Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes

Symptoms, diagnosis, & treatments of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes is more common than Type 1 Diabetes.

Whereas type 1 diabetes is characterized by the onset in young persons (average age at diagnosis = 14), type 2 diabetes usually develops in middle age or later.  This tendency to develop later in life has given rise to the term “adult onset diabetes,” although the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in younger people is rising, making this term somewhat inaccurate and outdated.

The typical type 2 diabetes patient is overweight ,although there are exceptions. In contrast to type 1 diabetes, symptoms often have a more gradual onset. Type 2 diabetes is associated with insulin resistance rather than the lack of insulin, as seen in type 1 diabetes. This often is obtained as a hereditary tendency from one’s parents. Insulin levels in these patients are usually normal or higher than average but the body’s cells are rather sluggish to respond to it. This lack of insulin activity results in higher than normal blood glucose levels.

Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. This disease exists in all populations, but prevalence varies greatly, ie, 1% in Japan, and greater than 40% in the Pima Indians of Arizona. In Caucasians, the figure is somewhere between 1-2% of the entire population. The high incidence of type 2 diabetes in certain groups such as the Pima Indians appears to be a relatively recent development that followed a change in the type of food intake (from relatively little food to plenty of food). With this came the development of obesity within their culture which results in diabetes developing in those that are genetically predisposed. This “urbanization phenomenon” has been most carefully studied in non-white populations, but is probably ethnically and racially nonspecific. In other words, obesity tends to promote diabetes in those genetically predisposed regardless of where you live and what your racial background is.

Hereditary Aspects of Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes tends to be fairly hereditary in contrast to type 1 diabetes. Approximately 38% of siblings and one-third of children of people with type 2 diabetes will develop diabetes or abnormal glucose metabolism at some point. The degree of obesity also seems to be a factor, with a larger percentage of diabetes developing in those who are more obese. Studies with identical twins showed that 90-100% of the time when diabetes developed in one it would also develop in the other compared with 50% in type 1 diabetes.

Causes of Type 2 Diabetes

Development of type 2 diabetes seems to be multi-factorial; that is, there are a number of issues to blame. Genetic predisposition seems to be the strongest factor. Obesity and high caloric intake seem to be another. Twenty percent of people with this type 2 diabetes have antibodies to their islet cells which are detectable in their blood resulting in the expected low levels of insulin, suggesting the possibility of incomplete islet cell destruction (see discussion about autoimmune diabetes in the type 1 diabetes section). These patients often tend to respond early to oral drugs to lower blood sugar but may need insulin at some point

Type 1 Diabetes

Symptoms, Diagnosis, & Treatments of Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is much less common than type 2 diabetes and typically affects younger individuals. Type 1 diabetes usually begins before age 40, although there are exceptions. In the United States, the peak age at diagnosis is around 14. Type 1 diabetes is associated with deficiency (or lack) of insulin. It is not known why, but the pancreatic islet cells quit producing insulin in the quantities needed to maintain a normal blood glucose level.  Without sufficient insulin, the blood glucose rises to levels which can cause some of the common symptoms of hyperglycemia.  These individuals seek medical help when these symptoms arise, but they often will experience weight loss developing over several days associated with the onset of their diabetes. The onset of these first symptoms may be fairly abrupt or more gradual.

Incidence of Type 1 Diabetes

It has been estimated that the yearly incidence of type 1 diabetes developing is 3.7 to 20 per 100,000. More than 700,000 Americans have this type of diabetes. This is about 10% of all Americans diagnosed with diabetes; the other 90% have type 2 diabetes.

Causes of Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes usually develops due to an autoimmune disorder. This is when the body’s immune system behaves inappropriately and starts seeing one of its own tissues as foreign. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the islet cells of the pancreas that produce insulin are seen as the “enemy” by mistake. The body then creates antibodies to fight the “foreign” tissue and destroys the islet cells’ ability to produce insulin.   The lack of sufficient insulin thereby results in diabetes. It is unknown why this autoimmune diabetes develops. Most often it is a genetic tendency. Sometimes it follows a viral infection such as mumps, rubella, cytomegalovirus, measles, influenza, encephalitis, polio, or Epstein-Barr virus. Certain people are more genetically prone to this happening although why this occurs is not know.  Thus, two people may be infected with the same virus and only one of them who is genetically prone will go on to develop diabetes. Other less common (very rare) causes of type 1 diabetes include injury to the pancreas from toxins, trauma, or after the surgical removal of the majority (or all) of the pancreas.

