The number of diabetic patients in the Kingdom has increased from 2.5 percent in the eighties to 14 percent, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, said Prof. Abdulrahman Al-Shaikh, head of the Saudi Endocrine and Diabetes Association. He said that one of the most important aims of treating diabetes is to prevent complications like kidney failure, heart and brain embolisms, and blindness. “The immediate treatment of diabetes plays a vital role in preventing the diabetic from developing complications,” he added. He pointed that there are many medicines for diabetes, like the one which stimulates the pancreas to excrete insulin, in addition to the insulin injection. Moreover, he said that there are many other medicines which strikes a balance between the Insulin and Glucagon hormones and strengthens the pancreas cells. It does so without increasing the weight of diabetics because it suppresses the appetite. “Each diabetic must consult his physician before taking the medicine because the level of illness is different from one person to another,” he added. Although there are some side effects of the new diabetes medicine, like inflammation of the pancreas and nausea, regular use will provide excellent results for the diabetic. “Usually the diabetic medicine is produced as pills or insulin injections. If we compare it to normal medicine which is regularly prescribed by specialists to their patients, it is considered an addition to the main medicine and not as a replacement, as it is a new treatment,” he said. Diabetics of the second type must use insulin when practicing sports and also follow a healthy diet,” he said.
