diabetes

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Diabetes Week. Read our Diabetes FAQ with Dr Rob Hicks.


Dr Rob Hicks on diabetes

Dr Rob Hicks on diabetes

As many of you know by now this week is Diabetes Week. To help promote understanding and awareness of diabetes we have conducted this fascinating interview with TV’s Dr Rob Hicks.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: Ok so just to start, can you please tell me what diabetes is?

DR ROB HICKS: Well diabetes is a condition where basically there is too much glucose in the blood and the consequence of that is that the glucose damages the blood vessels in the circulation and it damages the nerves and if somebody has diabetes and it’s not properly treated or managed then there is a risk of damage to the circulation or the nervous system resulting in complications like heart attacks, stroke, kidney disease and damage to the skin around the feet and indeed blindness which is why we make a big effort in healthcare to encourage people to watch out for the warning signs and indeed to get themselves checked to see if they have got diabetes.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: And can you explain the differences between the various types: type 1, type 2, and type 3, 1.5 and gestational diabetes

DR ROB HICKS: Yeah there are different types of diabetes, type 1 diabetes is where the body for some unknown reason turns on itself, it damages the pancreas which is the organ in the body which makes insulin such that a person really doesn’t have any insulin or at least they have a very tiny amount and that’s why people with type 1 diabetes need to have insulin usually by injections in order for them to remain fit and healthy. Type 2 diabetes which is the more common form of diabetes, it affects around 90% of people who have got diabetes, it happens when either there isn’t enough insulin or the insulin that is there doesn’t work properly so the body becomes resistant to the insulin and you also mentioned gestational diabetes and that diabetes that essentially develops for a woman when she is pregnant and that makes up about 5% of women who are pregnant will develop gestational diabetes.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: And what that just be in the period of the pregnancy or would that then turn into a different type of diabetes?

DR ROB HICKS: For the most part women who develop gestational diabetes once they have had their baby the diabetes disappears however saying that they are at a greater risk at developing type 2 diabetes later on in life so it would again be important to keep an eye on.


PATIENTTALK.ORG: What are the warning signs of diabetes?

DR ROB HICKS: Well there are symptoms for many people that act as warning signs I mean particularly for type 1 diabetes, they are passing urine more often particularly at night, feeling very thirsty despite drinking lots of liquid, feeling very tired or indeed losing weight when you are not trying too and one of the places I work is a sexual health clinic and we often see that people are get recurrent bouts of thrush infection despite the right treatment it comes back and get treated then comes back again , they often have underlying diabetes, another possible symptom is the slow healing of wounds or blurred vision. Now for someone with type 1 diabetes these symptoms become quite obvious and can happen over a couple of weeks. The challenge is that with type 2 diabetes which tends to affect more mature adults so traditionally over the age of 40 although it is possible to get type 2 diabetes earlier in life often the symptoms are not so obvious so somebody might get diabetes but may not get any symptoms which is why we encourage people to get tested, in face the current figures suggest that just short of 600,000 people in the UK have diabetes but are not yet aware of it because they haven’t been diagnosed so again this is why it’s important to get this checked , particularly if you have got diabetes in the family , if your over weight and if you are in an specific ethnic group so if you from south east Asia , Chinese , African Caribbean or black African origin then the risk of diabetes is greater in these groups so again it should prompt you to have a chat with your doctor about whether you should be tested.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: And what are the complications of diabetes in particular foot ulcers and sight problems?

DR ROB HICKS: Yeah I mean diabetes that is not treated or managed properly the damage to the heart and circulation is likely to increase the risk of someone having a heart attack or a stroke, the damage to the kidneys a form of kidney disease can happen, in men diabetes can also be the cause of erectile dysfunction, you also mentioned foot ulcers and because they are harder to treat and harder to heal or sometimes can be ignored for a while by an individual may result in amputation being needed off a foot or a lower limb. You mentioned the issues with sight, if diabetes isn’t treated properly it can damage the back of the eyes can damage the retina and indeed if that’s not treated properly then that can result in blindness.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: What treatments are available and how effective are they?

