The American Diabetes Association sponsors American Diabetes Month in November each year.
Diabetes is a disease which is a leading cause of disability and death in America. Left uncontrolled, it is capable of causing some serious health problems, including kidney disease, nerve damage and blindness. More than 25 million Americans are cited as having diabetes; with another 79 million American adults at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
A normally functioning body controls its blood sugar (glucose) level through the hormone, insulin, which is produced by the pancreas. When an individual has diabetes, that natural ability of the body to regulate and control its blood sugar levels is interfered with. Diabetes can be a condition where the body is failing to produce adequate insulin; or a condition in which the cells of the body fail to respond properly to the insulin as they should.
Hyperglycemia occurs when the blood sugar levels in the bloodstream go too high, and can result in damage to the organs of the body.
Adult-onset diabetes, or Type 2 diabetes, occurs later in a person’s life. Although the pancreas gland is still capable of producing some insulin, the cells of the body have become resistant to it. Because those suffering from Type 2 diabetes often take medication rather than insulin injections, it is referred to as “non-insulin dependent diabetes.”
Type 2 diabetes is known to be caused by an unhealthy diet, obesity, lack of exercise—and alcohol abuse. For persons at risk of diabetes as a result of abusing alcohol, it becomes all the more important to prevent its onset through effective alcohol rehabilitation.
Narconon Arrowhead on Prevention
As a long-term residential drug rehabilitation and education center, Narconon Arrowhead has extensive experience in the rehabilitation of the alcohol addict.
The center staff is aware that alcohol abuse and addiction is known to cause numerous health problems which warrant a hard look by those who are themselves abusing alcohol; or who are wanting to help another handle their addiction to alcohol.
It is thought that consuming three or more drinks daily is likely to be causing irreparable damage to the drinker’s body. There are a host of alcohol-abuse related health conditions stemming from drinking too much alcohol. One of those is diabetes.
The consumption of too much alcohol is capable of causing pancreatitis– inflammation of the pancreas gland accompanied by abdominal pain—resulting in an impaired ability of the gland to secrete insulin. This ultimately leads to diabetes.
If the person already has diabetes, alcohol consumption poses an even greater danger, as it damages the liver—the organs that stores the body’s supply of glucose. As a result, the person’s glucose levels can become unstable, putting the person at risk of hypoglycemia (abnormally low blood sugar usually due to excessive insulin or poor diet).
Furthermore, heavy alcohol consumption over some years can cause Cirrhosis, a chronic injury to the liver primarily caused by alcoholism. It is a late stage of fibrosis (scarring) of the liver resulting in loss of liver function. Because the liver stores the body supply of glucose, this further impacts diabetes and diabetes-related health issues.
For an individual who is abusing alcohol, but has not yet developed diabetes or diabetes-related health issues, it is important to seek effective alcohol rehabilitation treatment. For those individuals who have already damaged their health to a greater or lesser degree, effective rehabilitation treatment remains vital to stopping the damage from worsening, and giving the body an opportunity to repair itself through healthy lifestyle changes and sobriety.
Narconon Arrowhead delivers a drug-free and holistic approach to rehabilitating the alcohol addict. The New-Life Detoxification Program phase of the rehab program is instrumental in helping former addicts in regaining their physical well-being, and could be of particular interest to an alcohol addict at risk of diabetes.