All About Diabetes

Being diabetic makes you at risk for stroke. A stroke occurs when blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted and brain tissues are damaged. Several studies have shown that people with diabetes are at a greater risk for stroke compared ko people without diabetes regardless of the number of risk factors they have. Poor management of blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol make diabetics prone to suffer and eventually die from stroke. Don’t wait for stroke to hit you. Empower yourself by heeding these tips to prevent stroke in diabetes. (more…)

Doctors say ‘brain attack’ can be prevented, but only if people with risk factors for stroke take heed of the warning. The American Stroke Association lists the following primary tell-tale signs of stroke which occur suddenly and last for minutes, hours, or even days.

• Numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Difficulty walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Severe headache with no known cause

To confirm above symptoms, patients are advised to undergo a practical FAST test (National Stroke Association).

F ACE (Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?)
ARMS (Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?)
SPEECH (Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Are the words slurred? Can he/she repeat the sentence correctly?)
TIME (If the person shows any of these symptoms, consider it an emergency. Physician’s care is crucial.)

Vanessa is distressed about her father who recently experienced a mini stroke attack, his second in a span of three years.  Her family didn’t make a big fuss at first since it was just a minor stroke.  After seeing a physician a couple times after the attack, his father returned to his old unhealthy lifestyle despite having been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes the year before.  The succeeding mild stroke, however, alarmed Vanessa’s father and the whole family. (more…)

Diabetes Mellitus is just one of the myriad of diseases prone to formation of blood clots which makes a diabetic in rendezvous with events like heart attack, stroke and blood vessel diseases involving the legs and feet. Uncontrolled blood glucose levels lead to dysfunction of the lining of arteries and veins causing coagulation or blood clotting defects. Platelets play a vital role in this coagulation system thru thickening of the blood resulting in clot formation and consequent impaired blood flow. (more…)