When your body is out of sync, there are many signals. Our body makes energy from the food we consume. When our body is in disharmony, all aspects of our life change.
Pre-Diabetic or Diabetic signals
Your body converts the food you eat into glucose that your cells use for energy. But your cells need insulin to bring the glucose in. If your body doesn't make enough or any insulin, or if your cells resist the insulin your body makes, the glucose can't get into them and you have no energy. This can make you more hungry and tired than usual.
Sugar is one of your body’s main sources of energy. If you have diabetes, your body’s inability to convert sugar into energy can lead to fatigue. This can range from a general worn-down feeling to extreme exhaustion.
You’ve had glass after glass of water, but you still feel like you need more. This is because your muscles and other tissues are dehydrated. When your blood sugar levels rise, your body tries to pull fluid from other tissues to dilute the sugar in your bloodstream. This process can cause your body to dehydrate, prompting you to drink more water.
Drinking excessive amounts of water can cause you to urinate more. This may lead you to drink more fluids, which compounds the problem. Your body may also try to eliminate excess sugar through urination.
Abnormally high blood sugar levels can also lead to blurry vision. This is because fluid can shift into the eye duct. This typically resolves once your blood sugar levels are normalized. This isn’t the same as diabetic retinopathy, which occurs over time in people with chronically high blood sugar.
When your body is not responding correctly to sugar balance, your entire system is out of sync. These rapid changes in blood sugar swings can cause rapid changes in a person's mood, such as making them sad and irritable.
All parts of the body (muscles, brain, heart, and liver) need the energy to work. This energy comes from the food we eat. Our bodies digest the food we eat by mixing it with fluids (acids and enzymes) in the stomach. When the stomach digests food, the carbohydrate (sugars and starches) in the food breaks down into another type of sugar, called glucose. The stomach and small intestines absorb the glucose and then release it into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, glucose can be used immediately for energy or stored in our bodies, to be used later. However, our bodies need insulin in order to use or store glucose for energy. Without insulin, glucose stays in the bloodstream, keeping blood sugar levels high.
Insulin is a hormone made by beta cells in the pancreas. Beta cells are very sensitive to the amount of glucose in the bloodstream. Normally beta cells check the blood's glucose level every few seconds and sense when they need to speed up or slow down the amount of insulin they're making and releasing. When someone eats something high in carbohydrates, like a piece of bread, the glucose level in the blood rises and the beta cells trigger the pancreas to release more insulin into the bloodstream.
When insulin is released from the pancreas, it travels through
the bloodstream to the body's cells and tells the cell doors to open up to let
the glucose in. Once inside, the cells convert glucose into energy to use
right then or store it to use later.
As glucose moves from the bloodstream into the cells, blood sugar
levels start to drop. The beta cells in the pancreas can tell this is
happening, so they slow down the amount of insulin they're making. At
the same time, the pancreas slows down the amount of insulin that it's
releasing into the bloodstream. When this happens, the amount of
glucose going into the cells also slows down.
The rise and fall of insulin and blood sugar happens many times during
the day and night. The amount of glucose and insulin in our bloodstream
depend on when we eat and how much. When the body is working as it
should, it can keep blood sugar at a normal level, which is between 70
and 120 milligrams per decilitre. However, even in people without
diabetes, blood sugar levels can go up as high as 180 during or right
after a meal. Within two hours after eating, blood sugar levels should drop to
under 140. After several hours without eating, blood sugar can drop as
low as 70.
Using glucose for energy and keeping it balanced with just the right
amount of insulin — not too much and not too little — is the way our
bodies maintain the energy needed to stay alive, work, play and function
even as we sleep.
Insulin helps our cells convert glucose into energy, and it helps our
bodies store extra glucose for use later. For example, if you eat a large
meal and your body doesn't need that much glucose right away, insulin
will help your body store it to convert to energy later.
Insulin does this by turning the extra food into larger packages of glucose
called glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles.
Insulin also helps our bodies store fat and protein. Almost all body cells
need protein to work and grow. The body needs fat to protect nerves and
make several important hormones. Fat can also be used by the body as
an energy source.
Clinical Explanation by Dr. David McCulloch, MD
The first known mention of diabetes symptoms was in 1552 B.C., when Hesy-Ra, an Egyptian physician, documented frequent urination as a symptom of a mysterious disease that also caused emaciation. Also around this time, ancient healers noted that ants seemed to be attracted to the urine of people who had this disease.
With diabetes, the body has stopped making insulin, has slowed down the amount of
insulin it's making, or is no longer able to use its own insulin very well. When this
happens, it can lead to several things.
For example, glucose cannot enter the cells where it's needed, so the amount of glucose
in the bloodstream continues to rise. This is called hyperglycemia (high blood sugar).
When blood sugar levels reach 180 or higher, the kidneys try to get rid of the extra sugar
in the urine. This makes a person urinate more than usual. It also makes a person
feel thirstier because of the water he or she is losing by urinating so much.
When a person loses sugar in the urine, it's the same as losing energy because the
sugar isn't available for the cells to use or store. When this happens, a person might feel
tired, lose weight, and feel hungry all the time.
Other problems caused by high blood sugar include blurry vision and skin infections or
injuries that don't heal. Women might have vaginal yeast infections more often.
When the body doesn't have enough insulin to help convert sugar into energy, it often
starts burning body fat instead. This sounds like it might work well, but burning too much
fat for energy produces a byproduct called ketones. High levels of ketones can lead to a
condition called Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), which can be life-threatening if not treated
quickly. DKA is more common in type 1 diabetes because the body has stopped making insulin.
Keep Blood Sugar Levels Under Control
For a person with diabetes, the main focus of treatment is to control the amount of glucose in the body so that blood sugar levels stay as close to normal as possible.
People with type 1 diabetes need insulin shots as part of their care plan to control their blood sugar levels. Some people with type 2 diabetes can control their blood sugar levels with a healthy diet and exercise. However, many people with type 2 diabetes will need to include diabetes pills, insulin shots, or both in their diabetes care plans.
Clinical Explanation by Dr. David McCulloch, MD
Food
Sleep
Breathing
Weight
Physical Activity
Mental Stress
Lifestyle
Understanding Diabetes
If you are at a risk of Diabetes you can manage your condition with
discipline, knowledge, and awareness of your own biological state.
Minor adjustments in lifestyle, sleep, nutrition and physical activity
can help change your Pre-diabetic or Diabetic condition. With an
understanding of what affects you in your daily diet, managing your
stress and sleep, and conducting daily mindfulness exercises like
meditation and yoga can act as dramatic support systems in
controlling and managing your Diabetes. If you are at high risk, your
first step is to go see a doctor and conduct additional screening/
testing to fully analyse the condition.
Diabetes can be managed, controlled and even reversed with
understanding and self-discipline. Rigorous screening/testing
and adjusting your lifestyle and diet on regular basis alongside your
medication can have a long-term permanent effect and possibility of
reversal. Learn more about how to perform non-invasive, more frequent
testing of your sugar levels and get control of your health.
It is never too late. Eastern science has always believed that our
body is immensely resilient and fully capable of self-repair. You with
your own insight, medical guidance and extreme focus on daily
basis can recover from diabetic or pre-diabetic conditions over a
sustained period in majority of the cases.
Test Frequently.
Be Aware. Be Healthy.
*Type 2 Diabetes is typically controllable. In some cases it is also reversible with dietary and lifestyle
change over a sustained period along with the support of preventative supplements and medicine.