What is diabetes remission exactly?

Diabetes remission is a state in which diabetic people can maintain normal blood sugar levels without the use of diabetes medication or insulin. Significant lifestyle changes, such as weight loss, healthy eating, and regular exercise, are frequently used to achieve it. While diabetes remission is not a cure, it can significantly improve a person’s overall health and reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications.

Being diabetic and not having any complications is a blessing. Moreover, controlling diabetes can be hard, but when achieved paves away all the complications associated with it. Diabetes problems frequently share risk factors, and one issue might worsen another. Many patients with diabetes, for example, have high blood pressure, which exacerbates eye and renal illness. Diabetes raises triglycerides (a kind of blood fat) and LDL (bad) cholesterol while lowering HDL (good) cholesterol. Heart disease and stroke risk can be increased as a result of these alterations. In persons with diabetes, smoking increases the risk of heart disease.

Read more – best diet for diabetes Remission and control

Complications of Diabetes:

1.      Heart disease and stroke: Diabetes patients are twice as likely as non-diabetics to get heart disease or a stroke.

2.      Blindness and other vision issues:

a.  Damage to the retina’s blood vessels (diabetic retinopathy).

b.  The lens has become cloudy (cataract)

c.   An increase in the eye’s fluid pressure (glaucoma)

3.      Kidney damage: Chronic renal disease is caused by high blood sugar levels that damage the kidneys (CKD). CKD can lead to renal failure if not addressed. To survive, a person with kidney failure needs daily dialysis (a blood filtering procedure) or a kidney transplant. CKD affects around one-third of diabetic individuals. If your doctor does not test you for CKD, you will not know if you have it.

4.      Nerve damage (neuropathy): Nerve damage is one of the most prevalent diabetic consequences, causing numbness and discomfort. Nerve injury is most common in the feet and legs, but it can also impact digestion, blood vessels, and the heart.

5.      Amputations: Damage to blood vessels and nerves caused by diabetes, particularly in the foot, can lead to serious, difficult-to-treat infections. To control the spread of infection, amputation may be required.

6.      Gum disease can cause tooth loss and high blood sugar levels, making diabetes more difficult to manage. Gum disease has been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

7.      Depression is linked to diabetes, and the risk increases as additional diabetes-related health issues arise.

8.      Preeclampsia (high blood pressure induced by pregnancy), harm from delivering delivery, and birth deformities are all major issues that can occur if gestational diabetes is detected during pregnancy.

As diabetes is the cause of all the complications or complications that worsen the condition of diabetes; if blood glucose levels are controlled, the complications can be avoided. There is a concept of diabetes remission, which means a condition when your HbA1c levels/ blood glucose levels are below the diabetes range, and in that case, you do not have to consume any diabetes medication. In both cases i.e. control or remission, the complications associated can be avoided.

Tips for Control and Remission in Diabetics

Some tips to control and achieve remission of diabetes include:

• Maintain a healthy weight by consuming a well-balanced diet and exercising regularly.
• Regularly check blood sugar levels and make adjustments as needed.
• Stress can be reduced by using techniques such as yoga.
• Quit smoking and limit your alcohol consumption.
• Develop a personalized diabetes management plan in collaboration with a healthcare team.
• Keep up to date on diabetes research and new treatments.
• Maintain regular check-ups and screenings for diabetes complications.

But how can that be achieved?

·         The strongest data shows that weight loss is the most effective way to put diabetes into remission. If you have obesity, losing a significant amount of weight – 15kg – as fast and securely as possible after your diagnosis is more likely to put your diabetes into remission.

·         Following a healthy and weight-loss diet plan

·         Being physically active and coming out of a sedentary lifestyle

Further, even if you don’t achieve remission, losing weight has several advantages. Obese people have a higher chance of significant health problems like heart attacks, strokes, and some cancers. According to studies, decreasing merely 5% of your body weight can:

a.      Blood pressure and cholesterol levels should be reduced.

b.      increase the amount of sugar in your blood

c.       It’s also possible that you’ll require fewer drugs.

Does being in remission or controlled levels of blood sugar prevent complications?

You keep your blood sugar levels in a safe range by being in remission. Losing weight and being in remission can also help you maintain a healthy blood pressure and cholesterol level.

Having appropriate blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels is typically associated with a decreased risk of complications, such as major eye, foot, or heart issues. As a result, remission is likely to have the same effect.