Hereditary Tendencies in Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes tends to have less tendency to have other family members affected with diabetes than type 2. In the first large family study of diabetes, less than 4% of parents and 6% of siblings of a person with diabetes also had diabetes. In studies with identical twins, less than 50% of the siblings of a person with diabetes also had diabetes versus almost 100% of siblings of people with type 2 diabetes. Children of fathers with type 1 diabetes are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes than children of mothers with type 1 diabetes.

Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes must be treated with insulin. This involves injecting insulin under the skin — in the fat — for it to get absorbed into the blood stream where it can then access all the cells of the body that require it. Insulin cannot be taken as a pill because the juices in the stomach would destroy the insulin before it could work. Remember, insulin is a hormone, and like all other hormones, insulin is a protein and therefore it has a very important 3-dimensional structure which is destroyed by the acid in the stomach.  Even if it did make it through the stomach, the digestive enzymes secreted by the digestive part of the pancreas would digest the insulin protein molecule. Scientists are looking for new ways to give insulin. But today, shots are the most widely used method.  Some new insulin pumps are being developed and tested.

How Can You Control Your Spending

Does it seem that you never have quite enough spending money? If only your allowance were a little larger, you could buy that phone you want. If only your wages were higher, you could buy those shoes you need. However, rather than fret about the money you don’t have, why not learn to control the money that does pass through your hands?

If you are young person living with your parents, you could wait until you would be like jumping out of an aircraft without first learning to use parachute. True, a person might be able to figure out what to do while hurtling to the earth. How much better, though, if he learned the basic principles of using the device before jumping!

Similarly, the best time for you to learn to manage money is before the harsh financial realities of life confront you. “Money is for a protection,” wrote King Solomon. (Ecclesiastic 7:12) But it will only protect you if you know how to control your spending. Doing so will boost your confidence and will increase your parents’ respect for you.

Learn the Basics

Have you ever ask you parents to explain what is involved in maintaining a household? For instance, do you know how much electricity and water cost each month and how much it costs to run a car, to buy food, and to pay rent? You might think such details would be boring. Remember, though, that you help incur those bills. Besides, if you leave home you will have to start paying for these things yourself. So, you might as well learn about them. Ask your parents if you can see some of the bill, and listen closely as they explain how they budget for them.

“A wise person will listen and take more instruction, and a man of understanding is the one who acquires skillful direction,” says a Bible Proverb. (Proverb 1:5) A young girl says “My father taught me how to make a budget, and he showed me how important it is to be organized in managing family funds.” Meanwhile her mother taught her other practical lessons. “She showed me the value of comparing prices before buying.” Says Anna, adding, Mom could work wonders with a small amount of money.” What has been the benefit to Anna? “I am now able to care for my own finances,” she says. “I carefully control my spending, so I have the freedom and the peace of mind that come form avoiding unnecessary debt.”

Recognizing the Challenges

Admittedly, controlling your spending is easier in theory than in practice, especially if you live at home and receive an allowance or earn money from a job. Why? Because your parents are likely to paying most of the bills. So a large percentage of your money may be available for you spend at will. And spending money can be fun. “Spending is very easy for me, and it is enjoyable,” admits Obi, a young man in Port Harcourt. Christy, from Enugu, feels similarly. “Buying things gives me a thrill, she says.

In addition, your peers may pressure you to spend beyond reasonable limits. Ify, aged 21, says: “Among my peers, shopping has become a major form of entertainment. When I ‘m out with them, there seems to be an unwritten rules that you must spend money if you are going to have fun.”

