Česky
13.11.2014
World Diabetes Day falls on the day of the birth of the Canadian physician Frederic Banting - 1891, who was instrumental in the discovery of the anti-diabetic drug insulin. Diabetes is a serious chronic disease whose incidence is on the rise worldwide. It is caused, among other things, by the increasing number of autoimmune diseases, an ageing population and, above all, an unhealthy lifestyle. Diabetes is hereditary in some cases, but a large proportion of the population who suffer from the disease have it due to their lifestyle and especially obesity. But even in such cases, diabetes can be fought quite successfully.
In the Czech Republic, almost 800,000 people have diabetes and another 200,000 people do not yet know about their disease. According to estimates, the time is not too distant when one in ten citizens of the Czech Republic, regardless of age, will be affected by the disease; in the older age groups, the incidence will then be much higher.
When diagnosed with diabetes, one must follow a proper lifestyle and, of course, think about regular doses of insulin. An important characteristic of diabetes as a disease is that by appropriate lifestyle and cooperation with doctors, its serious complications can be prevented. Conversely, if certain rules set by the doctor are not followed, there is a risk of accelerating the process of atherosclerosis and the development of serious diseases of the heart and blood vessels, nerve damage throughout the body, kidney failure or damage to the retina leading to blindness or amputation of the lower limbs.
"In our pharmacy, we are ready to provide free diabetes counselling and the opportunity to ask what our patients are concerned about," says Mgr. Tomáš Veverka, head pharmacist of the Hořovice pharmacy. He adds that he and his colleagues can also advise on measuring blood sugar, blood pressure or cholesterol levels. "This self-monitoring is done with a so-called glucometer. The measured value is only informative. If we find an elevated glucose level, we follow the standard procedure: we recommend that patients visit a general practitioner or a diabetologist, who can rule out or confirm the diagnosis on the basis of a comprehensive glycaemic examination," says the pharmacist from Horovice.
