The amazing history of dissociative identity (DID), some say, dates back to Paleolithic cave paintings in the images of shamans. Others suggest that the history of dissociative identity disorder dates back to reports of demonic possession that are now thought to be incidences of dissociative identity disorder. Either way, it's clear that dissociative identity disorder has a long history and is not a new concept (while the terminology now used may be new).

The Early History of Dissociative Identity Disorder

In 1791, the first detailed account of "exchanged personality" was written about a 20-year-old German woman who began to speak perfect French, behave like a French aristocrat and spoke German with a French accent. When she was the "French Woman" she remembered everything she did but as the "German Woman" she denied any knowledge of the "French Woman."

DID was focused on for study between 1880 and 1920 and in 1944, 67% of all known cases had been reported during that time. Case reports of dissociative identity disorder then fell off dramatically perhaps due to the increased diagnosis of schizophrenia and due to the rise of Freud.

The 20th Century History of Dissociative Identity Disorder

In the 1970s, the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder rose dramatically after the publication of the extremely popular book, Sybil, in 1973. In the 1970s alone, it is thought that more cases of DID were reported than in all of history since 1816 and the famous case of Mary Reynolds. Between 1991 and 1997, over 500 cases of DID were admitted to a single dissociative disorders treatment center in Dallas, Texas.

Additionally, as more and more cases of DID were reported, more and more alternate personalities (alters) were reported in each case. The majority of cases noted by 1944 manifested with only two personalities, while there was an average of 15.7 alters noted in cases reported in 1997.
In current day, controversy still rages around DID, its diagnosis and whether the disorder even exists.

The History of Dissociative Identity Disorder in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"

The history of dissociative identity disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) goes back to its first edition in 1952. At that time, dissociative disorders were included as psychoneurotic disorders, in which anxiety is either "directly felt and expressed or . . . unconsciously and automatically controlled" by various defense mechanisms." Under this label, the following dissociative disorders were listed:

• Depersonalization
• Dissociated (multiple) personality
• Stupor (impaired consciousness wherein the person barely reacts to environmental stimuli)
• Fugue (pathological state of altered consciousness)
• Amnesia
• Dream states
• Somnambulism (sleepwalking)

In the DSM-II, in 1968, dissociative identity disorder was called hysterical neurosis, dissociative type and was defined as an alteration to consciousness and identity.

In 1980, the DSM-III was published and the term "dissociative" was first introduced as a class of disorders. In the DSM-IIIs text revision (DSM-III-R), an essential feature of dissociative disorders was "a disturbance in the normally integrative functions of identity, memory, or consciousness . . ." This rather liberal diagnosis may be partially responsible for the vast uptick in diagnoses of the new diagnosis of "multiple personality disorder."

The DSM-IV, in 1994, addressed this somewhat as it included the specific criterion of amnesia to the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder, now renamed to dissociative identity disorder. The criteria for dissociative identity disorder was now:

• The presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states (each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self).
• At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior.
• Inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
• The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., blackouts or chaotic behavior during Alcohol Intoxication) or a general medical condition (e.g., complex partial seizures). Note: In children, the symptoms are not attributable to imaginary playmates or other fantasy play.

The DSM-5 changed this definition to allow self-reports and specify that amnesia may occur with regards to everyday events and not just traumatic ones. For more on DID in the DSM-5, go here. You can see a list of the different types of dissociative disorders here.

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Type 2 diabetes symptoms are usually clear and specific. When you notice some of them, it’s important to see your doctor for an evaluation. The presence of symptoms, of course, doesn’t automatically mean that you have type 2 diabetes. The strong correlation between type 2 diabetes symptoms and the disease simply alerts you to the possibility that something is going wrong with your metabolism. Having your symptoms checked can help you control the disease and take charge of your health. Here’s a look at type 2 diabetes symptoms to watch for.

List of Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms

Common type 2 diabetes symptoms include:

• Frequent urination
• Excessive thirst
• Increased hunger
• Blurred vision
• Frequent infections
• Slow-healing cuts or sores
• Gum problems/gum disease
• Dry, itchy skin
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Numbness or tingling in hands and feet
• Change in weight (some people gain weight while others lose weight)
• Flu-like feeling
• Yeast infections
• Erectile dysfunction

What Causes the Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes?

