Currently, diabetes has become the third most common non-communicable disease in China, after cardiovascular diseases and tumors. The acute and chronic complications of diabetes seriously affect the lives of patients and their families, and cause a certain burden to society. Early diagnosis and regular treatment of diabetes is the key link to improve patients’ quality of life and promote family and social harmony. However, in our clinical work, we have found that many patients have misconceptions about the prevention and treatment of diabetes, which are briefly described below in the hope of improving the correct understanding of diabetic patients.
Misconceptions about diabetes
1. Only people with good conditions will get diabetes
People generally believe that diabetes is a “disease of wealth” and that only people who are well-off will get it. In fact, diabetes is a multifactorial disease closely related to family genetics, viral infections, autoimmunity and lifestyle, with a family history of diabetes, autoimmune diseases, women who have given birth to huge children and have bad habits such as alcoholism, smoking, overeating and infrequent activities are likely to develop diabetes.
2.Those who are thin will not get diabetes
Although most diabetic patients are obese, but type 1 diabetes, secondary diabetes, the elderly and combined with other wasting disease patients can be thin people.
3, eat less sugar will not get diabetes
The pathogenesis of diabetes is mainly the absolute or relative insufficiency of insulin secretion with insulin resistance, which is not necessarily related to the intake of sugar. The intake of sugar will make the “blood sugar” rise, the same high-calorie fat-containing foods will also cause blood sugar to rise.
4. Negative urine sugar is not diabetes
Blood sugar is the only reliable criterion for diagnosing diabetes. Urine sugar is related to the renal sugar threshold and is influenced by certain foods and medications. Negative urine sugar cannot exclude diabetes, and positive urine sugar cannot confirm the diagnosis of diabetes.
5. Normal fasting glucose excludes diabetes
Fasting glucose is one of the criteria for diagnosing diabetes, but some diabetic patients only show abnormal postprandial glucose in the early stage, or even hypoglycemia before the next meal. Therefore, glucose tolerance test should be done to diagnose or exclude the high-risk group of diabetes and those with abnormal blood sugar.
Diabetic diet myths
1.Eating too little
Some patients over dieting to treat diabetes, start to reduce the calorie intake due to calorie intake, so that blood sugar, urine sugar tentative decline. However, due to insufficient intake of staple foods, the energy for human activities can only be supplied by the body’s fat decomposition, the product of which will cause ketosis and acidosis in severe cases. Inadequate nutrition will cause the body’s resistance to decline, prone to a variety of infections and the condition is not easy to control.
2. Restrict water intake
Some patients restrict water intake because they have symptoms of polyhydramnios at the beginning of the disease. Thirst is due to glucose excretion from the urine took away a lot of water, so, thirst should drink water, no need to limit. Otherwise, it will cause dehydration or hyperviscosity. causing microcirculatory disorders, inducing venous thrombosis, cerebral infarction
3, eat snacks irregularly
Some diabetic patients peanuts, melon seeds, almonds and other nuts snacks do not leave the mouth, that it is rich in nutrients and can reduce hunger. The fact is that in addition to the nuts contain a lot of protein, but also contains fat. No restrictions on this type of food, the same will cause an increase in caloric intake, and make the blood lipids rise, part of the blood lipids can be xenobiotic for sugar, is not conducive to disease control.
4.Eat less food and more vegetables
Some patients eat only two or three taels of staple food every day, but eat a lot of fish and soy products. In fact, the diabetic diet advocates a balanced diet, that is, carbohydrates, proteins and fats should be consumed in a certain proportion to ensure the normal healthy functioning of the body. Too much protein will increase the burden on the kidneys and can cause hyperuricemia.
5.Eat only vegetable oil
Some patients believe that vegetable oil contains unsaturated fatty acids and is better than animal oil, so they only eat vegetable oil. I do not know, animal oil and vegetable oil in accordance with the 1:3 ratio of nutrition is the most reasonable and balanced.
6, forbidden to eat fruit
Because fruit contains sugar, some patients regard it as a taboo. From the nutritional point of view, fruits are rich in trace elements and vitamins, such as chromium and manganese, which can improve the activity of insulin in the body. Under ideal blood sugar control, it is beneficial to eat fruits with low sugar content such as watermelon and apple.