DR ROB HICKS: Well nowadays we have a host of treatments available, so everyone will be offered for type 1 insulin because they need it as they are not making any or are making very tiny amounts. For type 2 diabetes they will be advised to follow a healthy lifestyle such as losing some weight and being more active and there are different ways of achieving that so somebody might choose to use a health app for example. Who did a health report make health apps to help try and encourage people to adapt their lifestyle to healthy one and then there’s medications for people with type 2 diabetes and indeed some people with type 2 diabetes also need insulin to keep the condition under control.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: And what are the best ways of preventing diabetes/

DR ROB HICKS: With type 1 diabetes you can’t prevent it but thankfully with type 2 diabetes many people can prevent it and the best way really is to maintain a healthy weight, so lose weight that you need too to achieve a healthy weight and particularly try to get rid of the fat around your middle around your tummy as that alone increases the risk significantly of somebody being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: And what advice would you give to somebody who has just been diagnosed with diabetes?

DR ROB HICKS: I think the advice I would give to somebody who has just been diagnosed with diabetes is to take it seriously, make sure that you seek the advice of your doctor / diabetes nurse, know that you can be in control of it I think I important and the control of it is extremely important to avoid the potential complications and if it means losing weight as it often does then choose a way that works for you , choose a way that suits you so that may be going for a brisk walk a day or a bike ride, it might be using a health app to motivate you and help you in a fun way monitor how well you are doing. I think that the bottom line increasingly we are seeing many people who are not following a healthy lifestyle I mean the Noom Report showed that around 1 in 3 people said that they never exercise and almost 2 in 5 said that they would wait till they have a health scare or a warning from their G.P before they did anything healthy or adopt a healthy lifestyle, I always say to people don’t wait get onto it and do it now whether you have got diabetes or not.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: That’s fantastic, Rob is there anything you would like to add at all?

DR ROB HICKS: I mean if people want to find out more about diabetes or whether they should be tested then obviously they can have a chat with their G.P or if they want to find out about Noom Then they can log onto noom.com/diabetes.

PATIENTTALK.ORG: Wonderful thanks so much for your time and for answering all of those questions.

DR ROB HICKS: Thank you, bye bye.

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Life Study – a new research project to understand the lives and health of children announced!


Life Study - Research into childhood health

Life Study – Research into childhood health

Life Study, a research study which aims to understand and improve the lives of children and their families, has announced its that Leicester’s Hospitals which will host the next Life Study Centre. Read up more here.

Life Study is an internationally leading research study that will involve up to 80,000 babies born between 2014 and 2018 and their families across the UK. Life Study was happy to announce that Leicester will be the next and 2nd city to host Life Study. Life Study will provide insights into the health and wellbeing of children as well as making contributions to the health of children in the UK. The information collected will be used to support research and policies aimed at giving children the best possible start in life.

A big focus of the project is to develop a good picture of children’s lives in the UK today. Children from families of different ethnic and cultural groups have previously been underrepresented in earlier research studies which look at children. So it is vital they are included to ensure accurate research.



Professor Carol Dezateux, Scientific Director of Life Study said: “Life Study will help Leicester understand how to tackle key issues relevant to its children’s health and well-being. By working in partnership with Leicester’s Hospitals, Life Study will support research into children and families from an ethnically and socially diverse community.”

“The public health and policy priorities for child health in Leicester are closely aligned to those of Life Study. The information collected will help research into the childhood origins of important health problems such as obesity and diabetes and ultimately to inform future policies and healthcare services that meet local population needs.”

The first Life Study Centre, at King George Hospital in Ilford, was officially opened in March 2015 by actress, comedian and screenwriter Meera Syal who said “The wonderful thing about Life Study is that they are following so many families over such a long period, meaning we have a chance to answer some of those big questions about environment, genetic triggers and upbringing.”

Pregnant women planning to give birth at Leicester Royal Infirmary or Leicester General Hospital (LGH) and their partners will be invited to join Life Study and to come to the new Life Study Centre at LGH in the second half of their pregnancy, and again when their baby is 6 and 12 months old. Recruitment to the study will begin in summer 2015 and appointments will take place from September 2015.