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder involving blood sugar and insulin. In type 2 diabetes, the body either produces too little insulin or can’t use its insulin efficiently. The inability to use insulin is called insulin resistance.

When you eat carbohydrates, your body digests them into glucose (sugar). The glucose enters to the bloodstream so it can travel throughout the body entering cells. Glucose, though, is locked out of the cells and needs a key to get in. That key is the hormone insulin. In type 2 diabetes, insulin doesn’t work correctly, and glucose is left floating around in the bloodstream. The result is high blood glucose (high blood sugar), a condition called hyperglycemia.

When glucose can’t get into the cells, you experience a lack of energy and the symptom of fatigue. Hyperglycemia is dangerous, and insulin resistance affects all parts and systems of your body. For example, kidneys have to work extra hard to filter out all of the excess sugar, and they draw fluid from all parts of the body leading to things like thirst, dryness, and blurred vision. High blood sugar damages nerves, causing the tingling sensations or numbness that are often symptoms. Hyperglycemia also negatively affects the body’s ability to heal cuts and infections, including the mouth’s ability to fight germs.

Knowing the symptoms and why they occur is important. Also important is understanding when the symptoms occur.

When Do Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms Occur?

The onset of type 2 diabetes symptoms is different than in type 1 diabetes  ("What Is the Difference Between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?"). In type 1, the immune system turns against the pancreas and destroys its ability to make insulin. Once the immune system attacks the pancreas, the process can be fast and the symptoms appear suddenly and often severely.

Type 2 diabetes develops more slowly—over months and often years. Because of lifestyle factors such as inactivity, unhealthy diet, and overweight or obesity, insulin resistance builds progressively as fat accumulates in the tissues and interferes in the ability of glucose to reach the cells.

Diabetes type 2 builds gradually enough that there is almost always a period called prediabetes in which blood glucose levels are elevated but lower than what is required for a diagnosis of diabetes. Unfortunately, there are typically no prediabetes symptoms to alert you that you have hyperglycemia. How doctors evaluate people, in this case, is to consider their risk factors, especially lifestyle factors mentioned above, and, if necessary, monitor blood glucose levels every one to three years to watch for the development of type 2 diabetes.

It would be nice to know diabetes symptoms early, but symptoms don’t begin to appear until blood sugar levels climb high enough. As glucose builds in the bloodstream, type 2 diabetes symptoms begin to appear. They’re often mild at first, but as hyperglycemia intensifies, more symptoms appear and they’re more noticeable.

If you notice any of the type 2 diabetes symptoms, use them as a call to action. Consult with your doctor and work with him or her to develop a treatment plan ("What Are Diabetes Treatment Guidelines?"). You can control your blood sugar and experience “symptoms” of wellness rather than symptoms of diabetes.

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Dissociative disorders can be agonizing to live with. Read through these dissociative disorders, dissociative identity disorder information articles and you'll understand why.

Dissociative Disorders Information

• What Are Dissociative Disorders? Definition, Causes, Facts
• What Is Dissociation? Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment
• Types of Dissociative Disorders, List of Dissociative Disorders
• Dissociative Disorder Symptoms: Living with a Dissociative Disorder
• Dissociative Disorders Treatment
• What Is Dissociative Fugue? Definition, Symptoms, Treatment
• Dissociative Amnesia: Deeply Buried Memories
• Depersonalization Disorder: An Out of Body Experience

Dissociative Identity Disorder Information

• What is Dissociative Identity Disorder?
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Signs and Symptoms
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) DSM-5 Criteria
• What’s It Like Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
• Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder Alters
• How is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Diagnosed?
• Causes of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Treatment Challenging
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Treatment Centers
• Dissociative Identity Disorder Controversy: Is DID Real?
• Real Dissociative Identity Disorder Stories and Videos
• Dissociative Identity Disorder Cases: Famous and Amazing
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Statistics and Facts
• The Amazing History of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
• Celebrities and Famous People with DID
   

Books on Dissociative Identity Disorder

• Books on Dissociative Identity Disorder Issues for Patients, Friends, and Relatives