It is natural for you to want to fit in with your friends but ask yourself one question because I can afford to or because I feel I have to?  Many people spend money in an attempt to boost their reputation with friend and associates. This tendency can cause real influential problems for you, especially if have CREDIT CARD or ATM card. Financial adviser ………. Warns “if you feel the need to impress people with what you have rather than with whom your are, you are at high risk for bankruptcy in future.

Instead of maxing out your ATM card or spending your whole paycheck on one night out, why not try Ify’s solution? “When I go out with friend,” she says, “I plan ahead and calculate a limit to my spending. My pay goes straight into my bank account, and I take out the amount I need for that outing. I also find it wise to go shopping only with those of my friends who are careful with their money and will encourage me to shop around and not buy the first thing I see.” Proverb 13:20.

Learn From the Answer No

Even if you do not receive an allowance or money from a job, you can still learn valuable lessons about money while you are living at home. For example, when you ask your parents for money or ask them to buy you some item, they may say no. why? One reason might be that your wants cost more that the family budget can bear. Be saying no to your request, although they might prefer to say yes: your parents are setting you a fine example in self-control. And self-control is vital to good money management.

Suppose your parents can afford to say yes to your requests. Even then, they may still say no. you may think that they are being mean. But consider: They may be trying to teach you the important lesson that your happiness is not dependent on obtaining everything you want. In this regard the bible says: “A mere lover of silver will not be satisfied with silver, neither any lover of wealth with income”. Ecclesiastes 5:10.

The truth of those words is borne out by the experience of many youth whose parents buy them everything they want. Soon youths discover that they are never truly content. No matter how many things they accumulate, they always feel the need to add just one more purchase to the pile. In time, youths who expect to receive their every request may become unappreciative adults. “If one is pampering one’s servant or child from youth on,” warned Solomon. (Proverbs 21:29).

Money is time

Some culture have the saying, Time is money. This emphasizes that people must spend time to earn money and wasting time is wasting money. The converse of this saying is also true – money is time. Learn how to control your spending and you learn how to control your time. How so?

Consider Ify’s comments. “When I control how much I spend, I control how much I have to earn,” she says. “By creating a workable budget and then sticking to it, I don’t have to work long hours to pay off large debts. I am more in control of my time and my life.” Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of control over your life?

Take control

How much money have you spent over the past month? What did you spend it on? You don’t know? Here’s how to take control of you spending before your spending take control of you.

• Keep a record. For at least one month, record the amount of money you receive and the date you receive it. Describe each item you buy and the amount it costs. At the end of the month, add up the amount received and the amount spent.
• Make a budget. On a blank page, draw three columns. In the first column, list all income you expect to receive in a month. In the second column, list how plan to spend your money; use the entries in record as guide. As the month progresses, write in the third column the amount you actually spend on each of the planned expenses. Also record all unplanned spending.
• Adjust you plan. If you spending more that you anticipated on some items and are accumulating debt, adjust your plan. Pay your debts. Stay in control.

Remember, if you waste money you are also wasting the time it took to earn that money

Treatment regimens for type 2 diabetes

Diabetes

Diet, exercise, oral medication, and insulin are the first line of treatment for type 2 diabetes

Exercise and Diet

Loss of weight and exercise are the most important steps towards controlling type 2 diabetes. Many studies have shown that diets aimed at reducing uptake of calories and weight, either alone or in a combination with exercise, can dramatically reduce the effect of diabetes. Positive changes in diet readily return blood sugar levels to normal or to levels that may not require additional medication. Thus, this success is most times short-lived. Majority of people must have to steadily couple increase powerful oral medication or insulin with diet and exercise to keep their blood sugar in non-life threatSning level.

Oral regimen

Treatment of diabetes with drugs has always been the physicians choice for diabetic control. Until mid-time in 20th century, the only oral diabetes drugs available were sulfonylureas, medications that reduce blood sugar by elevating insulin production. When they failed from performing their duty, insulin was required. During the last decade, however, the number of medications has more than tripled, and entire new classes of medications have been introduced to combat the ugly condition. Today’s diabetes drugs address insulin resistance and production, as well as other causesthat will elevate the blood sugar levels. And not only do physicians now have a wider range of drugs/ regimens to choose from, they also use them more aggressively in combinationthan ever thought.

