Generally two kinds of diabetes is encountered, viz.
(i) Diabetes Insipidus – When large quantities of urine are passed quite frequently during a day but without any presence of sugar in the urine.
(ii) Diabetes Millitus -Here, in this condition, sugar is found both in blood and urine.
In Diabetes Insipidus the patient passes large quantities of urine and he is constantly thirsty. This disease surfaces due to deficiency of pituitary hormone and is not, in the real sense, a metabolic disorder but an endocrine gland disorder. Vasopressin is a hormone released by the pituitary gland, which is an antidiuretic hormone which increases reabsorptions of water by the kidney, thus preventing excessive loss of water from the body. It is administered through nose or injection to treat diabetes insipidus.
It may be noted frequency and large quantity of urine is passed quite common in winter. True diabetes is only when there is sugar in the blood and on the basis of one blood test only, no opinion/decision should be formed as to onset of diabetes. Further, if there is no sugar in the urine, it does not and cannot be deduced that there is no sugar in the blood because sugar appears in urine only when it has reached 160-180 mg. So, urine test is not a definite indication of presence of sugar.
Causes
Overweight and obesity.
Malfunctioning of pancreas which does not release sufficient quantity of insulin to absorb sugar.
Excessive intake of sugar rich food (like food rich in carbohydrates) like wheat, rice, sweet fruits, jaggery, crystal sugar etc.
Excessive intake of alcohol, champagne etc. Drug induced diabetes.
Disturbed metabolism – more so disturbed sugar metabolism.
Lack of physical activity in relation to amount of carbohydrates ingested.
Heredity – it is only a risk factor.
Sedentary life style. Symptoms
Passing greater quantities of urine, especially at night.
Ravenous hunger and eating even at short intervals.
Dry skin, itching and Pruritis, especially on and around the genitals, thigh-folds.
Too much of thirst and consumption of large quantities of water.
Breathlessness and fatigue, even after a light exercise or activity.
Vision opaque; earlier onset of cataract. Malaise and general debility. Hypertension
Phimosis or/and Paraphimosis.
Late healing of wounds, infection of toes (diabetic gangrene). Pain in body and cold extremities.
Neuropathy
Sexual apathy or else sexual excitement.
Nephropathy
Hardening and thickening of blood vessels.
It is not that all the said symptoms would be found uniformally in all the diabetics, as some ofthe symptoms appear in advanced stage of uncontrolled diabetes. Tragedy about diabetes is that it is detected per chance and hardly any patient visits a doctor for straigthaway detection or treatment of diabetes. In nine out of ten cases a doctor, on the basis of certain specific symptoms, gets his patient’s urine tested and, on finding definite indication of diabetes, gets blood tested to confirm status of sugar which enables him to determine course of treatment.
General Information : I have noticed that a few clinical testing laboratories give false reports, for unknown reasons – either to please the patient or the doctor. Hence, it is always better to get urine & blood sugar tested on from 3-4 different laboratories and if the results are almost identical, requisite treatment should be started. If the results are too variable, one should not abruptly jump to start the treatment. Reliability of test is a prerequisite for starting or not any treatment.
60% the diabetic cases respond to dietary control measures, 20% improve by resort to dietary regimen and moderate dose of hyperglycaemic drugs, rest of 20% cases are to be treated with insulin. Diabetes is more difficult to control in children because their diet cannot be controlled/tapered due to growth period.
It is a myth that diabetic mothers give birth to diabetic babies, because only risk factor is involved there, nor is it true that non-diabetic parents’ children can or will not ever suffer from diabetes, nor is it true that excessive consumption of carbohydrates leads to result in diabetes, nor is it also true that those who consume fairly low amount of carbohydrates are/remain immune from diabetes. Truly speaking, diet plays but a little role in causing diabetes, as it is a pancreatic disease. If there is sufficient release of insulin to absorb carbohydrates, there cannot be any incidence of diabetes. Hyperglycaemic drugs induce pancreas to release insulin metabolism in the body and once this imbalance is removed, diabetes gets automatically treated (though never cured).
Diabetes is only controllable and treatable but not curable and, if once fully treated, it should not be construed to have gained immunity once forever. The truth lies the other way round, that is if you adopt a cautiously guarded approach, take medicines to be freed from diabetes – but not cured. Hence a diabetic has to remain always on the guard, and never adopt a complacent and call ous attitude. Those who claim that they can cure diabetes are simply negating the truth, as there is no medicine on earth which is capable of curing diabetes.
It is also true that, with the aid of proper dietary control and medicines, diabetics can lead a (near) normal life without any hassles.
Treatment: First of all try to control diet and also eliminate those foodstuffs which account for rise in sugar level. Remember, your diet control and dosage can only be ascertained by a doctor because as, in most of the cases, edibles and dosage need to be moderated, changed and adjusted, on the basis of clinical tests and general condition of the patient.
(i) Take 1/2 tablet of Diaonil after meals.
(ii) If Daionil fails to control sugar, take a capsule of DBI-TD after meals.
(iii) If either ofthe said medicines fail to control, take 1/2 Tab of diaonil + 1 cap of DBI-T.D – twice daily. or (iv) In some cases DBI-T.D (Phenformen) does not suit. Then it can be substituted by Metformin (500mg) tablet twice daily. Metformen and DBI-T.D. gradually reduce sugar levels and do not generally cause hypoglycaemia whereas tablets like Diaonil can sudently reduce glucose level and, thus, cause hypoghycaemia.
It would be a blunder to lot ally eliminate carbohydrates from diet, due to the fact that major portion of daily diet consists of carbohydrates, followed by protein and fats (in descending order), whereas bulk is provided by bran of cereals, leafy vegetables and pulpy fruits.
It is reiterated that any urinary problem should never be ignored or treated casually, because the fall-out effect of some urinary disorders is quite often quite damaging and may, at times, endanger life itself. Further, free and uninterrupted flow of urine is one ofthe essential conditions for a healthy excretory system. A heart has immense capacity to absorb infection but it is not the case with infections imbibed after kidney transplant. Healthy kidney function denotes healthy life, hence always ensure normal function of kidneys.