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| Categories: Diabetes in everyday life |
| Diabetes in everyday life | |
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Diabetes and menstruation
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The title of the following article should not be understood as discriminating. After publishing articles such as Diabetes and Pregnancy and Diabetes and Sexuality which relate somewhat to this topic, I read an article in "Diabetes Ratgeber" (6/2004, p.40 and later 6/2005, p.42). I started investigating on the topic of PMS (premenstrual syndrome) and here is the result of my work:
The female menstruation is a process pertaining to hormones. As insulin is a hormone as well and diabetes influences on a lot of hormones which influence one another heavily, we can find symptoms of PMS. The variety of symptoms ranges from depressive moroseness, irritability, anxiety, headache, pain in the breasts, fullness, constipation, nausea to ravenous hunger for sweets which can be especially dangerous for the regulation of the blood glucose. If you wanted to list all possible symptoms you would find at least 150! PMS therefore is important for young type 1 diabetics. "Often it is hard for them to regulate their blood glucose and during this time they need more insulin" (Dr. med. Ute Schäfer-Graf, quote: Diabetiker Ratgeber)
But there are also women who perceive the days before menstruation as positive because the experience increased sensitivity, creativity and sensuality.
As already hinted at before, there is one more symptom which is not necessarily related to PMS but which often concerns women in the days before their menstruation: A week before the menstruation the blood glucose gets irregular and unstable and shortly after the menstruation has begun it goes back to normal.
Why does that happen? The reasons for this irregularities of the blood glucose might be the hormones estrogen and progesterone. Both are of significant importance for the setting in of the menstruation. Estrogen increases the sensitivity of the body towards insulin, whereas progesterone reduces this. Now, every woman does have her own individual hormone production which might differ in time of production and can be influenced by psychological factors (e.g. production of adrenaline, which would intensify the whole process). Possible solutions? First of all, a detailed analysis of the need for insulin during the menstruation might be helpful: Highlight the period in a diary and note down not only the BE but also what exactly you ate (e.g. salad and French dressing and a can of sweet corn). Furthermore you should, although you might not like to, do sports during your menstruation. This might also raise your spirits. Besides sports you should relax and have a massage or listen to your favourite music. It will be over soon! If those problems occur for the first time or if it gets unusually painful, you should see a doctor.
Translated by Jella Eifler
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