Insulin

Insulin, the only drug manufactured from a naturally occurring glucose-lowering hormone, and it is the most effective and potent of the already available diabetes medications. Early treatment with insulin may result in a remission period, a time during which you can stop taking all blood-sugar-lowering medications. Inaddition, by some estimates as many as 65% of all people with type 2 diabetes may eventually need to use insulin. Yet insulin therapy is usually not initiated in people who have type 2 diabetes until they ‘ve had the condition for 10 years or more. The reluctance, on the part of  patients and doctors alike, most certainly reflects the fact that it has to be administered by injection. This ugly situation may’ve to  change if inhaled insulin eventually gains in popularity.

Treament with insulin therapy is simpler and easier for type 2 diabetes than for type 1. Usually, only one or two doses per day are essential. However, larger doses are required to override insulin resistance. You might also have a two-shot regimen, a mixture of rapid-acting and longer-acting insulin taken in the morning and again before dinner. It may come to be that some people who come down with type 2 diabetes need only inhaled insulin to adequately control their blood sugar.

Once you develop a good insulin program, you can always manage your blood sugars with less-frequent monitoring than what is needed for type 1 diabetes.

Combination therapy

Inasmuch as all the oral medications for diabetes have limited potency, scientists have tried to take advantage of their different mechanisms by using them in various but profitable combinations, with or without insulin.

Commonly, doctocrs take a one-treatment-at-a-time approach to type 2 diabetes. If diet and exercise failed, the clinician is expected to put the patient on a sulfonylurea. Once the maximum dose was reached, a new medication was started, and once medication options were exhausted, insulin treatment began. But this approach was only modestly successful, with most type 2 diabetic patients unable to achieve near-normal blood sugar levels.

A multiple-drug approach suggests the new view of diabetes as a complex disease with at least two deficits that can be addressed: insulin resistance and inadequate insulin secretion. The combination strategy may use lower doses of drugs, each with different mechanisms. The most common and widely studied oral drug combination is metformin plus a sulfonylurea.

Combination therapy raises the risk factors for hypoglycemia. When drugs that don’t usually cause hypoglycemia are combined with drugs that do, the combination leans toward causing low blood sugar bringing the desired effect.

Long-term complications of Diabetes

Diabetes

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If it’s untreated or treated poorly, diabetes can cause serious complications, such as eye, kidney, and nerve damage. Nearly all complications develop from having high blood glucose levels over many years. These problems threaten people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Vulnerability increases the longer you’ve had the disease and the higher your blood glucose and HbA1c levels have become.

Experiments on diabetic animals in the 1970s and 1980s showed that tight control of glucose levels reduce complications considerably. However, it wasn’t until 1993, when the results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial were published, that experts fully recognized the dramatic impact of strict blood sugar control in preventing or delaying complications.

How high blood sugar achieves its nasty ends isn’t fully understood, but the answer seems to involve its long-term effects on the body’s small blood vessels and on the nervous system. Over time, high glucose levels change the walls of small blood vessels, causing them to thicken and leak. The vessels may eventually clog, impeding blood flow to vital organs.

Eye disease

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Diabetes increases your risk for vision loss fourfold, and it’s the leading cause of new cases of blindness in people ages 20–74. Although most of the harm is caused by damage to the retina (retinopathy), diabetes also makes cataracts and glaucoma more likely.

Diabetic retinopathy

This condition affects the blood vessels in the retina, the back layer of the eye where images are captured and recorded. The retina converts light energy into electrical impulses and sends visual images to the brain along the optic nerve. After 20 years, nearly all people with type 1 diabetes and 60% of those with type 2 diabetes have developed retinopathy. By that time, half of all people with type 1 diabetes and 10% of those with type 2 diabetes have the more serious, advanced form, known as proliferative retinopathy. However, tighter glucose control should substantially decrease these numbers in the future.

