Dr. Jihan AbdulAleem- Diabetes 101: Understanding How to Beat It
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photo by steed media service
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Ialum Clinical Research
Dr.
Jihan AbdulAleem is working provide better health services to a
community that sorely needs it. “You have people who are diabetic and
don’t even know they’re diabetic and when they find out, they don’t
know what to do about it.” Because of that sad reality, Dr. AbdulAleem
and Ialum Clinical Research is reaching out to African Americans about
diabetes and how it affects them.
“We’ve discovered [that] the
majority of medicines – almost 100 percent of them – have never been
tested on people of color, yet they have full FDA approval,” she says.
“So our goal for the last eight years [has been] to change that. My
clinic is not just for people of color, but people of color [who] do
not have the best medical care. So to address that, we have to be in
the forefront of research as well as health care.” –todd williams
What is diabetes? “Diabetes is a metabolic condition [where] your body
is not able to regulate the glucose and insulin balance. Diabetic
treatment is a mechanical way to boost your metabolic system and
control your glucose and insulin balances. There are some great
medications on the market that can get you back to the normal range.
Early detection is the key.”
How does it hurt you? “Diabetes
is mainly a disease where you have a lot of glucose circulating in your
body and it doesn’t have anywhere to go. You need glucose for energy
but large amounts of it will begin to attack soft tissue [your heart,
liver, kidneys and eyes] and when you have uncontrolled glucose in your
body, that soft tissue is easily damaged. It’s harder to come back from
that. But [if] detected early you can live a relatively normal life,
with just a few minor changes.” “