Fitness myths of diabetes
1.The more exercise the better
For diabetic patients we advocate moderate exercise, a lot of exercise will not only cause sports injuries, but also induce hypoglycemia, myocardial ischemia, etc.
2, the greater the intensity of exercise, the faster the results
The intensity of exercise for diabetic patients varies from person to person, and for patients without complications an appropriate increase in exercise intensity can improve physical fitness. The old and frail or patients with complications, high-intensity exercise will only aggravate the disease. The gentle and continuous exercise, such as walking, jogging, cycling is more appropriate.
3, exercise should be carried out every day
It is true that exercise therapy is an important part of diabetes treatment, but once the patient has an infection or physical discomfort, at this time, it is more important to rest and exercise will worsen the condition. Moreover, some studies have shown that exercise three times a week can achieve the purpose of fitness.
4, exercise without protection or excessive protection
Diabetic patients must pay attention to protection when exercising. Wearing loose, sweat-absorbing cotton clothing and a pair of suitable soft sports shoes are necessary to prevent sports injuries. Some patients wear masks and gloves during exercise not only do not play a protective role, but also cause breath-holding and poor breathing during exercise, as well as increase the risk of slipping off the equipment when exercising.
Diabetes medication misconceptions
1.Reliance on drugs alone
The treatment of diabetes is a comprehensive treatment based on diet and exercise, with medication as the key link. Some patients try to increase the amount of medication to offset more food and less movement, which is not conducive to blood sugar control, easy to obesity, aggravate insulin resistance, increase the burden on pancreatic islet cells, and accelerate the failure of B-cell function.
2, the joint application of similar drugs
The same type of hypoglycemic drugs have the same mechanism of action and in principle should not be used simultaneously. In clinical practice, we can often see that some patients combine two or even two or more drugs of the same type. This will only cause competitive antagonism between each other, the result is an increase in side effects rather than hypoglycemic effect.
3, adding and stopping medication based on feelings
The medication of diabetic patients should be carried out under the guidance of doctors. Some patients take the liberty of adding or subtracting medication based entirely on the severity of their symptoms. This will cause fluctuations in blood sugar and increase the risk of acute and chronic complications.
4.Frequent change of medication
The effect of medicine has a gradual process, with the prolongation of the medication time, the effect of drugs gradually emerge. Many patients are eager to reduce sugar, and when they do not see a drop in blood sugar in a few days, they think the drug is ineffective and are eager to change the drug.
5.Inappropriate medication method
Different drugs have different pharmacokinetics, including long-acting, medium-acting, short-acting and controlled-release tablets. Therefore, the number of times the drug is taken is also divided into once a day or multiple times. And because the mechanism of action of the drug is different, the effect of the drug before, during and after meals is also very different.
6.People’s clouds and clouds
The medication of diabetes emphasizes individualization, and what suits you is good medicine. It is not that new and expensive drugs are good drugs, and what is good for others may not be good for you.
7, Chinese medicine to cure diabetes
The medical community has not yet found a cure for diabetes, and the same is true for Chinese medicine. The Chinese medicine is very profound and complicated, and the therapeutic effect of Chinese medicine on diabetes has yet to be further studied. But patients who blindly believe in the media claim to be able to cure diabetes “Chinese medicine”, and the termination of the current normal treatment, the result is often empty.
8, insulin is an opiate, can not play
For type 1 diabetics, because oral medication does not work for them, so they have no choice but to accept insulin therapy in order to survive. For type 2 diabetic patients who need to be treated with insulin, it is often a headache for many endocrinologists to convince them to accept insulin therapy. The reason is that these patients have a deep-rooted but very misconception that insulin is an opiate that they can never leave after taking it. The main reason for this deep-rooted belief is that we used to give two types of diabetes very misleading names – “insulin-dependent diabetes” and “non-insulin-dependent diabetes “. In addition, misinformation and propaganda by many lay doctors are also important causes of this misconception. Regarding insulin, I would like to give a shout for it here: insulin is a normal hormone in the body, and because of the need, normal people produce and secrete a large amount of insulin every day.