Question

Your patient is a 32-year-old sedentary male with a BMI of 36. He has no scientific or healthcarerelated

education whatsoever, aside from what little he might remember from high school. His

fasting blood glucose reading today was 165 mg/dL and his A1c levels came back at 8.7%.

Explain, using language appropriate for his education level:

a. That he is diabetic, and what that physiologically means.

b. What he needs to do to control his diabetes and how each step works.

c. The consequences of his not following your medical advice.

Answer 1

a,The food that we eat is digested and sugar/glucose from the digested food reaches the blood.Glucose is the main source of energy for the body and it has to be converted to its energy form by a hormone named as insulin.Thus, the blood sugar level is maintained /regulated by insulin so that there is neither too much of glucose or too less of glucose level in the blood.When we suffer from diabetes, it means that  either insulin is no longer produced in our body or the produced level of insulin is not sufficient as a result of which when we eat glucose rich foods such as foods such as rice, breads, sweets etc, the glucose from it can’t be converted into energy.This glucose accumulates in the blood raising the blood glucose level and diabetes.

b.To control his diabetes, he should do the following:

• Normal body weight is to be maintained as overweight or high BMI pressurizes the body to use insulin properly.
• Exercise and physical activity about 90 minutes per day : This helps to breakdown glucose in the blood to give energy.
• A good meal plan: A good meal plan that includes diet rich in whole grains, fiber, good fats, vegetable oils, and fish and at the same time avoiding intake of too much of carbohydrate, sweets,red meat would work well.
• Intake of medicines that activate the pancreas to produce more of the insulin.
• Intake of insulin where medication fails.

c.Consequences would be the following:

• Complications in eye:Diabetes could lead to cataract, glaucoma etc.
• Complications in foot:causes ulcers and gangrene in foot.
• Heart problems :causes ischemic heart disease in which heart fails to receive blood.
• Hypertension:High blood pressure that could lead to heart attack and stroke.
• Ketoacidosis:Ketone bodies accumulates in blood.
• Neuropathy :Damage to nerves
• Nephropathy:Damage to kidney
• Stroke:With high blood sugar that causes high blood pressure could lead to stroke.
• Healing of wound: