Diabetes is a syndrome in which there are abnormal levels of insulin secretion, elevated glucose levels, retinopathy, neuropathy, and accelerated atherosclerosis. Diabetes comes in different type that most people are familiar with: Type I, Type II, and gestational. Type Iis insulin dependant. Seventy-five percent of Type 1 diabetics have antibodies to their own pancreatic cells as a result of a viral infection. Some of the viral diseases associated with Type 1 are hepatitis, rubella, Epstein-Barr viruses, herpes virus 6. Type II diabetics don’t need insulin to survive, but often are dependant upon insulin injections to regulate blood glucose levels. The main cause of Type II can be narrowed to diet, obesity, stress, and/or viral infection.

In Chinese medicine, these ailments are separated into two main patterns based on the age of the onset. In juvenile on-set diabetes, there is a deficiency within the body that keeps it from working properly. While in adult onset is related to heat within the body. This heat can start with what is called stomach fire. This causing much hunger and inhibits the other paired organ to the stomach, the spleen, from functioning properly. The spleen is also damaged by diet. Foods high in sugar, sweets, and fatty foods diminish the spleens ability to regulate fluids in the body. The heat within the body persists and carries deeper in the body affecting other organs causing further problems.

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and diet therapy can be used to correct the imbalance created by  this situation. Diabetics must eliminate refined sugar, avoid junk food, eat snacks of protein between meals, and eat complex carbohydrates like whole wheat, fruits, and vegetables because they release carbs more slowly in the body. The acupuncture and herbs look at removing the heat within the body and/or the body to balance it back out.