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 Vallarta Living | Veteran Affairs | December 2006 
What is Diabetes, Anyway?
 David Lord - PVNN
| | An overweight woman walks on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. The global diabetes epidemic is projected to affect 7 percent of the world's adult population by 2025 as developing countries embrace bad health habits associated with affluence. (Reuters/Sergio Moraes) |
The information below has been taken from an article yet to be published in the Purple Heart Magazine in 2007, but with the visitation of many to Puerto Vallarta over the Holidays, I wanted you to be aware of Diabetes.
Many are entitled to disability compensation by the fact of military service in or off the coast of South Vietnam. This disease is on the Presumptive List, meaning you do not have to prove it was a service connected disease, it is presumed to be a result of your military service.
What is Diabetes, anyway?
As the American Heritage Dictionary describes Diabetes, it is:
A severe, chronic form of Diabetes caused by insufficient production of insulin and resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. The disease, which typically appears in childhood or adolescence, is characterized by increased sugar levels in the blood and urine, excessive thirst, frequent urination, acidosis, and wasting. Also called insulin-dependent Diabetes, or Type 1 Diabetes.
A mild form of Diabetes that typically appears first in adulthood and is exacerbated by obesity and an inactive lifestyle. This disease often has no symptoms, is usually
diagnosed by tests that indicate glucose intolerance, and is treated with changes in diet and an exercise regimen. Also called non-insulin-dependent Diabetes, or Type 2 Diabetes.
Diabetes is a problem that affects many veterans. Every veteran who served in Vietnam is considered at risk of adult-onset Diabetes, also called Type 2 Diabetes, because of exposure to Agent Orange.
Type 2 Diabetes, or adult-onset Diabetes is caused when the body can not properly use the insulin that is produced, insulin resistance. The great majority of American with Diabetes have Type 2. Several new studies claim Diabetes can lead to Alzheimer's syndrome.
The symptoms of Diabetes are related to high blood glucose levels, and they include:
Excessive urination, thirst and hunger, unexplained weight loss, increased susceptibility to infections, especially to yeast or fungal infections of the skin, toenails and vagina.
Many people who will eventually develop full-blown Diabetes have a condition knows as Pre-Diabetes. The are at least fifty million American with Pre-Diabetes, which is why it is important to have blood sugar levels tested on a regular basis.
The are about 15 million Americans who have been diagnosed with Diabetes.
Also, there are at least another 5 or 6 million who have Diabetes, but just don't know it yet, which is why your blood sugar levels should be checked with every physical examination, or at least once every year.
What is probably the best test to check on possible Diabetes is the hemoglobin A1C test. The hemoglobin in your red blood cells carries the blood glucose for four months, and the A1C test can therefore determine your average blood sugar level for the prior two or three months. The results of the A1C are reported as a percentage of the RBCs carrying glucose. Your A1C should be no more than 7%.
Agent Orange exposure is a definite cause of Type 2 Diabetes.
A report from the VA states: "Approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam Conflict."
Shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported a variety of health problems and concerns which some of them attributed to exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides.
A Harvard review of many studies concluded that the sugar in soda pop is a major factor in increasing the risk of Type 2 Diabetes. A single 12 ounce can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar.
Merely drinking one can of sugary soda every day can add as much as 15 pounds to one's weight over a one-year period. And the sugar in the sugary drinks reduces the blood's ability to carry the oxygen your body needs.
More than half the patients with Diabetes develop high blood pressure which can cause additional problems, such as poor blood circulation, heart disease, kidney problems, and even the eye disease know as diabetic retinopathy which can cause vision problems and even eventual blindness.
Other problems such as peripheral neuropathy (a form of nerve failure) often occur is later stages of Diabetes, also fungal foot infections that can even lead to amputation.
James W. Ralph, M.D., National Surgeon, Military Order of the Purple Heart has been the source of this article.
I have been very busy providing claims service to U.S. Veterans in the greater Puerto Vallarta area and it may have been difficult to reach me on my cellular phone, as I cover areas my cell phone does not. Please use my email address david.lord@yahoo.com
 David Lord served in Vietnam as combat Marine for 1st Battalion 26th Marines, during which time he was severely wounded. He received the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation for his actions during the war in Vietnam. In Mexico, David now represents all veterans south of the U.S. border all the way to Panama, before the V.A. and the Board of Veterans Appeals. David Lord provides service to veterans at no fee. Veterans are welcome to drop in and discuss claims/benefits to which they are entitled by law at his office located at Bayside Properties, 160 Francisca Rodriguez, tel.: 223-4424, call him at home 299-5367, on his cell: 044 (322) 205-1323, or email him at mophmx@@yahoo.com or david.lord@yahoo.com.
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