Ayurveda and Diabetes

 Ayurveda is a natural medicine, or maybe more of eastern medicine. I think of it as non-allopathic medicine. It literally means when translated to sanskrit life knowledge or science. Ayur means life and veda means life or knowledge. The idea behind it is that imbalance in the body creates disease and balance prevents it. It is a concept that promotes the idea that a balanced lifestyle can be used as a preventative medicine. Ayurvedic medicine uses many natural products and practices like herbs and meditation to treat imbalances between the life forces and body. The primary focus is interconnectedness and balance between the two.

    Ayurvedic medicine or people that practice it are not licensed to do so in the United States. It is considered equal to western medicine in India though. There are some instances where ayurvedic medicine has shown to be complementary to western medicine but the substances used in ayurvedic medicine are considered dietary supplements not drugs. Due to this classification they can be agonists or antagonists of traditional drugs used in western medicine. This makes it very important that you tell your physician if any ayurvedic interventions are being used. Healthcare professionals should still be in charge of diagnostics and western medicine techniques should not be replaced by ayurvedic techniques. 

There are different small studies showing effectiveness of ayurvedic medicine in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, type II diabetes, and ulcerative colitis. To conduct these studie they compared the pain relief ayurvedic technique provided against the traditional treatment. There were comparably similar results for both routes for people with osteoarthritis in their knees. Results were similar for the rheumatoid arthritis study. The diabetes trial was said to be helpful but later researchers decided it was inconclusive. In the ulcerative colitis study turmeric was used and said to be “helpful” but not much evidence to prove anything. These studies show that there is potential for ayurvedic medicine in pain relief for specific diagnoses although they don't prove to be better than already used techniques by traditional health care professionals. Potentially useful techniques may not be fully safe though there is evidence showing people practicing these techniques have significantly higher levels of lead in their blood. As well as half the people testing high for lead also tested high for mercury and rarely there are instances of arsenic poisoning that are attributed to ayurvedic medicine. 

While this is one of the oldest techniques to treat disease there are five known principles. Those being vayu, jala, aakash, prithvi, and teja. Also known as air, water, space/ether, earth, and fire. In addition to these five principles there are three humors called the tridoshas; Vata dosha, Pitta dosha, and Kapha dosha. They are believed to control the human body's physiological functions. As well as the tridoshas there are subdoshas as well. Each controlling different parts of the body and important functions for basic health. Balance of these three tridoshas would be healthy and anything causing imbalance could result in disease. Ayurveda also believes in seven types of tissues, the Sapha Datus. They work together to create the balance that is health. 

In conclusion, Ayurveda is an ancient form of non-allopathic medicine. This consists of many principles that are believed to create the perfect balance that result in a healthy individual. There is not great scientific evidence of the effectiveness or safety of these techniques but they are based on using natural elements and practices such as herbs, meditation, yoga, and soil. There are studies with qualitative data saying some techniques reduced pain in specific diagnoses previously stated. There is quantitative data showing high amounts of metals that may be damaging in the blood stream of patients who practice these techniques.  Ayurveda is focused on the balances and imbalances between the body and life. Although this is a sacred practice in India and maybe other eastern cultures it's not a licensed therapy in the US today. 

What is diabetes? A disease that comes from an imbalance in glucose levels, there are different causes and treatments as well as different types of diabetes. The most common types are type 1 and type 2. Type 2 is more prevalent than type 1 but both have different onsets. Different factors play into each type differently but both result in imbalanced glucose levels. 

Type 1 diabetes usually has a sudden onset and occurs mostly in  young children. It can occur in all ages but much more common in adolescents. Insulin levels are usually absent or decreased compared to normal and these patients are often insulin dependent. Meaning they will need to inject synthetic insulin to maintain regular bodily functions. Usually patients with type 1 will be thinner and are at a higher risk for ketoacidosis. 

Type 2 diabetes is more common. It is usually present in obsese adults and in contrast to type 1 has a more gradual onset. Mostly in adults rather than pediatrics which is opposite of type 1 as well and they also have a lower risk for ketoacidosis. Their insulin levels may be decreased, increased, or even normal. This is much more common in the United states. 90-95% of the diabetics are type 2 this could correlate with the obesity levels in the states. 

