The sustained increase in life expectancy in the world population and the higher incidence and prevalence of diabetes in old age has led to an increase in the number of diabetics over 65 years of age.
In our country with an aging population, diabetes in old age is an important health problem and its treatment one of the most important medical challenges for the future.
It is necessary to distinguish people whose diabetes begins or is diagnosed after the age of 65, those whose illness begins at younger ages and today are older.
Diabetes in advanced age in general is very unsymptomatic and of insidious onset, due in large part to the elevation of the renal threshold for glucose that causes moderate hyperglycemia not to be accompanied by glucosuria, which explains the lack of polyuria and polydipsia .
It is for this reason that in most cases the diagnosis is made through routine laboratory tests or complications of diabetes.
Causes that cause diabetes in old age
Increasingly, we lead a sedentary life. Poor diet, lack of exercise and bad habits increase the chances of developing diabetes at older ages. In fact, if you have lived inadequate life habits for many years, there comes a time when the pancreas is not able to secrete enough insulin to regulate glucose levels and then diabetes appears.
In addition, recent studies also point to aging itself as a trigger for diabetes in old age.
Difficulties in the management of diabetes
Those of us who were diagnosed in youth or in adulthood are very familiar with the disease and we know how we have to take care of ourselves. But when an older person is diagnosed, controlling their glycemic indexes may be more complicated.
Most likely, your eating habits have to adapt to this new condition, even if you do not have the capacity to autonomously manage your illness.
Diet and sport
At certain ages, there are circumstances that can affect eating habits. Loss of taste, vision or mobility problems or the difficulty to chew can cause our elders not to correctly comply with the diet necessary to control diabetes.
As for physical exercise, it depends on the conditions of the person, but walking, swimming or dancing will help to maintain the controlled glycemic indexes and, consequently, diabetes.
Advice on care
To avoid forgetting, it is best to set alarms that remember the need for insulin or oral antidiabetics. In addition, it is not superfluous to stick in the refrigerator the new dietary pattern that has to follow.
Avoiding copious meals, alcohol and tobacco will also help improve the quality of life and will allow, from time to time, to indulge a treat like taking a sweet.
In the case of type 2 diabetes there is a clear difference between how it develops in young people and older people: and that among the elderly, some of the symptoms go unnoticed, because they are considered part of the normal aging process, and , sometimes, they are even undetectable
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