Videos on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

• Videos on Dissociative Identity Disorder

Blogs on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

• Dissociative Living 

Conference Transcripts on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

• Coping with Memories Associated with Sexual Abuse
  Guest: Dr. Karen Engebretsen-Larash
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Working With Your Alters
  Guest: Anne Pratt, Ph.D.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder, Multiple Personality Disorder: To Integrate Personalities or Not to Integrate
  Guest: Paula McHugh
• Living Day-to-Day with DID/MPD
  Guest: Randy Noblitt, Ph.D.
• The Damage Caused by Sexual Abuse
  Guest: Dr. Heyward Ewart
• Trauma and Dissociation
  Guest: Sheila Fox Sherwi

Knowing what diabetes symptoms and signs are is vital to your current health and prognosis, or long-term outcome. For all adults, men and women, understanding diabetes symptoms will help you know when to visit your doctor for a possible diabetes diagnosis.  

Over seven million people in the United States have diabetes but don’t know it (American Diabetes Association, n.d.). The fact that seven million people are undiagnosed is a bit alarming, for diabetes is a serious illness with negative, long-term health consequences. Two big reasons that this disease goes undiagnosed are that in many cases of type 2 diabetes, symptoms are subtle at best and nonexistent at worst; also, many times people are unaware of the symptoms of diabetes so they don’t know what to look for.

Let’s look at diabetes symptoms so you recognize the signs of diabetes in yourself or a loved one.  These are diabetes symptoms in adults, but they can apply to children as well.

Diabetes Symptoms

General signs and symptoms of diabetes include:

• Increased thirst
• Increased hunger, especially after eating
• Frequent urination
• Extreme fatigue
• Dry mouth
• Blurred vision
• Weight loss despite increased hunger and eating
• Numbness or tingling in the hands and feet

Other symptoms that are considered severe and are associated with type 1 diabetes are

• Deep, rapid breathing (Kussmaul respirations)
• Flushed face
• Fruity breath
• Nausea or vomiting
• Stomach pain
• See "What Are Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms and Signs? "

In addition to the general signs and symptoms, these symptoms are often part of type 2 diabetes:

• Frequent infections
• Slow-healing sores or cuts
• Dry, itchy skin
• Weight gain (or, sometimes, weight loss)
• Flu-like feeling, feeling vaguely unwell
• Formation of dark patches on the skin, especially around the neck or armpits, a condition called acanthosis
• See  "What Are Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms?"

Any of these diabetes symptoms can occur in both men and women, but men and women also have unique symptoms.

Diabetes Symptoms, Men

These are diabetes symptoms in men:

• Erectile dysfunction
• Retrograde ejaculation
• Low testosterone (low T)

Diabetes Symptoms in Women

These diabetes symptoms are unique to women:

• Vaginal yeast infections
• Vaginal dryness
• Urinary tract infections
• Decreased sex drive
• Diabetes symptoms when pregnant, if they occur, are similar to the general symptoms of diabetes

If you notice any of these symptoms of diabetes, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor for an evaluation. He or she will ask you about your symptoms and talk to you about risk factors. If the doctor suspects that diabetes is a possibility, you’ll take one or more tests to see if your symptoms point to this disease.

Especially with type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes (diabetes occurring during pregnancy), symptoms can be nonexistent at first and develop very gradually while remaining mild. For this reason, if you have any diabetes risk factors, it’s important to see your doctor for check-ups and screenings every one- to three years.

Knowing the symptoms of diabetes will help you get diagnosed and begin treatment faster if you do have any type of diabetes. Learning diabetes symptoms is a way of taking charge of your health and wellbeing.

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A diabetes support group is, for many people, a vital part of their diabetes management. These groups are communities of people who are living with diabetes, and they can make a significant, positive difference in the lives of the members. In a diabetes support group, people come together to share their stories and experiences and to learn how to cope with this difficult illness.

Diabetes can be an exhausting illness. The demands of keeping your blood sugar under control can be overwhelming, and it’s disheartening when, despite your best efforts, your blood sugar still soars and plummets. It’s tempting for many people to throw their hands up in frustration and give up. Managing physical health is difficult, and so is maintaining mental health in the face of everything happening with the illness ("Diabetes and Mental Health: How One Affects the Other").

