Ramazan advisory: Doctors urge caution for diabetics

Consultants advise patients on how to balance their sugar level

With Ramazan just around the corner, doctors have called on diabetics to pay extra care in managing their glucose levels while fasting.

They were speaking at a seminar organised by Shifa International Hospital (SIH) to educate diabetic patients on how they can fast without adversely affecting their health.

Consultant Endocrinologist Dr Usama Ishtiaq said diabetics have risk of low blood sugars, very high blood sugars, dehydration and sometimes acidosis (presence of increase acids in the blood). But not all patients have similar risks, he added.

“Experts have divided patients mostly in three categories based on their diabetes, complications and associated diseases. These categories include very high, moderate and low risks of above mentioned problems. Therefore, we recommend that all diabetics should consult their treating doctors and discuss their risks,” Dr Ishtiaq underlined.

He said that around 40 to 50 million Muslims with diabetes across the world fast during Ramazan, adding that it is difficult to keep diet and blood glucose levels under control while fasting.

He stressed that patients can encounter some serious health issues while fasting such as an extreme increase or decrease in blood sugar level, lower water level in the body and some serious threats to diabetic children, pregnant women, and heart and kidney patients. He was of the view that frequent disturbance in diabetes may harm one’s health permanently.

Senior Clinical Dietitian Zainab Ghayyor advised patients to improve and maintain nutritional status during Ramazan fasting and prevent and treat complications in time. “Drug doses should be adjusted according to diet,” she suggested, while advising the patients not to skip sehri.

While highlighting the importance of fasting in Islam and its positive and spiritual impacts, Senior Manager Religious Affairs Azmatullah Qureshi, informed the audience about some health practices that do not affect fasting such as use of injection, using asthmatic inhaler and donating blood, vomiting, and pouring medicines into the eyes or ears. He said that there was no excuse for skipping fasting in minor diseases like flu or fever.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2015.