Sweet But Unfriendly

By Sharon Jane Akinyemi

On a familiarisation visit to a neighbour who just moved into the neighbourhood. Her nine year old son told me I may not be able to see her mother. The little boy said to me “my mummy is feeling very dizzy, and won’t like to be disturbed.

Weeks later she opened up to me. Although very overweight for her height and frame, she began to have the symptoms of frequent urination, insatiable thirst, dizziness and headaches. When she went to her physician for an examination, he diagnosed her condition as diabetes (too much sugar in the blood) she was put on a strict diet, with injections of insulin every morning. All sweets and sugar were strictly forbidden. The doctor made this very very plain.

As a lover of sweet foods all her life, she takes about seven cubes of sugar with her tea so she thought that three cubes of sugar in her tea wouldn’t hurt. She also bought her favourite kind of assorted sweets and an extra packet of sugar and put them in a secret place in her bedroom. No one knew, she thought; it was a foolproof scheme.

But after supper one night, she left the family circle in the living room and tiptoed to her room secretly to have a piece of her favourite sweets. One piece didn’t quite do it, so she had one more. Those two didn’t quite satisfy her, either. Unable to stop, she ate herself into a diabetic coma!

The panic and confusion that followed sent shock wave throughout the household and neighbourhood. It was quite a spectacle when she was rushed to a nearby hospital. About  a day later after so much money had been expended, she was back home feeling guilty and embarrassed for having been so foolish. (Today’s cost may be higher than yesterday’s)

There are two types of diabetes mellitus; Type 1, or juvenile  diabetes, occurring mostly in children and young adults and Type 11, adult onset diabetes. The disease is caused from a defect in insulin production by the pancreas . Insulin is needed by the body to utilise glucose for energy. In addition, juvenile-onset diabetes is caused by  a failure of the body to produce insulin, which is needed for the metabolism of carbohydrates(starches and sugar). In maturity onset  diabetes, the body cells have an inability to respond normally to insulin. In both types blood sugar fails to penetrate body cells, and they become deprived of vital energy. It is like a “water, water everywhere , and not a drop to drink” situation.

For maturity-onset diabetes, lowering one’s body weight to normal and keeping it there  eliminates the condition  in many cases. Juvenile -onset diabetes, on the contrary, is not usually reversible.

Diabetes complications are the third leading cause of death in Nigeria. Most cases of neuropathy are found in people who have the metabolic disorder diabetes, which is known simply as diabetic neuropathy.

Diabetic neuropathy is a microvascular complication: excess blood glucose in people with diabetes can, over a number of years, injure the walls of tiny blood vessels supplying nerves, especially those in the legs. The consequence of the nerve damage can be an inability to feel pain, and so problems can go unnoticed by people with diabetes, for example because of “insensate” injury to their feet.

Diabetic complication may also lead to a condition known as peripheral neuropathy .  The term neuropathy is also short for peripheral neuropathy, meaning nerve damage in the peripheral nervous system. Only nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord are involved, so peripheral neuropathy does not include nerve damage in the central nervous system.Overweight people who eat diets high in refined processed foods and sugary goodies and low in fiber are more likely  to develop diabetes as they grow older.

Principles To Follow

Are you one of those battling with excess weight? If you have decided that you need to lose those excess pounds, here are a few basic principles for you to follow:

1. Decrease your intake of

  •meat (beef, lamb, pork, and pork products)

  •Fat (fatty meats, fried foods, butter, oil, etc)

•Sugars (sweets, candy, refined sugars, etc)

•White-flour baked goods (bread, cakes, doughnuts, etc)

•Total calories (from all food groups)

2. Increase your intake of:

  •Fresh vegetables (plain, with no oil or sauce)

  •Fresh fruits and unsweetened fruit juices

  •Freshly squeezed vegetable juices (ugwu, carrots, bitter leave juices etc).

 •Grilled or boiled fish and chicken, without oil or skin (Remember very little meat is ideal).

 •Whole grain products (bread, cereal, foods).

This simple plan will help you to lose weight safely and will bring about a permanent change in your eating habits.    Diabetic patients should eat a protein portion and carb portion of the same size at each meal. Take a little fat with these foods too. Eating a wide variety of non-starchy, vegetable will fill you up without affecting insulin levels. You can enjoy salads with healthy salad  dressings since fat is not the issue for you. ( Fat must be cholesterol free).

Physical Activity

Sheri Colberg, (PhD) in her recent article titled “Exercise and neuropathy” stated that mild to moderate exercise may help prevent the onset of peripheral neuropathy. Although physical activity likely cannot fully reverse the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, it can prevent further loss of muscle strength and flexibility commonly experienced by individuals with distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSP), which typically involves both small and large nerve. Peripheral neuropathy, with the associated decrease in sensation, carries with it an increased risk of injury, along with greater discomfort associated with painful types of neuropathy during physical activity. The individual with insensate feet may not have the pain sensation needed to recognize that an injury has occurred, and a blister or repeated trauma may go unnoticed.

Daily Foot Care

Engaging in physical activity with peripheral issues, however, does increase the risk of foot problems like ulcers. Comprehensive foot care, including daily inspection of feet and use of proper footwear, is recommended for prevention and early detection of sores or ulcers. All individuals should closely examine their feet on a daily basis (or have someone else inspect them) to detect sores or ulcers early and follow recommendations for the use of proper footwear and appropriate socks (synthetic-cotton blends that keep feet drier).

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