Keep Your Eyes on Your Diabetes

Diabetes effects more than 7,028,000* people and kills approximately  86,000 people in Pakistan annually. Worldwide, Diabetes is now a leading cause of morbidity and mortality**. It is also associated with high rates of hospitalization, blindness, renal failure and non-traumatic amputation. Many cases go unreported due to the lack of awareness and many that are aware of the disease do not know how to manage it properly.

To mark World Diabetes Day, which is celebrated on a global scale, The Aga Khan University Hospital conducted a health awareness session on 13 November 2016. The event was held at the Aga Khan University Auditorium and was attended by more than 700 people.

Various diabetes doctors, nurses and dieticians from The Aga Khan University Hospital talked about difference aspects of managing and living with diabetes. The session began with Dr Qamar Masood, Associate Professor, Endocrinology, who explained the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and how the parts of the body that are effected by the disease; specially eyes, kidneys and feet.

He mentioned that diabetic retinopathy affects blood vessels in light-sensitive tissue called the retina that lines the back of the eye. It is the most common cause of vision loss among people with diabetes and the leading cause of vision impairment. He also share that diabetic kidney disease is a complication and diabetes causes the kidneys to leak abnormal amounts of protein from the blood into the urine.

Dr Qamar guided the people to follow  code A-B-C, where 'A' stands for 'A1C TEST' which should be taken every 2- 3 months and gauges how well the diabetes is being managed; 'B' which stands for controlling 'BLOOD pressure'; and 'C' which stands for managing 'CHOLESTROL'.

70% of type 2 diabetes cases can be prevented or delayed. Hence, early diagnosis is important because its easier to control the disease at earlier stages. Diabetic should start the medicine early and adopt a healthy lifestyle to prevent progression to advanced stages.

Ms Moti Khan, Senior Clinical Dietician, talked about healthy eating options for diabetics and mentioned many food items that adversely effect blood sugars like excess salt, refined wheat, processed food, packaged masalas, boxed juices, excess oils, excess fats like butter, diet drinks and diet meals. She stressed on the need for a balanced diet and exercise. Diabetics should exercise at least 6 days a week even if they walk briskly for as little as 15 minutes.

Diabetes is a chronic disease and living with it can be challenging. It has to be managed on a daily basis and most people are just dependent on the medicine they are taking, not realizing that there are many lifestyle changes they should also be making to compliment the medicines. One of our Diabetes Nurse Coordinators, Farzana Rafique shared information about Continuous Glucose Monitoring which is a small wearable device that tracks a diabetic's glucose throughout the day and night, identifying the highs and lows. At the end of 6 days, a doctor can easily track the trends and manage the diet and medications accordingly.

She also talked about the techniques on injecting insulin and managing medicines and concluded with how important it is to take care of ones feet if you are diabetic. Diabetes can cause changes in the skin of the foot. At times the foot may become very dry. The problem is that the nerves that control the oil and moisture in the foot no longer work. She said after bathing, diabetics should dry their feet and seal in the remaining moisture with a thin coat of plain petroleum jelly or an unscented cream. She also mentioned that it is important for diabetics to constantly monitor their feet to check for scrapes or cuts. As a preventative measure, diabetics should wear proper shoes with socks.

The session was very well received by the audience, there was a high level of engagement and questions posed to the medical panel.

You can view the pictures from the event here​​.

As part of World Diabetes Day, The AKUH is also offering specialized laboratory packages for diabestes tests where you can avail 20% discount. View here.

Read more on diabetes type 1 and diabetes type 2.

* International Diabetes Federation (http://www.idf.org/membership/mena/pakistan)

** American Diabetes Association; Diabetes 1996: Vital Statistics. Cowic CC, Eberhardt MS Eds. Alexandria, VA. American Diabetes Association 1996.​