Category: Diabetes
Can you suffer from diabetes even if no one in your family suffers from diabetes?
There are many people who believe that they will not suffer from diabetes if no one in their family has diabetes. This belief of people is wrong as you can have diabetes even if your family members don’t have diabetes. The genes of a person are not the right parameter that people should use to check if they will get diabetes or not. These genes can only increase or decreases the chances of diabetes. For instance, if your parents are suffering from diabetes, then you are at a higher risk of suffering from this problem. However, this does not mean that if your parents don’t have diabetes you will not have this problem.
Apart from genetics that there are several other factors that can increase the risk of diabetes. For instance, the environmental factors like lack of physical activity and unhealthy diet can increase the risk of diabetes. When a person eats unhealthy food and does not exercise regularly, they are more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes and obesity. There have been several instances in the past where parents of a person suffer from diabetes and their children don’t suffer from diabetes because they eat healthy food.
Environmental factors have little role to play in lives of people who suffer from type 1 diabetes. However, exposure to certain viruses and toxins can increase the risk of type 1 diabetes. Therefore, it is important that you understand the factors that have caused diabetes and take steps to correct the problem.
Types of insulin pumps available in the market
Insulin helps in regulating the glucose level in the body and deficiency of glucose can lead to diabetes. At times, people may require external supply of insulin because their body may not be able to produce the required insulin. To fulfil this gap people use injections or advanced insulin pumps.
There are several types of insulin pumps available in the market depending on the requirement of the use. These pumps are battery operated devices that contain a reservoir that contains insulin and a microprocessor that helps you adjust the amount that needs to be delivered. It also contains an infusion like that is attached to a tube called cannula which must be replaced in a few weeks. These infusion pumps are different from implantable pumps because they need not be implanted in the body. People can use these pumps with going through a surgical procedure.
The type of insulin pump that you buy will usually depend on the way you plan to attach it to the body. There are three types of insulin pumps namely implantable pumps, insulin pumps that are attached to tubes and tubeless insulin pumps that you can choose from.
Implantable Insulin Pump
These pumps are implanted under the skin using a surgical procedure. Even though these pumps are implanted under the skin, they must be refilled in about 45 days. These implantable pumps are a boom to people who hate pricking themselves or avoid using a bulk monitoring system.
These pumps work by delivering the required dose at regular intervals. There are many scientists who are working on implantable devices that can be attached to pancreas. These pumps will automatically release insulin to ensure the normal working of the pancreas.
Once these pumps are implanted, you don’t require regular treatment to control your blood glucose level. Also, this device does not contain any electronic device which makes it more durable when compared to normal pumps.
Insulin Pump Attached by a Tube
These pumps are one of the most commonly used pumps. These pumps are small devices that you can put in your pocket or attach to the waist band. The insulin in the pump enters the skin with the help of strong but flexible tubes.
These pumps are just like any other pumps and you don’t have to prick yourself every time you use the pump. The length of the tube various depends on the height of the person. When using the pump, it is important that you decide the disconnection of infusion set. It is a good idea to buy a pump that allows disconnect of infusion set from cannula as people with weak eyesight may not be able to disconnect easily it the place of disconnection is changed.
Tubeless Insulin Pump
This pump works by injecting insulin directly on the skin and does not use tubes to inject insulin. The insulin comes in two parts – Personal Diabetes Manager and the Pod. The power supply mechanism, infusion set, reservoir and the pumping mechanism all help in injecting the right supply of insulin on the skin.
It is a highly durable device as it is waterproof and you can carry out any activity without any difficulty. Also since this pump does not have tubes, they can be easily installed. They are lightweight and you can carry them without any difficulty.