Nerve damage

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Nerve damage, or neuropathy, from diabetes has widespread effects, and again, the blame rests with abnormally high blood sugar levels. When nerve damage occurs, the network of nerves that relays messages to and from different parts of the body slows down, sends the wrong cues, or fails to work. Scientists aren’t certain why this happens, but they think the damage may result when glucose attaches to or affects proteins in nerve cells, causing a chemical imbalance inside the nerves or restricting the blood flow to the nerves.

Nerve damage can cause changes in sensory perception, pain, or problems with digestive, bladder, bowel, or sexual function. About 60%–70% of people with diabetes have some signs of neuropathy that may be detectable only with a physical exam or special testing, and a smaller percentage has more severe symptoms. Serious neuropathy, especially when combined with vascular complications, can lead to foot ulcers and the loss of lower limbs.

Kidney disease

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In the past, about 10%–35% of people with diabetes have developed kidney disease, or nephropathy. Kidney disease is progressive; the deterioration can eventually leave the kidneys unable to filter wastes from the body. This is known as kidney failure or end-stage renal failure. Although diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for about 40% of new cases, most people with diabetes don’t develop this life-threatening condition.

In type 1 diabetes, the kidneys can suffer damage as early as within 5 years of diagnosis, although it usually takes 20 years before kidney failure occurs. Kidney disease is more common in type 1 than in type 2 diabetes. But hypertension, which is a problem for many with type 2 diabetes, can increase your chances of developing this

condition and accelerates its progression.

Damage to the feet and legs

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Diabetes is responsible for most lower limb amputations not caused by trauma. The underlying problem is a combination of peripheral neuropathy and diminished blood flow from the buildup of plaque

s that block the large and medium-size arteries feeding the leg. When these conditions coincide and are compounded by changes in small blood vessels, a simple cut on the bottom of the foot or even an ingrown nail can become so severely infected that a toe or foot must be amputated.

How does this happen? Because peripheral neuropathy impairs pain sensation, a foot injury can go unnoticed, worsen, and become a feeding ground for invasive bacteria. Poor circulation exacerbates the problem by impeding the body’s infection fighters. The white blood cells, antibodies, and other defenders can’t easily reach the infected area, and ulcers develop. Foot ulcers are dangerous and require immediate attention. If not treated, they can penetrate deep below the skin and spread infection into bone.

Toes are most vulnerable to infection. People with severe peripheral neuropathy are also more prone to Charcot’s foot, a condition in which joint destruction and deformity interfere with walking. Charcot’s foot develops when minor trauma to a joint or bone due to daily wear and tear goes unnoticed. Because no changes are made in the individual’s stride, footwear, or exercise program, the foot joints are destroyed.

Cardiovascular disease

Degenetive heart disease

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Three out of four people with diabetes die from a heart disease or stroke. While experts don’t fully understand the causal relationship between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, it’s clear that diabetes — especially type 2 diabetes — is often accompanied by various heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and obesity. Diabetes is also associated with an increased tendency for forming clots. Kidney disease, a complication of diabetes, also considerably boosts the risk for heart disease. And studies have demonstrated an association between the earliest stage of kidney disease (microalbuminuria) and heart disease. In addition, high blood sugar levels cause glycation (the attachment of glucose to proteins and lipids) and increase the tendency for oxidation. Some scientists suspect that oxidized LDL cholesterol initiates the inflammatory damage that causes atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits in artery walls. These fatty deposits evolve into plaques that thicken artery walls. When the plaques rupture, immune system cells and platelets (blood cell components that initiate the clotting process) rush to the scene. A blood clot forms, obstructing blood flow.

It can take years for complications to appear, but when they do, they’re usually serious. Restricted blood flow to the heart may trigger the chest pain called angina. A critical lack of blood can also cause a heart attack, in which a portion of the heart muscle dies. When blood flow to the brain is blocked, a stroke can occur. A symptom of peripheral vascular disease called intermittent claudication involves pain in leg muscles during exercise. This pain arises from obstructions in the arteries of the legs.

