How to determine diabetes at home

The problems of diabetes are puzzled doctors around the world. Every year the disease gets younger, more and more people are exposed to it. But do not despair if you suspect diabetes mellitus. Modern technologies, medicines and methods of treatment allow to take the disease under control. It has been widely proven that it is quite possible to live with the treatment, diet and doctor's instructions with the disease.

Diabetes

What is this disease? To begin with, diabetes is an endocrine disease. The pancreas normally produces a certain amount of the hormone insulin, which is necessary for the body to process simple carbohydrates. If this insulin is not present or catastrophically low, the body is not able to process the sugar, the glucose level after eating jumps up. This can be very dangerous.So there is diabetes mellitus of the first type - insulin-dependent. This disease is more often diagnosed in young people. As a rule, they are thin, even though they eat a lot. For the treatment of such diabetes, patients are given insulin, which they lack so much.

The second type of diabetes is insulin-independent. In this case, the body produces a sufficient amount of insulin, but the tissues are not sensitive to this insulin for various reasons. Such diabetics are often very obese, their disease is diagnosed at a more mature age. For their treatment using drugs that reduce the resistance of cells to insulin.

Another diabetes can be gestational. It develops or is found during pregnancy. Also, diabetes can be secondary, that is, when the pancreas stops producing insulin because of the underlying disease (pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, etc.)
Often a person can live with diabetes and not suspect about it. Often the symptoms of diabetes are associated with other diseases. In order to identify this disease in yourself, you need to listen to your body.

Symptoms of diabetes

This is the first and most important way to determine diabetes at home. With the help of the following symptoms, you will learn how to recognize diabetes.

1. One of the main symptoms is frequent urination and irresistible thirst. Often a person constantly drinks because he feels dehydrated. So it is - the body is dehydrated, because the fluid does not linger and is not absorbed. If at least for some time to leave a person without access to water, he feels very dry mouth, the itching of the skin increases.
2. Itching is a frequent companion of patients with diabetes. Palms, a crotch, feet, a stomach are surprised. This symptom manifests itself in 4 of 5 patients with diabetes mellitus. It is noteworthy that itching is not relieved by various ointments and gels.
3. You should suspect diabetes mellitus if you have various wounds, cracks, scratches and ulcers on your body that do not heal for a long time.
4. Due to endocrine disorders, the general condition of a person changes. He becomes apathetic, sleepy, lethargic. Loses interest in work, family, domestic affairs.Constant feeling of tiredness and weakness during the day is a serious reason for testing.
5. With diabetes, metabolic processes are disturbed, therefore, the hair deteriorates. They become weak and thin, often fall out.
6. For diabetes of the first type is characterized by constant hunger. A person can at any time eat an unusual amount of food. However, it is not fattening, but just the opposite - in a few months it can lose 10-15 kg due to the fact that the eaten carbohydrates simply do not digest (no insulin).
7. With diabetes mellitus, there may be a smell of acetone from the mouth, nausea, vomiting, a veil appears before the eyes, dizziness appears.
8. Often the limbs, especially the legs, are affected. There is swelling, heaviness, various wounds on the skin that do not heal for a long time.
9. Often, diabetic patients have low body temperature. This is due to the slowdown of all metabolic processes in the body.
10. Patients with diabetes suffer not just frequent urination, but a huge amount of urine (up to 10 liters per day). Children with such a diagnosis suffer from bed-wetting, even if there were no such problems before.
11. Many people with diabetes suffer from low immunity. As a result - frequent illness, a long course of infectious diseases.
12. Diabetes mellitus of the second type is characterized by overweight and visual impairment. This is due to the fact that high sugar levels destroy the retina.
13. In men, diabetes mellitus can be a cause of impaired sexual function. Often diabetes leads to impotence.

If you have noticed at least a few of these symptoms, you need to consult a doctor as soon as possible to find out the true diagnosis.

Why does diabetes occur?

It has been proven that diabetes, as well as a predisposition to this disease, is a genetic component. Diabetes can not be infected - it is a fact. If one of the parents suffered from diabetes - the risk of your disease is 30%. If both parents were ill - 60-70%.

At risk are people overweight. If you have a predisposition to the disease, you should very carefully monitor the weight and avoid exceeding the normal values.

