What Exactly Is "Sweet Urine" ?

The Chinese and Malay refer to Diabetes as "Sweet Urine". In the past, this is the only way to find out if a person is a diabetic.

Today, diabetes is detected through blood test.

Some people who are not diabetic can have sugar in their urine and detection of sugar in the urine is no longer considered an accurate way of diagnosing diabetes.

Our blood sugar is controlled by a hormone produced by an organ in our abdomen called pancreas. This hormone is called insulin.

Insufficient insulin causes the blood sugar to rise, giving rise to the condition called Diabetes.

Diabetes can be divided into 3 types:

Type 1 Diabetes [Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus or IDDM]

- this usually occurs in children or young adults.

Type 2 [ [Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus or IDDM]

- this is the more common form of diabetes. It occurs mainly in adults and is frequently associated with obesity and hypertension.

Gestational Diabetes

- this diabetes occurring during a woman's pregnancy.

The most common symptoms of diabetes are:

- feeling tired and "run down'
- feeling thirsty
- passing large amounts of urine
- itching on the genital [private] areas due to fungal infection.

However, not everyone has these symptoms and many people discover they have diabetes during routine checks.

Type 2 Diabetes may be controlled with lifestyle modification such as diet, exercise, achieving ideal body weight and cessation of smoking. If this fails, oral medication is needed to normalise blood sugar level. Injections of insulin may be required in severe form of diabetes.

Diabetes affects every part of the body. Complications of diabetes include

*Eyes [blindness, cataracts],
*Kidneys [kidney failure],
*Heart [heart attacks, heart failure]
*Nervous system [loss of sensation in the legs and arms
*Increase risk of strokes
*Abnormal heart rhythms
*Abnormal functioning of the gut, e.g. poor digestion, diarrhoea or constipation
*Limb [amputations]
*Impotence
*Infection [increased risk of infection, poor healing of wounds]

Good control of diabetes can prevent or delay the development of such complications. So it is important to persevere with lifestyle modification and to comply with treatment.