Diabetes, which is taking more lives than HIV/AIDS, has the second highest incidence in India.

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Pakhi Hussain

19 May, 2011

Diabetes is a growing problem, which should be nipped in the bud. Indians should take routine check-ups and lead a healthy lifestyle in order to avoid this disease, which is also known as a silent killer.

THANKS TO our varied and erratic lifestyle, more-and-more people are getting affected by various lifestyle diseases and diabetes is one of the major problems in today’s world. Recent startling statistics have revealed that around 3.2 million lives are taken by diabetes every year, which is more than HIV/AIDS, which takes around 3 million lives every year. In a matter of rising concern it has come to light that India has the second highest incidence of diabetes in the world.

Diabetes is a group of two types of disease, which affects the metabolism of the body. There are two conditions, wherein the body cannot produce insulin or even if it can, then the cells do not respond to the insulin being produced in the body. Apart from affecting the metabolism of the body, diabetes also affects the heart, eyes and kidney. In severe cases there might also be amputation and due to increase in the number of the diabetes cases, in the near future, amputation may also increase from 50,000 to 100,000.

The best way to avoid diabetes is to lead a healthy lifestyle and to go for routine checkups. The primary precaution, which a person should take, who has a family history of diabetes, is to refrain from taking food rich in fats and calories. Junk and fast food should be avoided.

The habit of going in for routine check up is also not inculcated in most of the Indian families, which sometimes aggravates the condition. Regular and routine checkups are avoided by the urban people so it is obvious that such culture is not practised by the rural people at all.

This disease, which is also known as the silent killer attacks two parts of the body, i.e. blood vessel and nerve system. Blockage of the blood vessels results in shortage of the blood supply and when the nerve are attacked then the patient experience a numbness in the feet and sensation loss.

Dr. Arun Bal, one of the legendary diabetic foot surgeons of India, associated with Raheja Hospital, Fortis Hospital and Hinduja Hospital, gave his view regarding the silent killer and said, “Doctors are taught that every infection will have fever and every ulcer will have swelling. But this is absent in diabetic foot lesions that are like 'silent' icebergs — we see only a small part of them. They are often missed because the usual signs of infection are absent, and patients don't complain of pain.

So, unless people living with diabetes take very good care of their feet, it is likely that they will end up with ulcers in their feet which can trigger the disease to take a completely different progression path and even become unmanageable.”
Thus people with a diabetic background and a diabetic history, should take care of their feet, their diet and also their lifestyle, only then can one fight the silent killer.