Mr. Jiang, 40, suffered a calf injury. The wound could not heal completely for three months, so he went to the outpatient clinic for treatment. After a blood test, it was discovered that he had diabetes. At first, Mr. Jiang was very nervous and unacceptable, but after a detailed explanation, Mr. Jiang was given 3 months of basal insulin treatment. Coupled with active diet and exercise control for six months, the glycated hemoglobin has dropped significantly from the original 13.6 to 5.6. (The diagnostic standard for diabetes is greater than 6.5; the normal standard is less than 5.7).
At present, blood sugar can be maintained within the normal range without relying on any medicine. For Mr. Jiang, he does not need to take medicine and does not need to worry about the complications of diabetes, which is equivalent to the fact that diabetes has been cured. .
Can diabetes be cured?
Wang Shunhe, an attending physician at the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Renai Campus, Taipei City United Hospital, said that diabetes is a chronic disease, which is different from a cold. A cold is cured and can be cured, but diabetes is like myopia. Once the eye disease appears, it will accompany the patient for a lifetime. The deeper the degree, the thicker the lens needs to be worn. Just like the more serious the diabetes, the more medicine is required, and even long-term use of insulin is required. But while diabetes cannot be cured, there are opportunities to alleviate it.
Diabetes can be remitted
Wang Shunhe explained that remission means that diabetes has the opportunity to return to a state that does not require medication. In this state, the patient only needs to It requires diet and lifestyle control, and blood sugar can be controlled within the normal range without the use of any drugs. In past studies, we found that obese patients who have just developed type 2 diabetes still have a certain degree of insulin secretion ability, so after substantial weight loss (more than 10% of body weight), there is a great deal of opportunity to achieve remission while also greatly improving quality of life, fatty liver disease, sexual function and reducing cardiovascular risk.
The chance of remission depends on the remaining capacity of the pancreatic beta cells.
The chance of remission depends on the remaining capacity of the pancreatic beta cells. Generally speaking, when diabetic patients are diagnosed with diabetes, the remaining secretory capacity of pancreatic islet beta cells in their bodies may be less than half of its original level. Therefore, if patients have been aware of high blood sugar for a long time, but have not continued to pay attention to and control blood sugar , islet cells will be like employees in a sweatshop. Because blood sugar is always high, they have to work overtime. Finally, the employees are too tired and have to leave.
If you have diabetes for more than ten or twenty years but your blood sugar has not been well controlled, you may have taken three or four types of oral hypoglycemic drugs at this time, or you may have started using multiple medications. Insulin, the remaining insulin secretion capacity at this time may not be too high, and the chance of remission is greatly reduced because of this.
Therefore, the sooner you can intervene to control your lifestyle, the greater your chances of remission will be. Even if you cannot achieve remission, you will be able to take less medicine in the future.
Lifestyle control still needs to be continued after remission
Wang Shunhe emphasized that although new-onset diabetes has a chance to be remitted, remission is not a cure. Patients still need to continue to exercise, control their diet, adjust their lifestyle, and reduce fatty liver disease. This does not mean that they can live a rich life from now on. And if the lifestyle becomes chaotic after diabetes is relieved, diabetes may still reoccur.