"My story with diabetes" by Juan Manuel Reyes Fajardo

As this Publimetro journalist, more than 50,000 Colombians under 45 have type 2 diabetes, and it is estimated that more than 500 million people will have it in 2025.

The supermarket hall was, as usual, full of all kinds of products.Pasta, bakery and sauces, in this hall.Behind, canned food, chocolate and soda.I was looking for what to buy for meals the next day, when I received the call from the EPS doctor.

"We receive the results of your glucometry and are too high. It must occur as soon as more exams are to be performed, and to rule out a mistake. We have serious reasons to believe that you are diabetic."The doctor's tone was the customary for that type of news.But words will never stop resonating in my head.I am 30 years old and I am diabetic.

I'm not alone.The most recent figures in the analysis of the health situation (ASIS) of the Ministry of Health give more than 650,000 cases detected of diabetes mellitus in 2013. Of these, more than 50,000 were people under 45 years.Although these figures are not updated, it worries that more and more patients (such as me) be discovered with this disease in young ages.

The concern of more and more doctors worldwide is that the detection age is earlier.The one that was previously a disease derived from the deterioration of the organism is becoming a worldwide pandemic.Behind these figures is a massification of sedentary lifestyle, poor food and an abandonment of outdoor activities.

diabetes for rookies

Many know what diabetes consists of, but they believe that it is only due to excessive sugar consumption.Actually, its causes are more complex.At its base is a hormonal unbalance: the body does not produce the insulin necessary to consume the glucose it receives through food.Carbohydrates, proteins, fats and added sugars become glucose.

There are two types of diabetes: the first is type 1, in which the body attacks insulin producing cells in the pancreas.In type 2, also called diabetes mellitus, the organism produces insulin, but this is insufficient to consume the glucose ingested.

Usually type 2 diabetes depends on patient's habits: if you eat too much glucose in protein, carbohydrates or refined sugars, it will accumulate.There is an important genetic component in the predisposition to diabetes: in my family, my mother, three uncles and a premium are also diabetic.

According to Boehringer Ingelheim's medical director, Juan Carlos Tovar, normal glucose levels in the body usually range between 80 and 110 milligrams per deciliter of blood.People in prediabetic condition have average levels between 110 and 125 milligrams of glucose.A diabetic person has average levels greater than 126 milligrams.

There are two ways to measure these levels: an fasting glucometry, or glycosylated hemoglobin.The first determines the blood glucose level without having eaten in the last 8 hours.The second indicates an average glucose in the last three months.

more than thirst and black feet

The symptoms I had are normal in diabetic people: a lot of thirst, constant need to go to the bathroom, and permanent tiredness.I also went down 12 kilos without explanation (from the diagnosis I lowered another four, this time due to the change of diet): this weight drop is an alert signal.Other symptoms are tingling on the feet, blurred vision, nausea and fading sensation.

Long -term problems are much more serious.The glucose becomes fat plaques that adhere to the walls of the blood vessels."This adhesion is more serious in smaller blood vessels, such as those ofThe eyes, the brain, the feet, the heart and the kidneys, "says Tovar. Complications tend to interact with these organs: infarctions, renal failures, blindness and gangrene on the feet.

Without adequate treatment, a person under 45 who suffers diabetes has 10 years of life expectancy.Likewise, this is one of the chronic diseases of greater cost in its treatment.An investigation of the University of Cartagena found that, in this city, the treatment of a diabetic patient cost an average of $ 1.2 million annually.This figure triggers when considering treatments for their complications, such as hemodialysis or coronary operations.

Natural food

The first recommendation that the doctor gave me was to reduce glucose intake.The obvious answer is to suppress refined sugars and processed foods, but it is not so simple.The traditional Colombian diet has too many carbohydrates.In a 'corriezo' there are up to five: rice, potato, soup, juice and a legume, pasta or banana, when the nutritional recommendation is a flour, two at most.

A fruit like a bananas or a red apple are also dangerous because of their possibility of causing strong glycemic peaks.Nor are the juices say: the liquefied and casting makes the fruit fiber become easy to digest sugars."Sugarless" products have other chemicals that produce damage, so my lunches always tend to have entire fruits and salads.

Although it sounds counterproductive, it is necessary to consume a flour at each meal: the risks of a hypoglycemia (popularly called 'La Paleda') are also strong.The largest glucose consumer in the body at rest is the brain: a 'pale' puts its survival at risk.

A fundamental recommendation is to perform daily physical activity, not necessarily gym exercise.Walking, riding a bike or dancing are also activities that can help fulfill this goal.Sedentary lifestyle is inherent when we only get up from our job to lunch, and interrupt our series series marathon to ask for a pizza from the cell phone.

The greatest impulse to prevent this or other diseases is self -control.For several years I did not have the ability to evade a empanadita, a hamburger or a roast chick.Or a hand of bananas, too.The self -control that I did not have to avoid eating excessive amounts of food, it has arisen to inject insulin four times a day.