It can be hard to communicate the depth of emotions and thoughts to someone who doesn’t live with diabetes. Even when you do have someone in your life who is a great listener, they might not be able to give you the practical input you need or tips you can use to make management easier. For these reasons and more, diabetes support groups can be extremely beneficial.

Benefits of Joining a Diabetes Support Group

Participating in a support group just for people with diabetes can bring multiple benefits. Among them:

• Making connections with people
• Feeling less isolated and alone
• Gaining strength from other members (and you help others be strong, too)
• Sharing coping strategies
• Exchanging practical tips related to diabetes treatment
• Gaining new ideas for meals and how to eat healthily
• Inspiring each other to exercise, perhaps through friendly challenges
• Providing encouragement and motivation to stick with your management plan
• Keeping everyone accountable for doing what they say they will do
• Boosting mental health, taming strong emotions
• Experiencing trust through shared knowledge and experiences

More than one type of support group for diabetes exists. While different, they all offer the same general benefits.

Types of Diabetes Support Groups

There are support groups specifically for type 1 diabetes (you might see these called juvenile diabetes support groups, as this disease typically begins in childhood or adolescence). Type 2 diabetes support groups exist as well. Further, there are general support groups for people with any type of diabetes.

Diabetes caregivers can even find support groups dedicated to their needs.
Also, there are different forms of support groups. Support communities can gather in person or they can meet in cyberspace—online or via an app. If you’re looking for a diabetes support group near you, use the following information to help you discover the right one for you.

In-Person Support Groups for Diabetes

Diabetes support groups can be found in communities across the United States and in other countries, too. The nature of the groups varies depending on the organization, the group leader, and what the members have decided what the group’s focus will be. You can talk to the leader and even attend a meeting or two to see if it’s what you are looking for.

Support groups that meet in a physical location allow members to connect in ways beyond what they can online. Also, many groups have speakers, help members find local resources and have fun events together.

How to find in-person diabetes support groups:

• Visit the American Diabetes Association and use their support group finder
• The Defeat Diabetes organization also has a support groups finder
• Find events in or near your community. Attending educational presentations, organized walks or runs, and more will help you meet people and learn of existing support groups
• Check with your doctor, therapist, and others on your diabetes care team, community center, and library for information about support groups.

Online Support Groups and Apps for Diabetes Communities

These are often very large communities of people from all walks of life, all of whom are looking for ways to deal with their illness and help others deal with theirs. These are convenient because you can access them whenever it works for you, and you can often pick and choose topics you need.

The safest groups that provide the most reliable information are those that are associated with a professional organization. Ideally, they’ll be a moderator who removes or clarifies inaccurate information.

There are information groups on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and while sometimes these are positive, supportive, and useful, they can be inaccurate and thus dangerous to your physical and mental health.

A few online support groups that are reputable include:

• American Diabetes Association
• Diabetes Daily
• Diabetes Sisters
• Diabetic Connect

Apps that stand out as excellent and safe include:

• Reachout
• HelpAround
• Carenity

No matter how you prefer to connect, joining a diabetes support group can be a helpful boost for your quality life with diabetes.

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Knowing what type 1 diabetes symptoms and signs are can prevent the disease from suddenly becoming so severe that you or a loved one, including a child, loses consciousness. This type of diabetes can be life-threatening when left untreated; therefore, identifying diabetes type 1 symptoms allows you to treat it, manage it, and live well. Read on to learn about the symptoms of type 1 diabetes.

Where Do Diabetes Symptoms Type 1 Come From?

Diabetes is a disease in which the body can’t correctly metabolize glucose (sugar). Carbohydrates you eat are digested into glucose. Glucose enters the bloodstream and travels throughout the body to enter all of your cells for energy. The cells won’t allow glucose to enter on its own. For glucose to get in, it needs a hormone called insulin to unlock those cells. Normally, this is a seamless process, but in diabetes, there’s a problem with insulin so that glucose is left stranded in the bloodstream where it builds to dangerous levels. This condition is called hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia causes serious health problems.