There are many causes of type 1 diabetes such as hereditary predisposition. Environmental factors can also be a cause of T1 as well as damaged or removed pancreas. There are many other causes as well. The treatments are taking insulin and managing blood glucose levels. There are different ways this can be done as well. You can do this manually and in intervals measure your blood glucose and take the right amount of insulin through a calculation that mostly needs to be done before eating. Another way is to have this done automatically you can get two devices that you insert into your kin as ports and they check your blood glucose and then another device to inject the insulin accordingly. There's currently no cure for type 1 diabete. 

Type 2 diabetes can be a result of many things controllable and noncontrollable. Controllable factors are level of physical activity, high body fat or weight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. Uncontrollable factors include gestational diabetes, race/ethnicity, age over 45 years, family history of diabetes. The two most common causes are obesity and inactive lifestyle. Type 2 diabetes management usually involves weight loss, healthy eating, regular exercise and things along those lines. There is no cure for T2 as of right now. 

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that is onset or first diagnosed during pregnancy. This type of diabetes changes how your cells use glucose. In most circumstances functions return back to normal after delivery but it does put you at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. There are people that become permanently diabetic from gestational diabetes as well. This disease is scary because it can affect the health of the mother and her baby but can be managed by controlling blood pressure, eating healthy, and the use of some medications. It is unsure the cause of gestational diabetes but it has been hypothesized that it can be due to a hormonal shift that happens during pregnancy and the great impact multiple hormones have on regulating blood glucose levels. One of the major effects this can have on your baby is it can be born hypoglycemic which may lead to it having seizures. Another result can be a stillbirth so it is extremely important to visit your doctor before getting pregnant to understand your risk of getting gestational diabetes. There are not very many symptoms that can indicate this sometimes frequent urination but frequent urination is common for pregnant people. 

Outside of diabetes there are multiple physical inactivity related causes of deaths that take many lives in the United States every year. These diseases include heart disease, malignant neoplasms, cerebrovascular diseases, and essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease. All of these were in the top 15 leading causes of death in 2013. Obesity severely slows metabolism which increases risk for imbalances in the body. If we are looking at the standard of ayurveda these imbalances are what cause the disease.

Diabetes is a very costly disease they actually spend more than double what other patients spend annually on average. Costs have increased and are continually rising in the United states. In 2012 it was estimated that the cost of diabetes was 245 billion dollars. Not only is diabetes expensive on its own, the effects of diabetes lead to costly medical care as well.  Hypoglycemia that requires hospitalization on average costs 16,000 + dollars every time it occurs. Of course this is sometimes avoidable by proper management but is sometimes very hard to control. The most expensive procedure that diabetes can induce is renal disease which is about 71,000 dollars. This doesn't even take into consideration the disability and sometimes inability to work due to diabetes or obesity. 

The economic costs of diabetes can be detrimental to diabetic patients. The price of insulin right now can range from 300-1000 dollars for a one month supply. Insulin is not the only thing diabetics need but due to the insane cost that has risen 54% 2014-2019 is very dangerous. One effect of these high prices can be insulin rationing due to the inability to have enough to adequately manage the disease. Inadequacy to manage diabetes can be fatal for patients or lead to things such as diabetic comas which as stated above cost even more per every event. 

In conclusion, Ayurveda is an ancient form of non-allopathic medicine. This consists of many principles that are believed to create the perfect balance that result in a healthy individual. Diabetes would be an example where an imbalance in the body results in a disease or illness. Diabetes has an imbalance in blood glucose levels. There is not great scientific evidence of the effectiveness or safety of these techniques but they are based on using natural elements and practices such as herbs, meditation, yoga, and soil. There are studies with qualitative data saying some techniques reduced pain in specific diagnoses previously stated. There is quantitative data showing high amounts of metals that may be damaging in the blood stream of patients who practice these techniques.  Ayurveda is focused on the balances and imbalances between the body and life. Although this is a sacred practice in India and maybe other eastern cultures it's not a licensed therapy in the US today.