Can diabetes be reversed? Expert speaks

Diabetes can happen to anyone. Genes, Environment, and lifestyle all seem to be responsible for this lifelong disorder. Once it happens; it can be controlled. People with diabetes need to manage diabetes 24x7 on a continuous basis. They do not get a holiday from it. Various studies have shown that adherence rate for treatment of chronic diseases is lower than adherence rate of treatment of acute diseases. Not many studies are available in India, but global studies show that adherence for medications in chronic diseases averages only 50%. Strict lifestyle changes, financial constraint and lack of education all seem to be responsible for it. In India, the situation seems to be worse. In a study done at Doon Government Hospital, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, it was found that only 16.6% of the patients were considered adherent to the prescribed anti-diabetic drugs

This non-adherence increases the chances of complications and can also risk the life of a person with diabetes. My patients Rahul story is a real example of this. Rahul was in critical condition when he was admitted to hospital. Rahul had diabetes for the last 13 years and was on insulin. After seeing a tempting advertisement on reversing diabetes, he had quit his treatment and within 5 days he was in the hospital in critical condition. I was quite disturbed when I saw him. Like Rahul, Increasingly, people are taking similar decisions and landing themselves in the emergency room. Rahul still came to the hospital on time, but sometimes we lose our patients because of these false claims.

Rahul told me; he tried to ask me in his last visit about this treatment plan, but since I was very busy that day, he thought of giving it a try as the offer was irresistible. I could not decide whose fault was it, but understood that we need to create awareness on treatment and management of non-communicable life style disorders like diabetes to masses if we need to save them.

Understanding Diabetes

In simple language diabetes is a disease in which sugar level in blood increases. This can happen due to many reasons. As per IDF 2017, India is home to more than 72 million people with diabetes.

1. Type-1 diabetes, which happens mostly in children and young adults is an autoimmune disorder in which the body produces minimal or no insulin. A person with type 1 requires insulin for survival. As per IDF, there are more than 1, 25,000 children and young adults less than 20 years with type 1 diabetes in India. Organizations like Novo Nordisk Education Foundation along with 21 specialized centres across India are currently providing extensive care including, free insulin for children with type 1 diabetes mellitus from poor families. Changing Diabetes in Children aims that no child with diabetes should die because of lack of insulin.

2. Type 2 Diabetes is a disorder which is progressive and happens due to many reasons which include obesity, especially abdominal obesity, sedentary lifestyle, stress and a positive family history. Most of the people with diabetes have Type 2 Diabetes. A disease which was earlier called as diseases of old people is happening in children and young adults’ due to the wrong lifestyle.

There are many advertisements on reversing diabetes these days, but they are not at all true for people with type 1 and most of the people with type 2 diabetes. Mostly such advertisements are related to weight loss or restricting carbohydrates,

• Mostly when a person has prediabetes or has just been diagnosed with type 2, losing a lot of weight can put the condition into control in few cases without the use of medication. Weight regain, ageing, and the natural progression of type 2 diabetes can bring it back also.

• “Not eating carbohydrates or severely restricting it” can cause the reduction of insulin dosage to some extent but it is difficult and can be harmful as this kind of diet deprives an individual of many essential nutrients.

Lifestyle measures like right diet and regular exercise are important for management of diabetes but equally important is medication. I urge all people with diabetes to opt for a healthy lifestyle but do not leave any medication without consulting your doctor.

(This article has been contributed by Dr Ashok Jhingan, Diabetes Education And Research Foundation) 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 13, 2018 06:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).