Type 1 diabetes is not just a metabolic disorder but is also an autoimmune disorder. This means that the body’s immune system attacks a part of its own body. In type 1 diabetes, it attacks an organ called the pancreas and the insulin-producing beta cells inside it. The body is unable to produce insulin. Without treatment for diabetes, the body can’t regulate blood sugar.

The lack of energy in the cells, because glucose is locked out, is behind the overwhelming fatigue and hunger that are signs of diabetes. Further, hyperglycemia is the cause of many of the type 1 diabetes symptoms. The kidneys kick into overdrive in an attempt to flush out all of the extra blood sugar. As a result, too much fluid is drawn from the body. This impacts the functioning of body parts and systems. The circulating glucose itself does damage, too.

The mechanism of diabetes provides a context for the symptoms. The following list highlights diabetes symptoms and signs.

What Are the Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes?

The following are the symptoms of juvenile diabetes. Juvenile diabetes is the former term for type 1 diabetes, but because this disease can potentially develop in adults, type 1 is a better term. These symptoms appear in children, teens, and adults:

• Excessive, unquenchable thirst
• Frequent urination
• Increased appetite
• Weight loss despite eating
• Numbness or tingling in hands and feet
• Blurred vision
• Dry mouth
• Dry skin
• Fruity breath
• Rapid, deep breathing
• Stomach pain
• Nausea or vomiting
• Flushed face

In type 1 diabetes, symptoms typically appear quickly, over the course of just weeks rather than the months or years of type 2 diabetes symptoms. Also, symptoms can be severe, which is an indication that blood sugar is out of control and immediate medical attention is needed.

The symptoms of type 1 diabetes serve as warning signs. When you heed these symptoms and signs, you’ve already begun to control not just the symptoms but the disease and your life.

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Vision loss from diabetes is common ("Diabetes Complications: Diabetes and Eye Problems"). Diabetes is a top cause of blindness in the United States; astonishingly, over seven and a half million Americans over the age of 40 have a form of vision problems and loss called diabetic retinopathy (Alvarado, 2017). Let’s examine vision loss from diabetes and the resulting anxiety.

Why Does Vision Loss from Diabetes Happen?

The nature of diabetes explains why eyes are damaged. When we eat, food is digested into glucose, or sugar. This sugar is meant to enter the body’s cells to provide energy; however, in diabetes glucose can’t get into the cells because of a problem with the hormone insulin. Insulin unlocks cells for blood sugar to enter, but in diabetes, either the body can’t produce insulin (type 1 diabetes) or doesn’t use it efficiently (type 2 diabetes). Consequently, sugar remains in the bloodstream and builds to dangerously high levels, a condition known as hyperglycemia.

Chronically high blood sugar damages the small blood vessels that supply the eyes with oxygen and nutrients. People with type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes (a form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy and disappears after) can suffer eye damage, and almost half (40-45 percent) of those with diabetes have some stage of eye damage or vision loss (National Eye Institute, 2015). Some people are unaware of their developing eye problems. Knowing the symptoms is an important part of minimizing vision loss from diabetes.

Symptoms and Types of Diabetic Vision Loss

Initially, eye disease produces no symptoms. Damage from hypoglycemia is happening, but there are no obvious signs. Gradually, these symptoms appear:

• Blurred vision
• “Floaters” in your field of vision caused by bleeding from abnormal blood vessels
• Distorted vision
• Problems with night vision
• Permanent vision loss

Four primary types of diabetic eye disease cause blindness:

1. Diabetic retinopathy (changes to blood vessels in the area of the eye called the retina)
2. Diabetic macular edema/DME (swelling in the macula, an area of the retina)
3. Cataract (a clouding of the lenses of the eyes, making them opaque)
4. Glaucoma (a group of diseases that damages the optic nerve)

While people without diabetes can develop eye disease, these conditions are more common and occur earlier in people with diabetes. Eye damage is a real, and frightening, possibility, and it causes a great deal of anxiety and stress.

Dealing with Anxiety Related to Vision Loss and Diabetes

Diabetes is a difficult disease that impacts the whole person—every system in the body as well as mental health and wellbeing. Health problems, including vision loss, can happen at any time, and the possibility of blindness can be overwhelming. When someone has a diabetes-related eye disease, they often experience significant anxiety: worries, what-ifs, imagined consequences, and fear ("Diabetes and Anxiety: There’s Plenty to Be Anxious About").

