Symptoms of hypoglycaemia include:

• hunger

• nervousness and shakiness

• perspiration

• dizziness or light-headedness

• sleepiness

• confusion

• difficulty speaking

• feeling anxious but weak

• nausea

• meals or snacks that are too small, delayed, or skipped

• excessive doses of insulin or some diabetes medications, including sulfonylureas and meglitinides (Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, biguanides, and thiazolidinediones alone should not cause hypoglycemia but can when used with other diabetes medicines.)

• decreased activity with low food intake

• increased activity or exercise

• excessive drinking of alcohol

• Working long hours with little food.

The more exercise one does, and the less one eats, can bring on Hypoglycaemia quite quickly. The first thing one should do is eat as soon as possible, not chocolate, that takes too long for the stomach to break down, dextrose tablets or liquid glucose, even a can of coca cola can get much quicker into the system to bring up the levels of glucose sufficiently to make one feel much better, then go and see your GP and tell him/her about it. If comatose-state occurs during sleep, death can be just another few ZZZZs away if you sleep alone, if with a partner, will they know you are comatose or just asleep.

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The symptoms of hyperglycaemia (diabetes) include:

• Excessive thirst

• Frequent urination

• Fatigue

• Unexplained weight loss

• Vision problems, such as blurring

• Increased susceptibility to infections such as thrush.

• Frequent anger rushes.

• Fluid build-up in  the ankles.

Remember:

The older you get, the more Diabetes Mellitus can creep up on you; and it does, from out of nowhere! Younger people's life styles if not fit and active at all times, cannot burn off glucose very well at all. Thus, the body's ability to handle glucose becomes impaired and that is where the danger lies!

There are some conditions and medications that can cause diabetes. These include:

• Cushing’s syndrome - a collection of hormonal disorders characterised by high levels of the steroid hormones that act like cortisol, which is normally produced by the adrenal gland. Causes include tumours of the pituitary and adrenal glands, certain tumours in other areas of the body, and steroid drug therapy for inflammatory disorders.

• Pancreatitis - the pancreas makes the hormone insulin. Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas, which can be either acute or chronic. Alcoholics are one group at risk of developing pancreatitis. Other causes of diabetes with chronic pancreatitis include the inherited conditions cystic fibrosis and haemochromatosis.

• Acromegaly - excess growth hormone secretion.

• Certain medications - including some diuretics (drugs that remove water) and steroids.

• Liver disease - such as cirrhosis of the liver.

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Many men who suffer from high cholesterol often suffer with erectile dysfunction. High cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes are conditions which are all known to be indicators for erectile dysfunction. Prolonged elevated glucose/insulin levels in diabetes sufferers can lead to dyslipidemia and increased risk of CHD (Coronary Heart Disease).

My diabetes doctor informed me recently that the above was always a 20 years ago theory now proven wrong. I would suggest that it may well be wrong if the patient is receiving treatment in advance of increased levels of insulin for bad lipid increase. I was not, therefore, because of a build up of bad lipids, which caused several vein blockages in my lower left leg, I am now in danger of having the lower left leg amputated! All diabetes sufferers should on detection of the disease be given treatment immediately for "bad" low density lipoprotein (LDL) where increased levels of insulin are prescribed to treat high glucose levels in the blood in order to bring those levels down to a more respectable level in addition to a healthier diet...before...not when it is too late as was in my case.

Definition of Dyslipidemia:

Dyslipidemia: A disorder of lipoprotein metabolism, including lipoprotein overproduction or deficiency. Dyslipidemias may be manifested by elevation of the total cholesterol, the "bad" low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and the triglyceride concentrations, and a decrease in the "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration in the blood.

Dyslipidemia comes under consideration in many situations including diabetes, a common cause of lipidemia. For adults with diabetes, it has been recommended that the levels of LDL, HDL, and total cholesterol, and triglyceride be measured every year. Optimal LDL cholesterol levels for adults with diabetes are less than 100 mg/dL (2.60 mmol/L), optimal HDL cholesterol levels are e4qual to or greater than 40 mg/dL (1.02 mmol/L), and desirable triglyceride levels are less than 150 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L).

From dys- + lipid (fat) + -emia (in the blood) = essentially, disordered lipids in the blood.
 

Ideally, what we all need in life is a GP who is on the ball, and able with his/her knowledge, to spot these conditions early. However, if you are unfortunate to have a GP who diagnosed "Depression" when the symptoms of diabetes to other doctors is obvious and wanted to treat it with all sorts of head-banging drugs, then you'll end up a diabetic for sure, especially if "borderline" diabetes is suspected and left untreated. Be persistent; ask for a second opinion! The amount of ignorance to diabetes in the medical profession, especially GPs is staggering in this 21st century!

I would have thought that management of a GP Practice would have included employing GPs with experience in certain, well-known common killer-conditions human beings can be afflicted with, especially the types the Government Health Authority bang on about, constantly. But was a victim myself of a GP who knew little or nothing about diabetes mellitus and failed to spot that I had been a diabetic for many years, eventually leading to a mini-stroke, from which I contracted a cataract in both eyes and was almost blinded, a perianal abscess, which can re-occur, nearly lost a toe to gangrene and had in those years in the diabetic wilderness of none-detection, suffered with angina pectoris and had been generally feeling like a soiled rag stuffed inside a cow's rear orifice! Don't let your doctors fob you off as I was for years...lean on them...hard, that is what they get paid for!

SugarAnd Salt In Foods And Drinks.

One would think in this day and age that food and drink with sugar content should be kept well below the minimum daily intake to keep it safe for diabetics, in fact, it would be much safer in the long run to ban the use of sugar and salt in certain foods and drink, those of which many diabetics have only as a lesser option according to the instructions from their dieticians, but are a poor substitute as they still contain sugar and salt.  White breads are  turned faster into sugar once digested than brown breads - which take just a little longer, but are still turned into sugar when digested. Eating food for many diabetics is a virtual nightmare, thus the legislators should make new laws prohibiting all food processing and food stuff manufacturers from putting sugar and salt into food in general. Sugar and salt should be regulated as a self-administering additive by the consumer not the manufacturer allowing the consumer more control over their safe daily intake. Children these days do not stand a chance for their future health with the mountains of sugar and salt in virtually everything they eat and drink, and is hardly any wonder that diabetes has evolved within our DNA as a major hereditary factor bringing on early heart disease, loss of limbs, strokes and many varied organ failures. The Government Health Authority moan and bewail the increase in diabetes sufferers, and sit on their laurels when it comes to protective and preventative legislation regarding the use of sugar and salt as food ingredients across the board to allow manufacturers to slowly kill off people all over the world, and set the rot in genetic mutation within the human DNA mapping...everything that effects our physical health in what we eat and drink hits one form or another of a myriad of trigger-genes in our DNA, setting the format for either a slow or fast demise...believe me!

Ban salt and sugar in food and drinks NOW!

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