“A large study like Life Study will bring funding into Leicester’s Hospitals over the duration of the study. To ensure that we are ready to start delivering the study as soon as possible, we and the Life Study have invested over one million pounds for facilities, equipment and staff. Life Study will be bringing around 20 new posts to Leicester’s Hospitals which include research midwives, research healthcare assistants and others. We are working hard to ensure that there is a dedicated Life Study Centre at Leicester General Hospital, with all the necessary staff ready to recruit the first study participants. We are very excited about this project and look forward to the launch later in the year.” said Professor Nigel Brunskill, Director of Research and Innovation at Leicester’s Hospitals and Professor of Renal Medicine at the University of Leicester

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Diabetes and Sleep – Dr Rob Hicks tells us why too little sleep puts us at risk from Diabetes.


Dr Rob Hicks on Diabetes and Sleep

Dr Rob Hicks on Diabetes and Sleep

Recent research has suggested that too little sleeps increases the risk of developing type 2 Diabetes. Indeed 9 in 10 are consistently plagued with disturbed or sleepless nights and almost half say that it was worrying about something that keeps them awake at night – with money being the obvious concern. In fact is sleep is disturbed a person is quite likely to only sleep for four hours.

PatientTalk.Org conducted this interview about sleep and diabetes with TV’s Dr Rob Hicks just before Easter!

We kicked off with asking Rob to tell us a bit about the connection between sleep and diabetes. He replied “The connection is that if you’re suffering with a problem with sleep and so for example you’re not getting enough sleep that there is a link with an increased risk of developing type two diabetes and that’s two fold, one is because people who do not get enough sleep tend to gain weight and that’s often because actually when we are tired we eat more comfort food and we are less active and there’s also been some research recently suggesting for people who are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis this effects just how effective insulin is , it increases something called insulin resistance which is felt to be the most main reason for type two diabetes so this is one of the many reason why we should take a good night’s sleep very seriously indeed. ”


Turning to the prevention of diabetes he shared “Well the important thing about a good night sleep is obviously the following day if you haven’t had a good night’s sleep you feel really tired , not only loss concentration pool but also productivity is likely to be bad but also you switch to move too eating more comfort food which tend to be high in calories and high in saturated fat, your less likely to be active you’re more likely to drink alcohol, that piles on the pounds in weight and the major risk factor for type two Diabetes is gaining weight. ”

Of course a good nights sleep is important for those who have already been diagnosed with diabetes. “A good night’s sleep is good for everybody whether they have got diabetes or not because one of the problems is with not getting a good night’s sleep and certainly the Dunelm sleep survey has highlighted this is that people who are left tired the following day they are more likely to be irritable, they are more likely to adopt unhealthy lifestyles habits that increase blood pressure that increase cholesterol , we know that those factors increase the risk of not just diabetes but also of heart attacks and strokes but also it increases the risk of stress and anxiety and when we are felling stressed again we don’t follow healthy practises so if we want to get the best out of the day look after our emotional and physical well being then it’s very very important to have a good night’s sleep. ”

You can find out about ways of getting more and better sleep to help fight insomnia at our previous blog! Please follow this link https://patienttalk.org/insomnia-busting-some-great-tips-to-help-you-get-more-and-better-sleep/.

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Noncommunicable diseases prematurely take 16 million lives annually


Lupus Awareness Month

Lupus Awareness Month

Urgent government action is needed to meet global targets to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and prevent the annual toll of 16 million people dying prematurely—before the age of 70 – from heart and lung diseases, stroke, cancer and diabetes, according to a new World Health Organization report.

“The global community has the chance to change the course of the NCD epidemic,” says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, who today launched the Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014. “By investing just US$1-3 dollars per person per year, countries can dramatically reduce illness and death from NCDs. In 2015, every country needs to set national targets and implement cost-effective actions. If they do not, millions of lives will continue to be lost too soon.”

The report states that most premature NCD deaths are preventable. Of the 38 million lives lost to NCDs in 2012, 16 million or 42% were premature and avoidable – up from 14.6 million in 2000.


