Healthy lifestyle helps avert diabetes

Healthy lifestyle helps avert diabetes

JAKARTA (JP): If you belong to the group at high risk for
diabetes mellitus, you should make certain adjustments to your
lifestyle.

Experts warn that if significant, long-term lifestyle changes
are not made, your health could be affected and this could lead
to the condition.

Diabetes mellitus is an inherited condition in which the
pancreas cannot produce an adequate amount of insulin to control
the glucose level in the blood. Glucose, obtained from the food
we eat, is the source of energy for our body's cells.

An insulin deficiency will hamper the cells from taking on the
sugar and the unused glucose will then accumulate in the blood
and affect the functions of other organs.

This condition can affect people from different age groups and
can be fatal.

People at high risk -- those who have a history of diabetes in
the family and who are obese -- are advised to watch for the
symptoms of diabetes mellitus, such as constant thirst, frequent
urination, unusual weight loss, weakness, blurred vision, jock
itch, urinary tract infections, impotency in men, amenorrhea and
vaginal dryness in women.

"People at high risk are advised to make some positive changes
to their lifestyle to prevent its onset," an internist with Pelni
Hospital's diabetes and endocrine clinic, Mardi Santoso, said
during a seminar on diabetes held by the Indonesian Diabetic
Association (Persadia).

Mardi stressed that those at risk should maintain a normal
body weight, exercise regularly and adopt healthy eating habits,
including limiting their sugar intake, avoiding high fat food,
eating lots of fruit and vegetables and avoiding alcohol.

Sarlito W. Sarwono, a psychologist from the University of
Indonesia, underlined the importance of family support to help
establish discipline and encourage its high-risk members to make
necessary changes. Those who already have diabetes are suggested
to periodically take their insulin injections as directed, which
is part of the treatment plan.

There are two kinds of diabetes. Type I diabetics depend on
periodic insulin injections to regulate his or her blood sugar
level. Type II diabetes, which arises from the pancreas's failure
to produce enough insulin, can be effectively controlled through
an improved diet and exercise and/or a combination of those along
with medication. Data from the hospital's clinic showed that 90
percent of Indonesian patients suffer from Type II diabetes.

Pregnant women

Pregnant women may also be at risk for pregnancy-induced
diabetes, which goes away after labor. They may also need
medication and insulin injections to control their blood sugar
level during pregnancy.

Lifestyle changes and medication are important factors for
diabetic treatment because a failure to properly treat the
problem could expose sufferers to health problems, such as
arteriosclerosis, vision loss due to rethinopathy, delirium,
dementia, digestion problems, vaginal yeast infections and other
systemic health problems.

Another speaker, W.M. Roan, a psychiatrist at Omni Medical
Center Hospital, Jakarta, explained that dementia caused by
diabetes stems from a high glucose level in the blood. It affects
the brain's functions, while delirium can be triggered by
hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia and metabolic disturbances due to a
lack of calorie intake.

A sexologist from Udayana University, Denpasar, Bali, Wimpie
Pangkahila, said diabetes could affect a person's sex life. The
disease makes the sufferer less sensitive to sexual stimulus
because of neuropathy. It also affects blood flow in the body and
genitalia because of angiopathy or blood vessel damage.

In women, the obstruction of blood flow to the genitalia can
hamper transudation and lubrication, creating dryness that leads
to painful intercourse and most likely failure to orgasm. Vaginal
dryness can also make them prone to infections, Pangkahila said.

Meanwhile, the most common sexual dysfunction in men is
retrograde ejaculation, a condition triggered by neuropathy that
leads to sperm discharge to the urethral gland, which would be
discharged along with urine.

"Diabetic men can reach orgasm, but unlike the normal orgasm,
theirs is not followed by ejaculation," he said, adding that this
problem affects 40 percent to 60 percent of diabetic men.

"Many people are unaware that their sexual problem comes from
diabetes. There are patients who have come for consultation but
after a thorough check, we find out that their problem stemmed
from diabetes," he added.

Pangkahila pointed out that people at high risk of diabetes
should immediately consult their doctor before their health
worsens and their condition becomes more difficult to treat.
(lup)