Diabetes has become a widespread disease with more and more sufferers each year. The scary trend is that patients are getting younger by the day. Now, we see more small children in schools having diabetes. This chronic disease doesn’t discriminate and has become prevalent mainly due to poor lifestyle choices these days. 

Diabetes in Thailand

• According to the Diabetes Association of Thailand, we have approximately 6 million diabetes sufferers here and that number will gradually increase. With Thailand‘s population standing at around 66 million, it means that 1 in every 11 Thai citizens are suffering from diabetes. This trend is absolutely worrying.

• 50% of diabetic patients in Thailand has chronic kidney disease. The information from the Kidney Disease Association found that diabetes is one of the key cause of kidney failure during its end stage. 

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when one’s blood glucose level is high. Blood glucose is the main source of energy and comes from the food we eats. Insulin, produced by the pancreas converts glucose into energy. Problem occurs when there is too much glucose and the body cannot produce enough insulin to do the energy conversion.

2 main types of Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes starts from chronic pancreatitis cause by autoimmune disease. This type of diabetes can be found in 5%-10% of all diabetic patients. The blood sugar level becomes abnormally high due to the lack of insulin. This type of patient needs insulin replacement injections to control the blood sugar level back to normal.

Type 2 diabetes is from the body cells that are resistant to insulin and is the most common among sufferers. Normally, every body cell uses insulin to burn sugar to synthesize energy. However, in this group of diabetic patients, it is found that the response or function of the response mechanism of the insulin receptor at the cell wall decreases. The pancreas works harder until it is fatigued or deteriorates and produces less insulin. Patient’s blood sugar will be very high and the insulin level will become lower.  It causes the cells to poorly burn the sugar into energy and in most cases, patients would normally need oral medication. We call this condition Insulin Resistance. 

Diabetes destroy cells 

Diabetes is a severe catalyst that causes secondary problems like heart disease, vascular disorder and also the main cause for kidney failure, blindness and amputation in adults. At the same time, diabetes causes premature aging because cells are destroyed during the disease process. The common thing between old age and diabetes is Glycation.

Glycation is a condition that refers to the reaction between glucose molecules that can stick to protein and fat, which make the molecules of such protein to deteriorate and lose its function. For example: Glycation that occurs with the nerves will cause diabetic patients to have peripheral neuropathy or what some people call, diabetes on the nerve endings. Glycation that occurs with the cardiac muscles will make the cardiac muscle cells weak. If it happens with the blood vessels, the blood vessels will degenerate and may cause the following; acute heart attack, kidney failure, artery obstruction and blindness. 

Know your sugar level 

Standard clinical measurement protocol states that, blood should be drawn from the vein. The sugar level after fasting for more than 8 hours should not exceed 100 mg/dL. If the value is between 100-125 mg/dL, it is considered to be pre-diabetes. If it exceeds 126 mg/dL for more than 2 consecutive times, it is then be diagnosed as diabetes. The targeted sugar level in a diabetic patient should not exceeding 90-130 mg/dL. 

Glycated Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) test is another diagnostic test that shows the accumulation of sugar or the true Glycation level in the red blood cells. The result are accurate and it allows us to better assess the diabetes. Patients can benchmark the sugar level for the past three months according to the life span of red blood cells. 

However, there are many limitations to HbA1c because it is only a value for the accumulation of sugar. Now, there is a new technology for blood testing, which is called Glycomark. It can assess fluctuating sugar levels because Glycomark has a shorter testing period (2 weeks instead of 2-3months (HBA1C)). 

Common diabetic symptoms are as follows:

• Polyuria and urinary frequency

• Often feeling thirsty and hungry 

• Blurry vision

• Chronic wounds that heal slowly

• Feeling pain and numbness at the hands and feet

Our comprehensive treatment approach

We can say that diabetes is mostly caused by sedentary lifestyle.  A lot of people acquired primary and secondary health issues without being aware of the consequence that such a lifestyle can have. Absolute Health Group Founder and CEO, Dr Chatchai Sribundit emphasizes that a well balanced lifestyle and healthy food have both long and short term benefits.

Therefore, managing diabetes cannot only be through medication but instead it should be managed with a holistic approach. The answer to this approach is Integrative Diabetes Management. The treatment protocols are as follows:

• Adjusting the metabolism of the body 

• Detoxifying toxin residue 

• Autologous injectable

• Diet & Nutrition

• Peptide and CPT/FCT