Nearly five years into the global effort to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by 25% by 2025, the report provides a fresh perspective on key lessons learned.

Premature NCD deaths can be significantly reduced through government policies reducing tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, and delivering universal health care. For example, in Brazil the NCD mortality rate is dropping 1.8% per year due in part to the expansion of primary health care.

But the report calls for more action to be taken to curb the epidemic, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where deaths due to NCDs are overtaking those from infectious diseases. Almost three quarters of all NCD deaths (28 million), and 82% of the 16 million premature deaths, occur in low- and middle-income countries.

“Best buys” to reduce the burden

The WHO report provides the baseline for monitoring implementation of the Global action plan for NCDs 2013-2020, aimed at reducing the number of premature deaths from NCDs by 25% by 2025. Outlined in the action plan are nine voluntary global targets that address key NCD risk factors including tobacco use, salt intake, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and harmful use of alcohol.

“Our world possesses the knowledge and resources to achieve the nine global NCD targets by 2025,” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. “Falling short of the targets would be unacceptable. If we miss this opportunity to set national targets in 2015 and work towards attaining our promises in 2025, we will have failed to address one of the major challenges for development in the 21st century.”

The report provides “best buy” or cost-effective, high-impact interventions recommended by WHO, including banning all forms of tobacco advertising, replacing trans fats with polyunsaturated fats, restricting or banning alcohol advertising, preventing heart attacks and strokes, promoting

breastfeeding, implementing public awareness programmes on diet and physical activity, and preventing cervical cancer through screening. Many countries have already had success in implementing these interventions to meet global targets.

Examples of regional and country “best buy” successes listed in the report:
• Turkey was the first country to implement all the “best-buy” measures for tobacco reduction. In 2012, the country increased the size of health-warning labels to cover 65% of the total surface area of each tobacco product. Tobacco taxes now make up 80% of the total retail price, and there is currently a total ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship nationwide. As a result, the country saw a 13.4% relative decline in smoking rates from 2008 to 2012.
• Hungary passed a law to tax food and drink components with a high risk for health, such as sugar, salt and caffeine. A year later, 40% of manufacturers changed their product formula to reduce the taxable ingredients, sales decreased 27% and people consumed 25-35% fewer products.
• Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Mexico and the USA have promoted salt reduction in packaged foods and bread. Argentina has already achieved a 25% reduction in the salt content of bread.

Working on the ground in more than 150 countries, WHO is helping develop and share “best buy” solutions so that they can be implemented more widely. WHO is also helping countries understand the dimensions that influence NCDs outside the health sector, including public policies in agriculture, education, food production, trade, taxation and urban development.

Meeting global targets

Though some countries are making progress towards the global NCD targets, the majority are off course to meet the 2025 targets. While 167 countries have operational NCD units in the ministry of health, progress on other indicators has been slow, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

As of December 2013[1] only:
• 70 countries had at least one operational national NCD plan in line with the Global NCD action plan
• 56 countries had a plan to reduce physical inactivity
• 60 countries had national plans to reduce unhealthy diets
• 69 countries had a plan to reduce the burden of tobacco use
• 66 countries had a plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol
• 42 countries had monitoring systems to report on the nine global targets
NCDs impede efforts to alleviate poverty and threaten the achievement of international development goals. When people fall sick and die in the prime of their lives, productivity suffers. And the cost of treating diseases can be devastating – both to the individual and to the country’s health system.

From 2011-2025, cumulative economic losses due to NCDs under a “business as usual” scenario in low- and middle-income countries is estimated at US$ 7 trillion. WHO estimates the cost of reducing the global NCD burden is US$ 11.2 billion a year: an annual investment of US$ 1-3 per capita.

High rates of death and disease, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, are a reflection of inadequate investment in cost-effective NCD interventions. WHO recommends all countries move from commitment to action, by setting national targets and implementing the “best buy” interventions starting in 2015.

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Diabetes – What Is The Difference Between Type I and Type II Diabetes?


What Is The Difference Between Type I and Type II Diabetes?

Find out the basics in this great infographic.