Anxiety related specifically to diabetes and vision loss is common. Researchers in Australia discovered that almost 25 percent of people with diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema had anxiety about their eyesight (American Optometric Association, 2016).

Just as diabetes can cause vision loss, so, too, can stress. When stressed, the brain releases the hormone cortisol into the bloodstream. Cortisol damages the body, including the brain, eyes, and vision.

Understandably, people with diabetes often need help dealing with their disease and the accompanying vision loss and anxiety.

Prevention and Treatment of Diabetic Vision Loss, and Anxiety

While sometimes vision loss can’t be completely prevented, it can be slowed or minimized. Early detection of damage is critical; indeed, it can cut the risk of blindness by up to 95 percent (National Eye Institute, 2015). Important actions can help maintain eye health:

• Control blood sugar
• Exercise
• Maintain a healthy diet
• Get regular (at least once yearly) checkups with your ophthalmologist
• Seek timely treatment for any problems discovered
• Follow up with medical care as recommended by your doctor

Treating eye disease to minimize vision loss involves a variety of approaches, such as:

• Laser surgery to shrink abnormal blood vessels or burn leaky ones
• Injections into the eye of corticosteroids or an anti-VEGF treatment (anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
• Vitrectomy, or the surgical removal of the gel in the center of the eye

Additionally, there are low vision clinics and rehabilitation services available to help as well as vision-improving devices. Vision counselors help, too.

Treating anxiety is also important. When managing anxiety related to diabetic vision loss, certain areas are key. To reduce anxiety, build:

• A sense of control over your life and diabetes
• Acceptance of diabetes and eye disease
• Life goals and action steps to achieve them
• Mindfulness, the art of living in the present rather than in regrets about the past or worries about the future

Vision loss from diabetes is anxiety-provoking. By being proactive and taking measures to treat both diabetic eye disease and related anxiety, you can reclaim control over your physical and mental health.

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It’s possible for you to treat diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease with many long-term health consequences. While there is currently no cure, there are different ways to treat diabetes so it remains under control and you can live a full life. Learn ways to do that below.

As you treat and manage your diabetes, you won’t be alone. You’ll work with a treatment team consisting of multiple health care professionals that may include:

• Your primary care physician
• Diabetes educator
• Endocrinologist
• Ophthalmologist or optometrist
• Podiatrist
• Dentist
• Exercise physiologist
• Nutritionist
• Mental health therapist

Perhaps the most important person on your diabetes treatment team is you. When you take an active roll in your health and diabetes management, you will be more successful in leading a healthy life.

How Do You Treat Diabetes? Blood Glucose Monitoring

Diabetes is high blood glucose (blood sugar), or hyperglycemia. In diabetes, there is a problem with the hormone insulin that prevents glucose from entering the body’s cells. It thus accumulates in the bloodstream and your blood sugar levels become too high, leading to a host of health problems.

The first step in controlling your blood glucose levels is to know what they are so you can take measures to get them into the healthy range. You want your glucose to be 70-130 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter) before meals and lower than 180 mg/dL after meals. Knowing your numbers guides the actions you take as part of diabetes treatment.

Diabetes Treatment Medications

Diabetes is frequently treated with medication. Depending on the type and how it is affecting you, you may be prescribed insulin or other diabetes treatment medications ("Complete List of Diabetes Medications for Type 1 and Type 2").

Diabetes treatment with insulin is required in type 1 diabetes because the body doesn’t produce its own insulin. Insulin is sometimes used in type 2 diabetes treatment.

Diabetes treatment medications, including insulin, won’t be effective if used alone. Lifestyle is as important as medication for long-term management success.

Diabetes Treatment: Diet and Exercise

Everything you eat, both quality and quantity, has an impact on diabetes. The right diet lowers blood sugar and contributes to weight loss. (Obesity is a risk factor in type 2 diabetes.)

A helpful tool for people with diabetes is the glycemic index, a scale—numbering from one to 100—that rates how a specific food affects blood sugar. The lower the number, the less a food increases blood sugar. Foods below 55 on the glycemic index are best in a diabetes treatment diet.  Examples of such foods:

• Most fruits
• Vegetables
• Beans
• Minimally refined pasta and grains
• Nuts
• Low-fat dairy products

Additionally, a diet high in protein and fiber helps keep blood sugar under control.

