Diabetes in Columbus

diabetes

Diabetes is a type of metabolic disease in which the person has high blood sugar levels. This can be due to insulin production being inadequate, or because the body's cells don't respond to insulin.

Whatever we eat, good or bad, everything is converted to sugar. An increase in blood sugar signals the pancreas to release insulin. When everything is working well insulin will bind to receptor sites on cells and this tells the channels to open up and allow sugar in. When sugar goes into the cell this creates energy. However when this system is not working well insulin has a hard time docking up to the receptor sites and the channels in the cells don't open up. Now insulin becomes a fat storage hormone and usually stores sugars in the form of fat in the belly. Now it takes more energy to store sugar into fat which is a large reason why people that have diabetes, or are insulin resistant and have no energy.

Diabetes is on the rise in the world. In 2013 it was estimated that over 382 million people throughout the world had diabetes. Remember this number doesn't reflect the number of people who are insulin resistant leading to diabetes.

When testing for diabetes 2 sets of numbers are used, fasting glucose and the A1C test.

With the fasting glucose test the following numbers are used:

  • Fasting sugar should be between 85 mg/dl to 99 mg/dl.
  • Insulin resistant fasting sugars are 100mg/dl to 125 mg/dl.
  • Diabetes the fasting sugars are 126mg/dl or above.

Now there are two main types of diabetes, type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes the body doesn't produce insulin, so this type of patient will need to be on insulin injections all their life. Type 1 diabetes is nowhere near as common as type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is when the body doesn't produce enough insulin, or the cells don't react well to insulin. They say it's usually a progressive disease. They say it gradually gets worse and the person will have to wind up taking insulin. I disagree with that, I have helped many people reverse type 2 diabetes.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases as we get older. Also, diet plays a big role, people whose diets are high in sugars and carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates, are at a greater risk. The people of Middle Eastern, African, or South Asian descent are at a greater risk.

Now, we have all known family or friends who suffered with diabetes and have seen the complications they have suffered which are any of the following:

  • Eye complications, especially going blind.
  • Heart complications.
  • Loss of hearing.
  • Neuropathy
  • Wounds that don't heal.
  • Increase risk of Alzheimer's disease
  • Higher cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
  • Hypertension
  • Amputations
  • Kidney dysfunction. Many people go on dialysis.
  • Death
  • Some of the general symptoms of diabetes are the following:
  • Frequent urination
  • Increased fatigue.
  • Disproportionate thirst.
  • Numbness or tingling in hands and feet.
  • Intense hunger.
  • Frequent gum disease.
  • Kussmaul breathing (hyperventilation)

The conventional medical approach hasn't worked well in dealing with diabetes. Diabetes is on the rise. As I said above, the conventional approach says that diabetes will be a progressive disease and people will usually wind up on Insulin.

The functional approach is different. We run the necessary tests to see what has broken down in a person's system. There can be many factors that help to contribute to diabetes. Once we find out what has broken down in the system by running the necessary test, we work to balance out the system and many times people reverse their diabetes. Also, we don't wait till one is a diabetic to do something, that's stupid. The earlier we can catch the progression towards the disease the easier it is to reverse the process.

Call to schedule an appointment, or call to come to one of our health classes on diabetes.