What the Chinese takes for diabetes is herbal medicine as well as dietary adjustments and even acupuncture to manage blood sugar, reduce insulin resistance and treat diabetes complications using a holistic approach.
The Chinese for diabetes and other ailments use herbal remedies that are often also used as adjuvant therapies alongside of conventional Western medicine like metformin.
Commonly used Chinese supplements and Chinese herbs in diabetes and other ailments include.
Cinnamon (Rou Gui), which is taken to reduce serum glucose and lipid.
Wolfberry/Goji Berry (Gou Qi Zi), which is eaten in dried or taken in the form of tea to help improve glucose and HDL (good cholesterol) levels.
Rehmannia Root (Di Huang) which is used to nourish Yin (body fluids) and clear internal heat, which is often in formulas like Liu Wei Di Huang Wan.
Bitter Melon (Ku Gua) is often taken to lower fasting and postprandial glucose levels.
Astragalus (Huang Qi) is often prescribed in Chinese medicine to nourish Qi (energy) and protect against kidney damage also known as diabetic nephropathy.
Ginseng (Ren Shen), is used in Chinese medicine to reduce insulin resistance and lower your fasting blood glucose.
And Berberine (Huang Lian/Chinese Goldthread) is extracted from Coptis chinensis, which is one of the most frequently used herbs, and is often considered to have effectiveness comparable to metformin in lowering your blood sugar.
Diabetes is also called the silent killer as it often develops slowly without any noticeable symptoms and allows your blood sugar to rise an cause severe , irreversible damage to your blood vessels and nerves before a diagnosis is made.
So it's important to get regular checkups so that diabetes can be caught soon enough, before it gets too severe.
Some people have more severe diabetes like type 1 diabetes, which is a severe and life altering and life threatening autoimmune disease that requires 24/7 insulin management and also has a high risk of severe complications and also lacks a cure.
There's been people that fell into a diabetic coma with type 1 diabetes and they've never new they had it and either almost died or have died.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition, in which your immune system destroys the insulin producing cells, which means that it can't be reversed or cured even though lifestyle changes.
In diabetes, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes, it's called the silent killer as many people live even with type 2 diabetes for years without knowing it because there's either no symptoms or mild symptoms.
The undiagnosed and untreated diabetes can lead to vascular damage and nerve damage as the chronic high blood sugar in diabetes damages the blood vessels and nerves throughout your body and can also lead to blindness or retinopathy, kidney failure or nephropathy and amputations.
The undiagnosed and untreated diabetes can also lead to cardiovascular disease, which is the most common cause of death for people with diabetes and is also responsible for around 75% of deaths in type 2 diabetes patients, and it often appears as silent or undetected heart attacks.
The diabetes also leads to peripheral neuropathy as diabetes destroys nerve cells, which control pain in the body, which can also lead to silent, undetected infections or heart attacks.
It's estimated that at least 50 percent of people with diabetes worldwide are currently undiagnosed with diabetes.
The new A1C number for diabetes is an A1C level of 6.5% or higher on two separate tests which is used to diagnose diabetes.
This new standard A1C number for diabetes is what indicates that your average blood sugar levels over the past 2 months to 3 months have been in the diabetes range.
The A1C Diagnostic Ranges include.
Normal A1C is below 5.7%.
Prediabetes A1C is between 5.7% to 6.4%
And diabetes A1C is 6.5% or higher.
For most healthy adults that already have diabetes, the ADA or American Diabetes Association also often recommends that you have a target A1C of less than 7% to reduce your risk of diabetes complications.
However, the American Diabetes Association also says that a tighter goal of less than 6.5% A1C might also be appropriate for some people, with a not as strict target of below 8% might also be better for older adults or people with advanced diabetes complications.
The organ that is most affected by diabetes is the pancreas, which fails to produce or properly use the insulin from the body, which leads to high blood sugar.
And over time, the glucose damage to the pancreas spreads to affect many major organs in the body, mainly the heart, kidneys, nerves, blood vessels and eyes, which also causes widespread complications.
The pancreas is the root cause organ where production of insulin fails or insulin resistance occurs.
High blood sugar in diabetes also damages vessel walls, which lead to atherosclerosis, high blood pressure and a high risk of strokes or heart attacks.
Diabetes is also the leading cause of kidney disease or nephropathy, where high blood sugar damages your kidney's filtering units, which results in potential renal failure.
Damage to the small vessels the retina from diabetes also known as diabetic retinopathy, can also cause vision loss or even blindness.
High blood sugar from diabetes also can destroy nerves and cause pain, tingling, numbness and digestive issues.
And poor circulation and nerve damage or neuropathy as a result of diabetes also increases your risk of developing infections, ulcers and you may need amputation.
High glucose levels in diabetes can also increase your risk of skin infections, bacterial and fungal infections.
Diabetes is a chronic condition causing high blood sugar because the body cannot produce or properly use insulin, a hormone controlling glucose.
Common symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, extreme thirst, unexplained weight loss, and fatigue.
While there is no cure for diabetes, diabetes can be managed through diet, exercise, and medication to avoid serious complications like heart disease, kidney failure, and nerve damage.
Diabetes occurs when your pancreas produces little to no insulin (Type 1) or when the body becomes resistant to insulin and cannot use it effectively (Type 2).
Type 1 Diabetes: An autoimmune condition where the immune system destroys insulin-producing cells.
Type 2 Diabetes: The most common form, often linked to lifestyle factors, obesity, and insulin resistance.
Gestational Diabetes: Develops during pregnancy.
Risk Factors for diabetes includes.
Type 1: Family history, genetics, and environmental factors.
Type 2: Being overweight, inactivity, age 45 or older, family history, and having prediabetes.