Diabetes is a serious and life-threatening condition. It is the second leading cause of amputation. It increases the risk of heart attack to multiple folds. There are majorly three types of diabetes. Type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. All of them have one common problem and that is high blood sugar levels. Cure of diabetes is still an area of research especially for type 1 diabetes. The common cure of diabetes is insulin supplements and reduced sugar levels. Your diabetologist might suggest insulin injections as well. Visit a diabetology clinic near you to get the best cure of diabetes.
Types of diabetes
Type 1 diabetes
About 10% of people have type 1 diabetes from all around the population of diabetic people. This doesn’t have any relation with diet, exercise or lifestyle. It will happen if it has to happen. Your body’s immune system attacks beta cells which are responsible for producing insulin. We all need insulin to live and get sugar. If you have type 1 diabetes your body will still break down sugar. But when sugar enters the bloodstream there is no insulin to get that sugar to the cells. Before diagnosis your body tries to get rid of the excess sugar in the bloodstream. This is mostly through the kidneys and that makes you pee a lot. This makes you feel incredibly tired as the sugar is not reaching the cells. Cure of diabetes is complicated and the treatment goes for life long.
Type 2 diabetes
This is a condition in which your blood sugar levels are too high. In type of diabetes the cells don’t respond to the insulin as they should. This is called insulin resistance. When sugar cannot get into the cells this gets collected in the bloodstream. This condition is known as hyperglycemia. To counter the blood sugar levels our body makes more insulin. This leads to further problems. The reason why this type of diabetes is common is because of a bad lifestyle. The cure of diabetes is simple: switch to a healthier lifestyle. Type 2 diabetes can be easily cured. The cure of diabetes can be well explained by your diabetologist.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational means pregnancy and diabetes means high blood sugar levels. It’s actually high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Women with immediate weight gain during pregnancy or delivery of a heavy baby tend to have gestational diabetes. The cure of diabetes is simple in this type. The sugar levels should be maintained by following a proper diet and exercise routine. Gestational diabetes is common in women and can be dealt with easily. Go for frequent antenatal checkups or book online consultation with your diabetologist or gynaecologist.
It’s medical science and technology that’s curing diabetes now!
There are around 577 million people that are living with diabetes and this number is increasing. The burden of diabetes is massive. It’s a huge cost to any government health care set up! Over the last few years there has been significant advancement in stem cell research. There are the most prominent methods used to build insulin. It’s one of the few diseases where a single cell is destroyed or missing. The idea is that if we could replace those cells and create new cells. Doctors and today’s technology are capable enough to learn about the real cause of the problem. New stem cells are induced in the body that makes insulin. This reduces the insulin dosage that is taken through injection or orally. Before we understand the cure of diabetes it’s important to understand the effects of type 1 diabetes. The immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas and destroys insulin producing cells. Beta cells are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is responsible for regulating blood glucose levels, without insulin it will rise! Type 1 diabetes is different from type 2 diabetes. If you are suffering from type 1 diabetes you have to take insulin for the rest of your life. Type 2 diabetes can be still treated with lifestyle changes, exercise and dietary changes. All types cause high blood sugar like kidney disease, heart disease, blindness and other complications. Neither have a cure. There is incredible advancement that is seen in the way it is being monitored. This includes continuous insulin monitors and smarter insulin pumps. But managing the disease is still a lot of work. People generally don’t realise that they are doing a lot of work but also trying to keep themselves alive. There are so many factors that affect blood sugars but not just hormones. It’s illness, food, exercise and stress. Not keeping a count of water glasses can lead to diabetes. Initially the treatment seems easy like cutting off the sugar and taking medication. But this disease had psychological effects as well. Suppose one of your family members is suffering from this disease, it affects the whole dynamics of the family. The most stressful part of diabetes is worrying about low blood sugars, especially at the time of sleeping. Low blood sugar levels can cause seizures. If you go too low it can kill you! Scientists are putting effort to change the stem cells to insulin producing cells. Although there is controversy associated with this research. The idea seems simple of converting any cell of the body to insulin producing cells. This is not a one step process. Cells need to be instructed. What is learnt till now is a six step procedure. This includes where the cells are told to be part of the gut tube. Then they become part of the pancreas. There are further modifications into beta cells which are finally hormone producing. Scientists are close to bioprinting pancreas that could help to bring an end to diabetes. Scientists have discovered a new way to cure diabetes. Cure of diabetes has developed over the years. There is a new method developed called EPFL. This involves the printing of biological tissue. This system is blindingly fast. The process begins with a transparent shape on the screens. There is a tiny digital replica on the screen. A biological gel containing patients’ stem cells is fed into the system. From which the scientists select the cells which can take the shape. It just takes 30 seconds to print out the tissue. This is kept in a sealed environment to make sure that it is sterilised. The team of scientists is trying to create a functional living model of the pancreas that is derived from human pancreatic cells. This is something that has never been accomplished before. This work is significant and hence the potential to transform countless lives. It creates a spectrum of critical hormones. Thanks to bioprinted pancreas that can match the human pancreas. This means that patients don’t have to try the array of drugs and suffer from side effects. This method also eliminates the need of animal testing. Another advantage is that it gets easy for your diabetologist as well. Most of the time your diabetologist has to select the best drug option for you. Bioprinted pancreas solves this problem. This bioprinting technology can also be used to build other types of tissues as well. It’s important to note that technology is still in nascent stages and it’s a long way to go! But the possibilities arising from thid technology and replace animal testing is groundbreaking. The cure of diabetes with the help of technology would be a revolutionary step.
