because of the Byetta dangers it may be necessary to contact a pharmaceutical attorney and obtain a free legal consultation on the details surrounding a Byetta class action lawsuit, which may earn a victim monetary compensation for the damages incurred.

If patients with pre-diabetes lose between 5 and 7% of their weight and they exercise half an hour every day, five days a week, the risk for developing diabetes type 2 Mellitus can be lowered by 60 percent in 3 years.

In Part I of these two articles I indicated that obesity is the major risk factor for Diabetes Type 2, also known as Diabetes Mellitus. To understand how obesity can take you to a diagnosis of diabetes type 2, let us check a few facts.

The first thing you need to be aware of is that obesity is what ignites the spark. The extra fat accumulated in your fat cells releases cytokines, a kind of proteins that cause inflammation. In particular, the abdominal fat and the one found around your internal organs such as the liver, the heart, etc, are the ones associated with inflammation, indicates Dr. Brent Wisse at the Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle.

According to Dr. Wisse, the cells that form the fat tissue secrete a number of molecules that seem to send signals to your body parts; these molecules start the inflammatory process. These signals in turn cause resistance to insulin, a state where the glucose in the blood cannot get into the cells. Therefore, inflammation within your fat tissue may be a first step which results in diabetes and atherosclerosis.

As you can see, there is a relationship between obesity, the inflammatory process, and the appearance of resistance to insulin. These three factors are associated with a risk increase for developing diabetes type 2 or diabetes mellitus.

As insulin resistance increases, your body cells panic because they are not getting their food, glucose, and thinking the problem is not enough insulin in the blood, they call the pancreas to produce more, so that glucose can enter the cells. Obediently, the pancreas releases more insulin into the blood which does no good because the fat cells refuse to let glucose enter. Eventually, these irregularities cause the glucose level in the blood to go up after meals although at this stage it still remains normal before meals.

All this commotion causes the general level of glucose in the blood to go up little by little. Finally the pancreas gets exhausted with this back and forth glucose business and can not produce enough insulin to keep the glucose in the blood within normal levels. Of course, this process does not happen overnight; it may take between 5 and 10 years in an adult and the end result is pre-diabetes. The same process goes much faster in children.

When the pancreas cannot satisfy the demand for insulin, glucose in the blood will reach levels where your doctor will diagnose diabetes type 2. At this point, patients need oral medication to lower the glucose in the blood, help the system to release more insulin, and reduce insulin resistance.

With time, the production of insulin decreases even more and many patients with diabetes type 2 need insulin shots to control glucose. If the resistance to insulin continues for a long time, oral medication plus insulin shots could be necessary.

As you may also know, diabetes can lead to heart and kidney complications as well as nerve damage in the legs and the eyes. Most patients with diabetes die of heart attacks, a powerful reason to follow a balance diet that protects your heart.

Conclusion

I hope your understanding of how obesity can lead to diabetes mellitus type 2 helps you take the necessary measures to prevent this terrible disease. And if you are serious about losing weight, please, don’t embark in a crazy diet that offers you miracles in a few weeks because chances are it may not be a healthy diet and you will get those lost pounds back quite soon. Get yourself acquainted with the sound principles of healthy diets available to you. A good alternative is a Mediterranean diet since throughout many centuries this diet has protected the people of the Mediterranean basin from obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and many other chronic diseases.