Diabetes Specialist

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is an endocrine condition that causes problems with your blood sugar levels.

Your body normally produces a hormone called insulin in a large gland called the pancreas. You need insulin to process sugars in your diet, but if you have diabetes it means that either your body isn’t making enough insulin, or it can’t use the insulin it’s making in the way it should.

Having diabetes increases your risk of developing serious health problems, including:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Stroke
• Blindness
• Kidney failure
• Neuropathy
• Amputations
• Erectile dysfunction
• Depression
• Cognitive decline
• Certain forms of cancer

Some people have Type 1 diabetes, which means their pancreas isn’t making insulin at all. There’s nothing you can do to prevent Type 1 diabetes, and people who have the condition need to stay on insulin to stay healthy.

But 95% of people who have diabetes have Type 2, which is quite different from Type 1 because it’s highly preventable and typically develops because of poor lifestyle choices. 

Identifying the early stages of diabetes, called prediabetes, enables patients to take action to reverse the problem, and all patients who have diabetes benefit from making healthy changes to their lifestyle.

How does being overweight affect diabetes?

Being overweight or obese is one of the leading causes of Type 2 diabetes. There are also increasing numbers of cases of diabetes, which is directly related to higher obesity rates.

Average life expectancy for someone who has diabetes reduces by 12-14 years on average, but managing your blood sugar is highly effective in minimizing the effects of diabetes. One of the best ways of regulating blood sugar is to lose weight.

How does surgery help patients with Type 2 diabetes?

Bariatric weight-loss surgery improves outlooks for people who have Type 2 diabetes by helping them to lose weight and maintain healthy body weight for the long term. Procedures used at Turnquest Surgical Solutions for patients who have Type 2 diabetes include:

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

Achieves significant weight loss by reducing both stomach capacity and absorption of calories in the diet, and leads to remission of Type 2 diabetes in 80% of patients.

Sleeve gastrectomy

Reduces stomach size to aid in weight loss, and also affects gut hormones in a way that improves blood sugar metabolism. This leads to remission of Type 2 diabetes in more than 60% of patients.

Adjustable gastric band

Involves placing a band around the top part of your stomach to reduce capacity, leading to remission of Type 2 diabetes in 45-60% of patients.

Duodenal switch

Prevents absorption of calories from the diet to aid weight loss. Duodenal switch is a more complex procedure than the other options but does result in diabetes remission rates of more than 85%.

To find out more about the benefits of weight-loss surgery for treating your diabetes, call Turnquest Surgical Solutions today or book an appointment online.