Physical activity is an essential component of diabetes treatment. A sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy in many ways, including how it impacts blood glucose levels. Even mild exercise and movement every day helps reduce hyperglycemia.

Blood glucose monitoring, medications and insulin, and lifestyle components will always be necessary. There’s hope on the horizon for a new treatment that could be a diabetes treatment game-changer.

Diabetes Treatment: The Promise of Stem Cells

Researchers are going to the source of the problem: insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas that either don’t produce insulin (type 1) or don’t produce enough (occasionally in type 2). What if the body could regain the ability to make beta cells and thus insulin?

Diabetes treatment with stem cells could be the answer. Stem cells, found in embryonic tissue, some adult tissue, or made in the lab, can transform into any type of cell. Research continues to determine how to make stem cells get to the pancreas, turn into beta cells, survive as beta cells, and begin making insulin. In time, diabetes treatment with stem cells could provide consistent relief and improvement for those with this disease.

Diabetes Treatment: Unpredictable but Possible

Jordan Morris is a professional soccer player who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age nine ("What Are the Symptoms of Diabetes in a Child?"). Determined not to let the disease limit his life, he actively treated it, persevered, and has realized his dream of playing soccer professionally. He is thriving, but still, he admits,

“Even now, [diabetes] is still tough for me to deal with at times because it’s so unpredictable. You can eat the same food, do the same workout on two different days and your blood sugar will turn out differently.” —Jordan Morris, Jordan Morris Foundation for children with type 1 diabetes

He is proof that diabetes treatment is possible and allows you to live fully and accomplish your dreams. He also captures the difficulty of diabetes treatment and why daily blood glucose monitoring, using prescribed medications, including insulin, and daily self-care are vital ("Are There Natural Diabetes Treatments?"). Take an active role in your diabetes treatment to thrive in your life.

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Diabetes and ADHD, as surprising as it might first seem, are connected. Indeed, when a child has diabetes, their chances of having ADHD increase. This does not mean, however, that diabetes causes ADHD. The relationship between ADHD and diabetes isn’t cause-and-effect. It’s a correlation, which means that there is a definite relationship between them, but there isn’t a direct link.

If diabetes doesn’t cause ADHD (and, likewise, if ADHD doesn’t cause diabetes), what is their connection, and why is it important to understand? Exploring the relationship between the two will help you know what to be aware of so you can prevent problems by properly managing both.

The Correlation between ADHD and Diabetes: What and Why?

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is common in children with type 1 diabetes.  Typically, the ADHD that frequently occurs with diabetes is the inattentive type. Problems focusing and remembering information are much more common than hyperactivity among kids, adolescents, and adults with type 1 diabetes.

Studies have shown that children with type 1 diabetes are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children without diabetes. According to Elliot LeBow (2016), a certified diabetes educator, diabetes-focused therapist, presenter, and author of diabetes-related books, “[Many] people diagnosed [with type 1 diabetes] before age 17 have some level of ADHD with a predominately inattentive presentation.”

One caveat to the research-based observation that children with ADHD are more frequently diagnosed with diabetes is that these children typically have more opportunities to be observed by medical professionals.

Diabetes requires frequent doctor visits, which means that if someone does have ADHD, a doctor is likely to notice it. Children who visit the doctor infrequently may have ADHD that goes undiagnosed. This is a possibility to keep in mind, but it doesn’t mean that there is no correlation between ADHD and diabetes.

Age matters. The younger someone is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the more chance they have of experiencing more severe difficulties:

• Markedly decreased ability to pay attention
• Reduced information processing speed
• Difficulties with both short- and long-term memory
• Decreased executive functioning
• Decreased self-monitoring abilities

Knowing the connection can help parents, teachers, doctors, and caregivers watch for the development of ADHD symptoms and minimize their negative effect on the child’s functioning ("ADHD and Diabetes Symptoms Can Look Similar").

