Diabetes is a condition which causes a person`s blood sugar levels to become too high. There are two types of diabetes: type I diabetes (when the body`s immune system destroys the cells responsible for insulin production) and type II diabetes (when the body fails to produce enough insulin or the body`s cells no longer react to insulin).
Type I Diabetes
This type is also known as early-onset diabetes, juvenile diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes, as people usually develop it before their 40th year, mainly in teenage years.
Type I diabetes is less common than type II, and about 10 percent of all cases are type I. According to SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth data issued by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the prevalence of type I diabetes among Americans under the age of 20 rose 23 percent between 2001 and 2009.
Type II Diabetes
As mentioned in the very beginning, this type is a result of body`s inability to produce insulin or to react to it properly.
Up to 90 percent of all diabetes cases are type II. Most people can keep their symptoms in check by following a healthy diet, losing weight, and exercising on a regular basis. But, this type is a progressive disease, meaning that it gets worse with each passing day, and the patient eventually ends up taking insulin in a tablet form.
The risk for developing this disease is greater as we get older, probably because we become less active and put on weight as we age. Family history and being Middle Eastern, South Asian, or African descendent increases the risk of developing type II diabetes.
Neuropathic pain is one of the most common complications caused by diabetes. Diabetics can over time develop nerve damage throughout the body and experience symptoms like numbness, tingling, and pain in the feet, legs, hands, and arms. This can be quite frightening, especially when these parts of the body fall numb. It is estimated that 60-70 percent of diabetes patients experience neuropathy in certain form.
But, it turns out that there is good news for diabetics! According to a 2014 study, reflexology therapy might be an effective way to reduce neuropathic pain from diabetes and improve the overall quality of life of diabetics.
Modern Reflexology suggests the following techniques to treat neuropathic pain in the feet and the hands.
To treat neuropathy in the feet, apply pressure to the K6 point, which is located below the ankle bone on the inside folds of the legs. Apply steady pressure using the thumb.
To treat pain and numbness in the upper limbs, apply pressure to the L10, which is found in the center of the thumb pad on the palm side of the hand.
It turns out that reflexology can be beneficial for diabetics without neuropathy, too. Healthy Ojas suggests a foot massage to maintain healthy-blood glucose levels. What makes reflexology effective in this regulating blood glucose levels is the fact that it stimulates the muscles cells, pancreas, liver, intestine, and the stomach, all of which are related to glucose and carbohydrate metabolism.
So, use your fingers or ask a loved one to massage the points in the feet which corresponds to the organs that affect blood sugar levels, which include the pineal, thyroid, adrenal, pancreas, pituitary, and thymus glands as well as the ovaries and testes.
Sources:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes
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