This is the story of Manisha, who's just celebrated her 34th birthday and is a mother of 2, she works in an MNC as an
accounts executive. She works for long
hours and is constantly under stress to manager both her professional and
personal responsibilities. She visited Total Care Control- Diabetes Care Centre three months ago, complaining
of frequent urination and excessive hunger, weight gain and excessive fatigue.
I advised her to get the blood glucose level checked. She was hesitant at
start, saying she cannot develop this endemic disease. Also, her family had no
history of diabetes. When, Diabetologist in Delhi Dr Rajesh Kesari saw her report, her blood glucose level were
alarming. She immediately had to start medication along with strong lifestyle
modification that included diet plan, physical activity and stress management.
After 3 months, she stills follows all the medication and diet, but has her Blood Sugar level under control.
Our country has many such Manisha’s who are
not aware that they are suffering from diabetes. India presently has 62 million
diabetic patients out of which 29 million are women. People are not even aware
that they are suffering from a disease that exposes them to:
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Amputations
- Nerve damage
- Blindness
- Kidney disease
Thus, it becomes imperative to raise awareness
about diabetes in Indian women.
Women in India with diabetes die at an average
age of 57.4 years. Thus, Indian women with diabetes have an average life of 9.5
years shorter than women without diabetes.
Women more at the risk of diabetes are those
·
who lives in poverty
·
obese/overweight
·
less physical active
·
Stress
As hormones and inflammation respond
differently in women it is very difficult to diagnose symptoms of diabetes in
them. The unique symptoms of diabetes seen specifically in women are:
•
vaginal infections and vaginal thrush
•
urinary infections
•
female sexual dysfunction
•
polycystic ovary syndrome
Diabetes specialists in Delhi and NCR recommend both men and women to watch out for these symptoms of Diabetes:
•
increased thirst and hunger
•
frequent urination
•
weight loss or gain that has no
obvious cause
•
fatigue
•
blurred vision
•
wounds that heal slowly
•
nausea
•
skin infections
•
patches of darker skin in areas of the
body that have creases
•
irritability
•
breath that has a sweet, fruity, or
acetone odour
•
reduced feeling in your hands or feet
Pregnancy and diabetes
Preexisting diabetes in pregnancy is also
called pregnancy complicated by diabetes. In these cases, women already have
diabetes and then become pregnant. Careful monitoring of blood glucose level
are to be tracked before and during pregnancy which will results in good
outcomes for both mother and child. It is consider as high risk pregnancy
Pregnancy induced diabetes is called
as gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs in latter stage of
pregnancy, generally develops around 24-28 weeks of pregnancy. This increases
the risk to both the mother and the foetus. Women with gestational diabetes are
at increased risk for type 2 diabetes later in life.
Preventive measures
There are certain lifestyle
modifications which can be adopted to prevent or delay diabetes.
·
Lose weight/ exercise
·
Don’t smoke
·
Good nutrition
·
Say no to stress
·
Do meditation
·
Regular monitoring of blood glucose
levels
·
Knowledge about symptoms and
complications of diabetes.
