Diabetes

Sweetness can kill. If you keep on drinking soft drink for 1 year everyday and without any exercise, you will have high possibilities of getting diabetes. Excessive glucose in your body that travel through your blood stream reduce the chi level. All the chi channels and meridians may have blokages due to damages to arteries. Excessive glucose is due to pancreas failure to produce enough insulin to neutralise glucose.

First let’s get to know our pancreas. The pancreas is a small organ located just behind the stomach. Its main function is to produce insulin in just the right amount to maintain constant glucose levels in the body.

There are 2 types of Diabetes. Type 1 is also called Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) occurs when the pancreas no longer produces any or very little insulin. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks beta cells, stopping a person's pancreas from producing insulin, the hormone that enables people to get energy from glucose. It is considered the body's system for fighting infection turns against a part of the body in diabetes, and the immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and destroys them. Insulin, you know, is needed in the body to use sugar for energy. Approximately 10 percent of people with diabetes have Type-1 diabetes. Someone with IDDM needs daily injections of insulin to live.

Having type 1 diabetes puts you at increased risk of atherosclerosis, often called hardening of the arteries. An uncontrolled blood sugar level helps set the stage for artery disease. That’s because high blood sugar can damage arteries by affecting proteins in the artery walls. Over time, the lining of the walls becomes rough, allowing cholesterol and the fatty materials to collect and form plaque. This causes the artery to become stiffer, less elastic. As plaque builds up, blood flow is reduced. One pathway towards a cure for type 1 diabetes may be to restore insulin production through regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells within a person's body, an alternative to transplanting functional beta cells from a donor.

The remaining 90 percent are non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Type-2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body does not use the insulin, though it is produced effectively.

When you have type 2 diabetes, the body does not respond correctly to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that fat, liver, and muscle cells do not respond normally to insulin. As a result blood sugar does not get into cells to be stored for energy. When sugar cannot enter cells, abnormally high levels of sugar build up in the blood. This is called hyperglycemia. High levels of blood sugar often trigger the pancreas to produce more and more insulin, but it is not enough to keep up with the body's demand. People who are overweight are more likely to have insulin resistance, because fat interferes with the body's ability to use insulin.
Artery damage can affect blood flow to the heart and brain, as well as to the legs and feet. Any artery in your body can narrow with plaque. Also, blood clots and pieces of plaque sometimes break off and travel through the bloodstream until they lodge in a narrowed artery. Organs and tissues beyond that location no longer receive the fresh blood they need to function normally. Damage to arteries can also affect eyes, feet, kidneys, nerves, teeth, and gums.
Diabetes can cause neuropathy (newr-AH-path-ee). This condition affects the way nerve cells carry messages within the body. Peripheral neuropathy affects the nerves that extend from the spine to the arms and legs. Focal neuropathy damages nerves of the eyes, face, arm, and leg. Autonomic neuropathy causes abnormalities in digestion and sweating. It can also affect blood pressure upon standing, and can cause erectile dysfunction in men.

When peripheral neuropathy and poor circulation combine, damage can occur in the feet. Any sore can become severely infected because not enough infection-fighting white blood cells can reach the site. Toes are most vulnerable.

Diabetes causes diabetic retinopathy (ret-in-AH-path-ee). This condition damages the blood supply to the retina, the light-sensing structure at the back of the eye. The retina tries to repair itself by developing new blood vessels, but these new vessels grow abnormally, often leaking blood that blocks the passage of light. Eventually, scar tissue can cause the retina to detach, causing permanent vision loss if it is not repaired.

Also called nephropathy (nef-RAH-path-ee), chronic kidney disease is progressive and can lead to kidney failure. When the kidneys can no longer filter enough waste from the blood, mechanical cleansing of the blood (dialysis) or kidney transplant is needed. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, although most people with diabetes do not develop the condition. Progression of kidney disease can be slowed or prevented by controlling blood sugar and blood pressure levels.

In Qigong, Diabetes may result from problems with the Lungs, Kidneys, Spleen or a combination thereof. Diabetes in TCM is seen as a problem with Body Fluids. The Lungs and Kidneys also have an intimate relationship with Qi, the Lungs receiving Qi and the Kidneys holding Qi. Can we presume that by ensuring proper Qi flow the Lungs and Kidneys then are freer to control Fluids, and thus, Diabetes.