While most of the focus has been on type 1 diabetes and ADHD, researchers also study the connection between type 2 diabetes and ADHD.  Teens and young adults with ADHD appear to be at greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes than their agemates without ADHD. As before, this is a correlation rather than a cause-and-effect relationship. Now that a connection has been identified, further studies will attempt to discover the reason for this relationship.

Blood sugar plays a role in diabetes and ADHD. When blood sugar is chronically high (hyperglycemia) or chronically low (hypoglycemia), or swings between the two extremes are frequent, brain development can be negatively affected. Such severe effects of diabetes’s blood sugar problems can include physical changes in the brain itself, such as frontal lobe scarring or a decrease in gray matter. The earlier the diagnosis of type 1, the more extreme these effects can become. The changes in the brain are linked to the development of ADHD.

Given that the effects of diabetes impact the brain and contribute to ADHD, is it possible for a baby’s brain to be affected before even being born? Quite possibly, yes.

Gestational Diabetes and Later Development of ADHD

Just as there’s a correlation between diabetes in a child and the development of ADHD, studies show that it’s possible that gestational diabetes, or diabetes that develops during pregnancy and disappears a few weeks after childbirth, might be a contributing factor to the later development of ADHD in the child. Factors such as diabetes medication, the degree to which the mother’s blood sugar levels were controlled, and lifestyle components such as diet and exercise can influence later development of ADHD.

Conditions in gestational diabetes that have been found to increase a child’s risk of developing ADHD include:

• The use of diabetes medication (usually insulin) for more than two months during pregnancy
• High blood sugar in the mother
• Unmanaged or poorly controlled diabetes

Studies have indicated that when a mother has gestational diabetes or type 2 diabetes and blood sugar is uncontrolled or she takes insulin for more than two months, her child’s risk of developing ADHD increases by 23% (Medscape, 2016).

This correlation between gestational diabetes and ADHD doesn’t mean that someone with one will automatically develop the other. By understanding the correlation, it’s possible to make changes that can decrease risk and improve quality of life.

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Definitive dissociative identity disorder (DID) facts and statistics are in short supply due to a lack of DID-specific research and controversy around the disorder. That being said, there are some statistics and facts on dissociative identity disorder available.

Facts and Statistics About Who Gets Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative identity disorder has always been considered to be quite rare but it may be more common than previously thought and some estimate it to affect 1% of the population. This higher estimated prevalence may be due to the millions of now reported incidences of childhood abuse (Causes of DID).

Pathological dissociative states are less known in some parts of the world like China. Dissociation is more common in psychiatric patients than in the general population and even more common among those that have suffered childhood trauma.

Other facts about who gets dissociative identity disorder include:

• Dissociation is present in all races but is more common in American children.
• Females experience more childhood abuse than males at a ratio of 10:1 and thus more females suffer from DID.
• However, more males who have been abused may experience pathological dissociation.
• Dissociative identity disorder is typically caused by trauma occurring at less than nine years of age.
• Early age of abuse onset predicts a greater degree of dissociation.
• The average number of alternate personalities a person with DID has is between eight and 13, but there have been cases reported of more than 100 personalities within one individual.

Another statistic about dissociative identity disorder is that dissociative disorders were seen in 17.2% of a large inpatient group seeking treatment for substance abuse.

Statistics and Facts on Dissociative Identity Disorder Treatment

According to the paper, The Many Faces of Dissociation: Opportunities for Innovative Research in Psychiatry, published in the journal, Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience: the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology, "Dissociation and dissociative disorders can be treated successfully because they originate from a mechanism which is not pathological per se. Hence, dissociation and dissociative disorders are reversible subject to appropriate treatment."

However, no medication exists to address DID specifically. Medications may be prescribed in cases of DID to help deal with the distressing symptoms such as psychosis, anxiety and depression.

Other facts about dissociative identity disorder treatment include:

• Dissociative patients who are not appropriately treated or who attempt to treat themselves tend to get worse and DID then becomes one of the most difficult to treat psychiatric conditions.
• Alternate personalities (alters) do not integrate spontaneously.
• Untreated DID tends to leave the sufferer open to further abuse.
• The classic treatment approach as described by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) Treatment Guidelines, is called phase-oriented trauma therapy and consists of three phases: 1) stabilization, 2) trauma-work and 3) integration.

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