Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], December 29 (ANI/Mediawire): Did you know that every six seconds someone in the world dies from diabetes complications? Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the world – more than that from road accidents.
Roughly 90% patients of type-2 diabetes – the most common form of diabetes, have excessive body fat. That’s why doctors coined the word Diabesity to signify the close relationship between diabetes and obesity.
Diabesity is very costly to live with. If a normal weight person without diabetes spends for example Rs 1000 per year on healthcare, Diabesity sufferer may spend about Rs 4100 per year in comparison, due to regular medicines, tests etc. needed to monitor the disorder, which is over four times the cost a normal person shells out. These expenses only grow along with the progression of the disease and the complications it causes, as time goes by.
Although more men develop diabetes than women, women face more complications such as cardiovascular diseases, stroke, heart attack, depression etc. Among men, erectile dysfunction is the most common diabetes complication – about 75% of diabetic men suffer from it .
There is a feeling of helplessness amongst type 2 diabetes patients, which is reinforced by the strong social and medical belief since diabetes was described thousands of years ago as a condition that cannot be reversed.
A new approach to the old disease:
In treating diabetes, diet modification, exercise, oral hypoglycaemic medications have all proven inadequate, and insulin therapy may solve the problem only temporarily for many. Even the current advanced medicines may be inadequate to control the macro and microvascular complications developed, increased cardiac and stroke-related deaths, kidney failure, blindness, and foot amputations caused due to diabetes.
In the early 1980s, surgeons first realized that many patients with type 2 diabetes who had undergone bariatric surgery for the treatment of morbid obesity experienced a complete diabetes remission. Not only was it complete, this remission also proved durable.
Evidence that it works
This approach since then has gotten extensively researched, refined and used across the world for long-term reversal of diabesity i.e. diabetes and obesity. One of the most famous reviews that examined 15-year data of 1,35,246 bariatric surgery patients for obesity from 621 studies and found that overall, 78.1% of the patients from this group had complete diabetes resolution and in 86.6% of the patients the diabetes was improved or resolved
Is bariatric surgery the right option for your Diabesity?
The first step of this journey is to understand what obesity means.
Obesity is not measured only by your weight. The Body Mass Index (BMI), which measures your weight in relation to your height, is a common way to determine obesity and its severity.
World Health Organization (WHO) considers a BMI more than 30 as Class 1 obesity. BMI above 35 is Class II i.e., serious obesity, and BMI above 40 is class III i.e., severe obesity.
Minimally invasive bariatric weight-loss and diabetes surgery might be an option if your BMI is above 32.5 with type 2 diabetes, or for that matter any other obesity-related co-morbidity; or if your BMI is more than 37.5 without any co-morbidity.
Nowadays due to COVID 19, many bariatric surgeons offer online consultations. One could book an appointment at a center of one’s choice, and discuss the obesity issues they face, with the expert doctor from the convenience of one’s home.
Don’t be a victim of Diabesity or its stigma. Diabesity can be treated with lasting results. The time to act against it is NOW!
Disclaimer: This article is sponsored by J&J in public interest. The views and opinions expressed in the article by participating doctors are based on their independent professional judgment. J&J (P) Ltd., BCCL and its group publications disclaim any liability for the accuracy or consequences flowing from adherence to their expert views.
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