Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Ahead of a series of events marking world diabetes day, Sarah Ludford reissues her call for an EU strategy to tackle the issue.
For most of us, our bodies operate on an inbuilt automatic stabiliser balancing our intake of carbohydrates with insulin production from the pancreas so our blood sugar (glucose) stays pretty much constant without any intervention. But for around one in 10 people this does not work well or at all.
Type one diabetics do not produce insulin at all because their pancreas has entirely packed up and they rely on insulin injections, whereas type two diabetics who do not produce enough insulin or do not respond well to it manage the condition through medication and diet.
Given that diabetes is not only a serious chronic illness in itself, but also causes severe complications such as cardiovascular disease, blindness, renal failure and poor circulation leading to lower limb amputation, it is surprising what relatively low visibility it has. It's almost as if we just shrug our shoulders and take it for granted in a way that does not happen for cancer or strokes.
http://www.theparliament.com/latest...ack-of-visibility-and-awareness/#.Uneb__nASSo
For most of us, our bodies operate on an inbuilt automatic stabiliser balancing our intake of carbohydrates with insulin production from the pancreas so our blood sugar (glucose) stays pretty much constant without any intervention. But for around one in 10 people this does not work well or at all.
Type one diabetics do not produce insulin at all because their pancreas has entirely packed up and they rely on insulin injections, whereas type two diabetics who do not produce enough insulin or do not respond well to it manage the condition through medication and diet.
Given that diabetes is not only a serious chronic illness in itself, but also causes severe complications such as cardiovascular disease, blindness, renal failure and poor circulation leading to lower limb amputation, it is surprising what relatively low visibility it has. It's almost as if we just shrug our shoulders and take it for granted in a way that does not happen for cancer or strokes.
http://www.theparliament.com/latest...ack-of-visibility-and-awareness/#.Uneb__nASSo