Greetings,
with this post I want to introduce you to a new format of my blog which will cover all different kinds of topics concerning health-related subjects in general.
This will include stuff that is interesting and potentially important to every single person, no matter which background they have - I simply want to deliver more knowledge & attention to health-related content in a more or less adequate format for everybody.
One of the biggest problems in my opinion is that it is pretty hard & confusing to get appropriate information from the internet and filter the right & important facts - more so is it pretty exhausting to find an entry into the cryptical medical language.
Most of the content will be related to current topics or stuff related to my ongoing studies.
Please take to note of the fact that this is definitely not a blueprint to pass your next exam in medical school - you could take it as a guideline but this format is primarly considered to fit the needs and background of every Joe Doe.
So let's start!
Introduction to my persona
My name is Noor (21 y/o) aka "Noogie" and I am currently halfway trough studies at the Charité Universitätsmedizin in Berlin. Beside of my studies I am mostly doing all different kinds of sports - to the current state mostly Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling, Climbing and Swimming. I actually used to play soccer & swim competitively for about 8 years and there are also a lot of other types of sports I tried or used to practice back then. Other than that, I love to travel, learn new languages & get in touch with different cultures in my free time as a student living in Berlin.
In addition I love photography & art in general as well as every kind of philosophical exchange or scientific novelty 🤖
Diabetes - why is it so important?
Pretty much what all types have in common is that they are characterized by chronic hyperglycemia [high blood sugar levels over a long period of time] leading to a lot of different problems and secondary diseases & complications from digestive problems over losing eyesight to feet amputations -
I guess nowadays everybody already got in touch with that term/disease and is partly aware of it - so we want to dive a bit deeper into the topic and get a roundup overview of it!
First of all, it is important to mention that the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is talking about a "global epidemia" regarding the fact that aprox. 8,8% of world population is affected by the disease (mostly NA, Europe & South-East-Asia) - estimated about 463 mio. diabetes patients and 4.21 million deaths worldwide between 2015 & 2019! - in fact most of the cases of diabetes are Type 2 related (aprox. at least 90% speaking for Germany as a representation of all western countries) meaning they are actually more or less [easily] avoidable! (Just stick with me!)
So, a lot of people suffer & actually die due to an avoidable disease - the death rate among Diabetes patients is up to 16% e.g. in North America.
In 2017 1 out of 11 people worldwide had Diabetes - and 1 out of 2 persons with Diabetes does not even know about it meaning the estimated number of unreported cases is huge!
Diabetes is part of the so-called "diseases of affluence" als known als "diseases of rich people" which include cardiovascular problems (e.g. heart attacks, strokes & high blood pressure), different type of cancers (e.g. colon & lung cancer), neurologic diseases (e.g. dementia) & kidney diseases.
All "diseases of affluence" are non-communicable diseases and play a huge role in medical care in modern society concerning death rate & the financial aspect - communicable diseases on the other hand are the still #1 cause of death in poorer countries (e.g. Cholera, AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and so on)
The #1 cause is (as everybody knows) the modern-western lifestyle: meaning e.g. bad diet (e.g. to much of 🍕, 🌭, 🍔 & 🍟), daily stress 🕑🏃, no excersice ❌🏋️& genetic predisposition 🧬- we will talk more about these topics in general in the future.
All the different factors play together in the development of the so-called "metabolic syndrom" which lays the base for Type 2 Diabetes in most cases.
Nevertheless, it depends on the individual person and his/her susceptibility to get Diabetes Type 2 - quicker, slower or even potentially not at all!
I guess some facts raise questions, which all will be answered in the following episodes - thanks for your attention!
Checklist
By now ...
✅ you are sensitized to Diabetes affecting our society
✅ you know about the term "diseases of the affluence"
✅ you know some aspects of the cause to Diabetes Type 2
✅ tou know there are different types of Diabetes
✅ you know the difference between communicable & non-communicable diseases
I am really excited about this series and are happy to contribute to the community, so if you have any kind of suggestions or advice for improvement please let me know - see you soon!
Noogie 🙋♂️
What's Next?
That was the headstart into the topic of Diabetes - in the following episodes we will firstly differentiate into different types of Diabetes (we already dealt a bit with Type 2) - we will talk mainly about Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes as
well as MODY [Maturity-onset Diabetes of the Young], even tough there are more different types which are not really interesting for us at this moment.
In the next episode we will talk about the Type 1 Diabetes - stay tuned!
Disclaimer
The content shown here is no alternative to consulting a doctor – if you have any kind of health issues bothering you, firstly consider visiting a health-expert. This is just meant to feed your personal interests.
Sources:
- https://de.statista.com/themen/262/diabetes/
- Löffler/Petrides Biochemie und Pathobiochemie (2014)
- Gerd Herold, Innere Medizin (2020)
- https://www.diabetesinformationsdienst-muenchen.de/erkrankungsformen/typ-2-diabetes/verbreitung/index.html