Diabetic Eye Disease (Part I)

Hello reader,

Hope all is well with you and i hope this article finds you well. 2020 has been a year of many surprises for our generation and surely it is going to go down in history but until all is said and done lets continue to stay safe

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Today, i would like to look at condition that's gradually becoming a pandemic in our world which poses lots of health issues and has the potential to cause death. Let's look at diabetes and how it may affect our eyes.

Introduction

Diabetes as you may know already is a condition involving sugar in our system. What happens in diabetes is that the body either does not produce insulin at all, is not producing enough for purpose of which it meant or the body has insensitive to insulin. The first one fall under what is referred to as type I whereas the latter two falls under type II diabetes.

Aside these we may also have gestational diabetes which is seen in pregnant women and may or may not revert back to normal after parturition and diabetes as a side effect of another condition.

The Physiology

Insulin is produced by the beta cells of islet of langerhans within the pancreas. The position of the pancreas is such that it is able to release insulin to regulate or better still reduce blood glucose level when it goes high. Insulin is one of the 3 hormones produced by the pancreas to regulate blood glucose level. The other two been glucagon and somastotin.

In type I diabetes the beta cells do not produce insulin, this makes it difficult for glucose to be taken by the cells, thus glucose remains in the blood. In type II diabetes the cells have become insensitive to insulin and hence do not take them in or the insulin production is no longer sufficient to keep up with the task.

Effects of Diabetes

Diabetic effect on the body could be very bad if not treated well and has the potential to even cause death as a result of heart attacks and strokes when blood vessels get damaged. Diabetes could also cause and accelerate cataract formation and development, could cause loss of visual field and vision from bleeding vessels in the eye. Diabetes may also affect your nerves, kidneys etc.

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Risk Factors

Scientists say that obese individuals are more likely to develop type II diabetes as they grow, Individuals with a family history of diabetes may also be at risk of developing diabetes. People with gestational diabetes are also at risk, hypertensive patients and individuals with hyperglycemia which may not yet be diabetes may be at risk.

Classic symptoms seen in diabetic individuals include polyphasia, polyurea and polydypsia. Sharp rise in glucose levels may also manifest in the form of blurry vision.

Treatment

Type I diabetics require regular insulin shots to survive. Some treatment regimes recommended by scientist in managing diabetes include regulation of diet in a matter of healthy eating, losing weight, exercising and insulin therapy. Individuals diagnosed of diabetes are advised to monitor the blood glucose level on regular bases. This may be done using over the counter glucose test kits.

Conclusion

Diabetes is certainly an unpleasant diagnosis however it not a death sentence and should one be meticulous in following guidelines and directives from their physician and dietician they could live the full of their lives without suffering from the major side effects of diabetes and even when it does happen it would be minimized. In our next articles we going to see how diabetes affects our ocular structures and the possible ocular conditions that may arise from it.

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