‘Modifying lifestyle best way to prevent and manage diabetes’

International experts from 26 countries converge in city for two-day
International Diabetes and Endocrine Congress 2016

Karachi 

A renowned diabetic foot specialist from Tanzania, Dr Zulfiqarali G Abbas, said on Friday that over a period of five to seven years, diabetes damaged nerves in the feet of patients and even a minor injury or infection could lead to the amputation of the affected foot or leg if qualified doctor was not consulted immediately.

“Unfortunately, people in both Pakistan and my home country Tanzania try home remedies, visit quacks, hakeems and faith healers, and when the situation gets worst they approach a diabetologist, but often they are so late that doctors decide to amputate their foot to save their lives,” he said while addressing an awareness seminar at the start of International Diabetes and Endocrine Congress (IDEC) 2016 at a hotel here.

The seminar was the first session of the IDEC being organised by the Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology (BIDE) of Baqai Medical University. Over 50 foreign delegates, including diabetologists, dieticians, nutritionists and surgeons, from 26 countries and around 2,000 doctors and consultants from across Pakistan are attending the conference.

The public awareness session was aimed at creating awareness about diabetes, its causes, symptoms and living with Type I and Type II diabetes, which is commonly referred to as lifestyle diabetes. 

Experts from abroad and Pakistan answered different queries of participants regarding the onset of diabetes and its management with the consultation from experts.

Dr Abbas, who studied medicine at Sindh Medical College Karachi and went to Tanzania, said that due to diabetes, foot wounds get infected and are not easy to heal, and these unhealed wounds lead to the amputation of the foot and patients have to live a miserable life afterwards.

“If you are a diabetic, take good care of your feet. Keep your blood sugar normal. In case of any loss of sensation in either or both feet, see a qualified doctor. Don’t delay seeing a doctor or you or your loved one would lose his or her foot,” he warned.

Foreign and local health experts urged people to modify their lifestyle, change their unhealthy dietary habits, include exercise in their daily life and take precautionary measures to prevent themselves from Type II or lifestyle diabetes, which is the mother of most of the illnesses.

They said millions of Pakistanis were pre-diabetics or likely to have diabetes sooner or later in their lives, but they could live a happy and healthy life by educating themselves, learning about their health condition, changing their way of living and adopting a simple and healthy lifestyle.

Barbara Eichorst from Chicago, United States, said millions of people were living with diabetes in the world, but many of them were living almost normal lives like those who did not have diabetes by acquiring self-management education and changing their lifestyle.

“Lifestyle modification is the best medicine and approach in the management of diabetes and the good thing is that it is absolutely free and costs nothing. The only thing required is constant education and awareness that is helping millions around the globe to deal with diabetes effectively.”

She urged the educators, doctors and diabetologists to educate masses about the diabetes and how to prevent it, saying sedentary lifestyle was the main reason and cause of causing Type II or lifestyle disease.

Another foreign specialist and athlete, Lucas Forgarty, from the US, said he was an insulin-dependent patient since his early childhood but he never considered his illness as an impediment and played soccer, baseball and basketball without any difficulty although he had to continuously monitor his blood sugar and take insulin daily or several times a day depending on the requirement.

He advised people to educate their kids about diabetes, saying he had seen many children who were well aware about the diabetes and its causes eat healthy food to avoid getting overweight. 

“Tell your kids diabetes is not a scary thing but the best way is to avoid getting this disease by having healthy habits,” he advised.

Erin Little, another Type I diabetic and social mobilize against diabetes, said that in India and Pakistan, rice and especially Biryani was the basic food stuff, instead of Pizza and burgers, which was causing diabetes, as it was completely carbohydrates with little protein and asked people in Pakistan and India to avoid eating too much rice.

She claimed that when she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, people in her neighbourhood claimed that she was “cursed” but she was not only living happily but also helping thousands of others in India to deal with disease.

Dr Jamal Zafar, a professor of medicine from PIMS Islamabad, said that in a country with millions of diabetics and millions others to become diabetics in coming years, the mission of doctors and educators should be the prevention of the disease, and urged the entire society to join hands and prevent the epidemic of the lifestyle disease.

“This mission starts from educating our children, who are ruining their lives by eating junk food and drinking fizzy drinks. In this way, we can save an entire generation from getting diabetes and make them productive members of society,” he added.

Renowned diabetologist Dr Zaman Shaikh urged people to seek qualified doctors and consultants for treatment of their disease instead of going to faith healers and quacks. He added that delay in diagnosis and treatment of diabetes often resulted in serious complications and life-threatening conditions.

“People ask why doctors prescribe too many medical tests and examinations when they visit them. I would say these tests are necessary for knowing the condition of the patient and suggesting medicine.”

Another senior diabetologist associated with BIDE, Dr Zahid Miyan, answered questions from participants and said Type I diabetes was not a very common disease in Pakistan, where hardly 1-2 percent people were suffering from this condition.

“But the most serious issue we are facing is Type II diabetes, which is happening due to our habits and lifestyle. We need to eat balanced food, exercise daily for an hour and live a simple life. Avoid getting obese as it is the main reason behind causing diabetes.”

The seminar was also addressed by the director of the Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology (BIDE), Dr Abdul Basit, artist Anwar Iqbal, educator Irum Ghafoor and Dr Musarat Riaz, while a dietician and a professional cook shared recipes for preparing low-calorie food for diabetes patients.

The IDEC 2016, formally inaugurated on Friday evening at Reagent Plaza, will continue for the next two days.

Number of diabetics

World renowned diabetologist and president of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Prof Abdus Samad Shera, on Friday feared that the number of patients with diabetes would be doubled in 2040 in Pakistan, saying that the country was currently facing an epidemic of diabetes and obesity, while around 14 million people could be potentially pre-diabetics without knowing their conditions.

“We are facing two epidemics at the moment — epidemic of diabetes and obesity. Currently there are around seven million diabetes patients in the county, while the same number of patients are pre-diabetics. We fear that the number of people with diabetes and those on the borderline would be doubled in the next 24 years”, he told the inaugural ceremony of a three-day International Diabetes and Endocrine Congress (IDEC 2016).

Prof Samad Shera, chairman of the Congress and the senior most diabetologist of the world, claimed that lifestyle diabetes or type II diabetes was initially a symptom-less disease which silently progressed and the victim only knew about it when it could not be reversed.

“Make it clear that frequent urination, thirst, throat dryness and other symptoms said to be associated with diabetes type are the symptoms of type I, which is a genetic and auto-immune disease. The diabetes we are facing these days is initially a symptom-less disease which does not show any symptom at least for six years”, he informed.

He advised people to eat less and walk more to avoid getting the lifestyle disease, saying people should know that their eating and living habits were resulting in causing them a disease which could not be reversed and could cause them immense problems later in the life.

“Anybody who is an Asian, is over 35 years of age, has 35 inches or above waist and has a family history of diabetes is at the risk of getting diabetes”, he informed.