‘Silent killer’ diabetes can be managed through lifestyle changes: experts

Diabetes is a silent killer which, if allowed to reach an advanced stage, results in multiple organ failure. As the disease progresses silently and without any significant symptoms, it comes into the notice of the patient and his physician at a point when nothing can be done to undo the damage. 

This was stated by health experts and diabetologists and physicians at an awareness seminar on diabetes, and its prevention and control methods. The seminar had been organised by the Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Memorial Society (MKRF) and it was addressed by experts including Prof Abdus Samad Shera, Prof Zaman Shaikh, Prof Saeed A Mahar, Dr Masroor Ahmed, Prof Dr Najmul Islam, Dr Fareeduddin and several others.

Experts said diabetes, especially Type II, was a lifestyle disease and it grips people who live a sedentary lifestyle, have a family history of the disease, are of Asian origin and do not exercise to burn their body fats and excessive calories.

Senior most diabetologist of the country, Prof Abdus Samad Shera, said Type II diabetes was a ‘symptom-less’ disease, which only comes into the notice of a qualified physician when he looks for the disease’s risk factors in a patient and asks the patient get him or herself screened for the disease.

According to him, people whose waist was more than 35 inches, had a family history of disease, were of Asian origin and obese, had the highest chances of having diabetes and added that such people should take extra care by controlling their diet and exercising a lot. 

He further claimed that most of the people were wrongly injecting insulin in Pakistan and some of them had lost their limbs and even their eyesight due to wrong injection of insulin. 

He maintained that their organisation was ready to provide insulin to all needy and deserving patients in the country.

Prof Saeed A Mahar said prevention was best course of action against Type II or lifestyle diabetes and urged people with a family history of diabetes to alter their lifestyles. 

Another renowned endocrinologist and physician, Prof Zaman Shaikh, claimed that diabetes was the most common disease in Pakistan, which afflicted almost 10 percent of Pakistan’s population. 

He said the disease silently damages kidneys, liver, eyesight and causes heart ailments and stroke but, unfortunately, most of the patients only get to know they have the disease when it reaches a stage where it is untreatable.

Several other experts also expressed their views on causes and prevention of diabetes and called for increasing awareness about the disease among the general masses.