Diabetes mellitus is not a pleasant disease at all. It occurs when there is a violation of the function of one of the links in the endocrine system, or rather, the endocrine component of the pancreas.
There are several reasons for the development of the disease – either the pancreas, as a result of a pathological change, does not cope with the production of a special hormone, insulin, or the tissues and organs become immune to this hormone. These are the main causes of diabetes. Other factors contributing to the development of the disease in this article we will not consider. We will pay much more attention to such a question as the treatment of diabetes .
Treatable Symptoms But Not Disease
Currently, unfortunately, there are no drugs that can once and for all cure a person suffering from diabetes. Scientists all over the world are struggling with this issue, but to no avail. All that doctors can offer a patient with diabetes at the moment is the treatment of the symptoms of the disease, that is, the drug effect not on the cause of the disease itself, but on its manifestation.
Before a doctor, the first task is to compensate for the carbohydrate metabolism of the patient’s body. Since the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin, doctors prescribe this hormone to patients. Depending on the type of disease, there are different ways to administer the medicine. The main “trailer” for this treatment of diabetes is the uniform intake of carbohydrates to all organs and tissues.
Insulin therapy is designed to maximize normalize carbohydrate metabolism, prevent hyper- and hypoglycemia. Insulin treatment for diabetes is vital for type 1 diabetics. Fortunately, now there is a huge selection of insulin preparations, which are different from each other in terms of duration of action, species specificity, etc.
There is also a huge selection of ways to administer insulin. This can be oral tablets, solutions for subcutaneous injection, administration to the body with an insulin pump.
The required amount of insulin is calculated based on the patient’s weight, degree of disease, plasma glucose level. Therefore, the need for hormone in each patient is different. But, nevertheless, the treatment of diabetes mellitus with insulin therapy is quite effective.
Diet for diabetes
Together with insulin therapy, the patient is prescribed diet therapy, which contributes to weight loss and, accordingly, alleviates the symptoms of diabetes . Eating disorder is one of the main causes of this disease. The main task of this treatment also becomes the normalization of carbohydrate metabolism.
The main unit of measure for diet therapy is a bread unit. It is defined as a conditional measure equal to approximately 11-13 g of carbohydrate. To help patients, a special table has been created that shows the content of such units in certain products. During the day, the number of bread units consumed by the patient should remain unchanged. In addition, doctors do not recommend that patients with diabetes consume more than eight bread units at a time.
The patient is required to keep a nutrition diary for diabetes , which will help to control the diet, calculate how many units he consumed per day, and will also enable the attending physician to adequately assess the benefits of the diet and, if necessary, correct it.
A very important issue is patient education, as a person must have an idea of what diabetes is and what complications the disease can cause. The patient must independently control the level of sugar in his blood and strictly adhere to the diet prescribed by the doctor.
No matter how professional the doctor is, treatment will be useless if the patient himself does not want or cannot control himself and his nutrition. Self-monitoring is an important component in the treatment of diabetes. It is enough just to follow the diet, regularly measure the level of sugar in the blood plasma, and the treatment will not go in vain.