Diabetes in old age
Diabetes mellitus is the most widespread chronic metabolic disease par excellence and thus virtually predestined for old people. There is probably no other chronic disease that is hotly discussed with comparable "enthusiasm" at senior citizens' birthday parties. And diabetes is no exception. Unfortunately, however, it has not been possible to rename type 2 diabetes as "adult-onset diabetes" because it has become clear that younger people can also contract this metabolic disorder. And this not only from the genetic defect diabetes type 1, but also from type 2, which is reserved for seniors.
Why does diabetes show up frequently in seniors?
The fact that older people suffer from this disease with its risk factors of being overweight and lack of exercise comes as no surprise to anyone. After all, seniors have a lot of room in their long life for growing overweight and with age you often lose mobility and agility. However, as our society also turns such that more and more young people consider obesity and idle lounging on couches to be insanely desirable, type 2 diabetes is also increasingly making its way into the ranks of younger participants.
Nevertheless, there is a high likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes after living an unhealthy life in old age. Not specifically because one is "old," but because the risk factors are so transported within the older population. In addition to obesity and lack of exercise, unflattering diets would also be on the docket. Older people have the advantage of having been able to do all of these things for much longer than their youthful peers. There is a difference between lying on the couch for a few months in your mid-twenties after a sports accident and eating all kinds of delicious things, and maintaining this hobby for decades.
The result is nonetheless unfavorable. It is true that diabetes mellitus is not a disease that has a very lasting effect on one's lifestyle - whether old or young; but a chronic metabolic disease is certainly not desirable in any case. Seniors may have the advantage that, in general, they certainly have less fear of contact in the waiting rooms of the consultations of established general practitioners than younger people. Regular visits to the general practitioner are in order for diabetes patients, and older people can certainly combine these visits with other useful information that the general practitioner has available.
Take clear signals seriously!
Type 2 diabetes does not pose any particular dangers for older people. They are neither better nor worse off than younger patients. One might even assume that older people are used to taking medication every day anyway and that a few more pills will not derail the train. Merely in the course of possible subsequent illnesses, as for example the diabetic foot syndrome stands in the responsibility of the treating physician to arrange the seriousness also older humans clearly. At least, older people are certainly more inclined to dismiss clear warning signals as "silly aches and pains" and to skillfully ignore them. Here, the observation skills of the family doctor, nursing service or even caring relatives would be put to the test of responsibility.
This would also apply to monitoring the administration of medication. Here, too, older people have not infrequently developed admirable strategies for making tablets "disappear". However, anyone who has experience of caring for seniors, even if only within their own family, will be familiar with these tricks. If possible, it is advisable to talk to the doctor in the presence of the spouse and any children or relatives in order to appeal forcefully to the elderly patient's good sense. After all, type 2 diabetes does not remain a fatal disease even in older people; however, one would certainly like to avoid the risks of the quite fatal "offshoots" of a diabetes-related circulatory disorder. Here one may likewise set on the life experience of the seniors, because diabetes, heart attack and stroke are so frequent that each senior will know at least one case from its closer surrounding field and thus also the dangers correctly to estimate can. Whether insight then follows realization would be up to the senior's character and temperament. As already mentioned, in such a case spouse or family would be a helpful ally to call "recalcitrant old people" on the path of reason. Also, the family doctor or caregivers will know and know how to take these "endearing qualities" of their patients. It would be important not to leave the older patient alone with his illness. While younger people are more oriented in and with their disease, older people may be more inclined to ignore a disease as long as "nothing hurts." Since the normal course of diabetes does not include pain or other periods of discomfort, there is a high risk of overlooking symptoms altogether or not noticing risk factors as such. Although the child has already fallen into the well when diabetes is diagnosed, it is still advisable to change habits such as diet or exercise, in order at least not to encourage further secondary diseases whose risk factors all coincide with those of diabetes. Older people will know that with probability bordering on certainty even; whether they heed it then however also, would stand on a completely different sheet. Again, regular visits and discussions with the family doctor are important. The doctor will also know what special things should be paid attention to in the particular patient, because especially with advanced age, mobility and general condition can be very different. So the patient should be mobilized to the best of his or her ability. And this decision will be best assessed by the primary care physician.
The risks of medical emergencies are no different and in no way different from how significantly younger patients would be affected. One difference would perhaps be how the body deals with its metabolic disorder. Hormonal changes also happen in the body as we age; in women, menopause, for example. How these affect type 2 diabetes should be considered by a doctor as part of the medication management of the diabetes. Otherwise, seniors can continue their twilight years with their diabetes just as they began them. As with young people, diabetes does not offer any significant restrictions on lifestyle in old age. Apart from risk factors that are not necessarily linked to diabetes alone, but would very well pave the way for other possible diseases. A large number of these diseases are found in the secondary diseases of diabetes. In this respect, the necessary caution even serves two masters. In these matters, too, the family doctor will give the patient valuable tips along the way or prescribe medication that does more than "just" put a stop to diabetes.