Another trigger factor for the development of the disease are diseases of the pancreas.Also, diabetes mellitus can appear after suffering some viral diseases - rubella, chickenpox, influenza, and epidemic hepatitis. Older people are more likely to suffer from diabetes.

There is an erroneous opinion that those who love and eat a lot of sweets are ill with diabetes. This is nothing more than a myth.

How to determine the level of sugar in the urine

If you suspect diabetes, but still do not want to see a doctor, you can try to detect the level of sugar in the urine with the help of available tools.

To determine the level of sugar in the urine there are special strips that can be bought at the pharmacy. They are used by all diabetics. It is important to do the test in the morning on an empty stomach and after eating. The strip is covered with a special reagent that changes color when in contact with urine. The strip should be dipped in a jar of urine or just hold under the stream. Do not touch the test strip with your hands or wipe with a towel. Usually the result can be obtained in a minute.

Depending on the color of the stripes determine the level of sugar in the urine. However, such a test is not informative for diabetics of the first type, as well as for people over 50 years.Often, test strips can only respond to a very large amount of sugar — more than 10 mmol per liter. This amount is called the renal threshold. If the test shows the amount of sugar in the urine more than this indicator, it means that glucose leaks into the urine and the body is unable to cope with it.

How to determine blood sugar levels

There are also stripes that determine blood sugar levels. Hands should be washed thoroughly for analysis, as a small amount of sugar on the surface of the skin can lead to distorted results. A clean finger should be pierced with a sterile needle and lowered down so that a drop of blood appears. Attach the test strip to the drop so that the entire reagent area is covered in blood. After that, you need to wait for a while until the color appears on the strip. Each color corresponds to a certain amount of sugar - this can be found on the packaging of test strips.

Everywhere devices use blood glucose meters, which also work with test strips. The strip is placed in a drop of blood, and then inserted into the device. He accurately determines the rate of sugar in the blood.Some modern models are equipped with a memory function, a sound signal, and the ability to memorize the results.

Normally, the sugar level is from 3.3 to 6.1 mmol per liter, if the analysis is taken on an empty stomach. After a meal, the amount of sugar can increase to 9 and 10 mmol per liter. Some time after eating (1-2 hours), the sugar returns to normal again. If your performance is much higher than normal - do not pull, immediately see a doctor!

Diabetes - what to do?

If you put this diagnosis, do not panic. Proper treatment and maintenance of the necessary functions of the body will help you not to suffer from diabetes, but to get along with it peacefully. Here are the basic rules for normal life with diabetes.

1. Eliminate the consumption of sugar - instead, you need to take a sweetener. Less cholesterol, fractional nutrition, animal fats are replaced by vegetable. It is very important to follow a strict diet - no fast carbohydrates.
2. You need to regularly monitor blood sugar levels to control your body.
3. If you have excess weight you need to lose those extra pounds. Regularly engage in moderate physical activity.
4. Every day, you should carefully inspect the feet for skin damage. Before going to bed, feet should be washed with soap and thoroughly dried with a towel. This is important because with diabetes mellitus there is a high risk of trophic leg ulcers.
5. Visit the dentist in a timely manner to avoid caries and eliminate the source of infection.
6. Try to avoid stressful situations and nervous shocks.
7. Regularly take those drugs that your doctor prescribed. Carry insulin in your bag to take medicine in case of an emergency. In addition, in a purse or pocket you need to carry a note with a message about the presence of diabetes, as well as the address and phone number of a person who could come in case of an unexpected situation.
8. When wounds appear, it is necessary to treat them, start intensive treatment immediately, even if it is a simple scratch.
9. Every six months you need to be examined for detection of various complications - first of all, you need to check the kidneys, liver, eyesight.
10. Give up smoking and drinking alcohol.
11. Sanatorium treatment should be carried out regularly to strengthen the immune system.

Many diabetics admit that these simple rules are so firmly established in their lives that they consider them commonplace and natural. For them, measuring blood sugar is as simple and necessary as brushing your teeth or eating. Diabetes is not a sentence. If you are diagnosed with this diagnosis, you just need to learn how to live with it. And then the quality of your life will not change.

Video: symptoms of diabetes