Diabetes is metabolic disorder, which bears a great burden of disease, and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in India and worldwide, mainly fueled by the increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity and unhealthy lifestyles. In fact, India is the diabetes capital of the world. According to the recent data, around 80 million individuals have diabetes in India. Approximately 60% of these individuals remain undiagnosed.
As we know that diabetes is broadly of two types, type 1 due to insulin deficiency, and type 2 due to resistance of insulin. Type 2 Diabetes is a lifestyle disease, non-communicable, preventable and therefore it’s indeed very important to follow a healthy lifestyle to prevent this diabetes.
Insulin is a hormone which acts as a key to unlock the cell to use glucose. When the key is not available, glucose is not able to get inside the cell, and so there’s excess glucose which gets deposited in the retina, blood vessels, nerves and kidneys leading to various complications, such as diabetic retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, resulting in amputations, stroke and heart diseases.
We come across many patients reluctant to start Insulin when prescribed by their doctor. They bear many misconceptions and apprehensions regarding Insulin. This is our duty as doctors to clear doubts, spread awareness and mitigate fear of Insulin, improving its acceptance in the general public.
There are various general misconceptions like Insulin is habit forming, Injections are painful, it’s harmful for the body or the last resort in treatment.
Insulin is not a drug you can get addicted to! We already have insulin in our blood right from birth. In diabetes, our body reduces its insulin production. Outside insulin, only helps to make up for that lack of insulin.
Injecting insulin multiple times per day is not a pleasant thought to anyone. However, the needles are so thin that the pain is minimal.
Many people believe insulin is only for people with advanced, serious diabetes. So, insulin is often pushed to a later stage because of patients' reluctance. Various studies have proved that, early insulin initiation can even lead to remission of diabetes and delay many diabetes-related complications.
Insulin is absolutely indicated in type 1 DM, gestational diabetes, during infections, surgeries or acute stressors like heart attack or stroke. So, one should always say yes to insulin when advised by their doctor.
At times, we fear that once started, we may need to take the anti-diabetic medicines lifelong, and this fear leads to delay in the treatment for diabetes. So, we need to make it clear in our mind that diabetes is the enemy which leads to catastrophe and complications in our life. Medicines and insulin are our friends which help to fight this enemy and help us lead a normal healthy life.
Our so-called Allopathy, is a system of an evidence-based medicine. All our medicines are a result of decades of research, where billions of dollars are spent to find a safe molecule, its exact dose and side effects. Unlike the other alternative branches of medicine, one can easily google the known effects and side effects of each of our substance, but the same can’t be done with ayurvedic or homeopathic medicines. You’ll be surprised to know that the Metformin, the back bone of diabetes treatment, was first extracted from a plant known as Professor’s weed or Galega officinalis in late 17th century.
So, it’s important to manage our diabetes, with diet, exercise or medicines, if required, so that we can prevent the diabetes-related complications, and lead a healthy life. We should follow a health promoting attitude, emphasising on benefits of healthy lifestyle. If we’ll be able to keep our diabetes under control, we’ll be to keep our eyes, our heart heathy and we may be able to dance in our grandchildren’s wedding.
I would like to conclude by a quote from Sri Aurobindo, “There is no sin in Man, but a great deal of disease, ignorance and misapplication”