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In the past, women with diabetes suffered many problems during pregnancy, including a high rate of miscarriages and birth defects. Today, however, with good prenatal care and careful self-management, there’s no reason women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes can’t have a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Risks involved

While it’s common for diabetic women to have relatively trouble-free pregnancies, some risks still exist for both mother and child. In general, the more diabetic complications you’ve had before pregnancy, the more likely they’ll worsen significantly during pregnancy. Women with severe kidney and eye complications, for instance, can expect that these conditions will be aggravated by a pregnancy. The damage often reverses after delivery, but women with these conditions should discuss potential dangers with their doctors before conceiving.

Consistently high blood glucose levels increase the chances of miscarrying or going into premature labor. They may also cause the baby’s organs to form abnormally. Historically, diabetes has been associated with a threefold increase in severe malformations. Some examples include neural tube defects (incomplete development of the brain or spinal cord), anencephaly (absence of the brain or spinal cord), and spina bifida (failure of the backbone to fuse over the spinal cord).

Women with diabetes are also more likely to have large babies, with birth weights of 9–12 pounds. This condition can cause a difficult delivery. Doctors will often induce labor a few weeks early or perform a cesarean section if the fetus seems to be too large.

Other problems can also result. The baby may have immature lungs (respiratory distress syndrome) or low blood levels of calcium and glucose at birth.

FAST FACT: Proper care before pregnancy Getting proper care for your diabetes before you become pregnant is an important step toward having a healthy baby. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the rate of major congenital malformations in babies born to women who already had diabetes before conceiving is 5% or less when the mothers received preconception care. But for diabetic women who don’t receive preconception care, the rate jumps to 10%.

Gestational diabetes

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Gestational diabetes — diabetes that develops during pregnancy — occurs in 3%–5% of pregnancies, usually in the last trimester. This form of diabetes doesn’t increase the risk for birth defects. The real worry is having an exceptionally large fetus, which makes having a cesarean section or preterm delivery more likely. Babies delivered to women with gestational diabetes also have a higher rate of hypoglycemia right after birth.

Gestational diabetes typically disappears after delivery, but up to half of these women later develop type 2 diabetes, usually 5–10 years after the pregnancy. Women who’ve had gestational diabetes should have an oral glucose tolerance test within three months of delivery and continue to have their fasting blood sugar levels checked at least annually.

This form of diabetes seems to resemble type 2 diabetes, and women who are over age 30, overweight, and have a family history of diabetes are more prone to it. It’s also more common in women who previously delivered a baby weighing more than 9 pounds or a stillborn infant.

1. You don’t exercise.
Keep it a secret that you maintain your sylph-like figure by cutting down to nothing but carrots before a big date (this is a non-too subtle dig at Penny who occasionally has what she calls her ‘carrot’ days when this is virtually all that passes her lips!). Guys like to think that we are healthy, can run for a bus without fainting and enjoy the odd bracing walk. Nobody likes a couch potato.

2. You are useless with money.
Even if your debts are mounting and the bailiffs are at your door, don’t let on. A man will envisage big problems i.e. he’ll have to bail you out/finance your lavish lifestyle. Try to give the illusion you can manage your own income and outgoings. Start to economise sharpish and buy an alphabetical folder for bills so you can at least see what you have to pay out!

3. You diet constantly.
Telling men all about the fluctuations in your weight smacks of a lack of self-confidence, which is not an endearing quality. It is also deeply boring. Men are irrevocably disinterested in calories. It’s the equivalent of them giving you a blow-by-blow account of the FA cup final. And, they might be frightened that you will start them on a dull lettuce leaf diet too.

4. Your previous relationships.
A boyfriend is not to be confused with a father confessor! No man alive wants to hear you stifling a sob and sniffing ‘I came here with Kevin’. Draw a discrete veil over most of your past loves; knock a zero off the total, that kind of thing. They know you are not as pure as the driven snow (we’re guessing) but they don’t want their face rubbed in it.

5. Your chocoholism.
One bar a day is endearing (Oh bless – she’s got to have her chocolate fix…). On the other hand, seven king-size bars per day, one after the other sitting at your desk is NOT (another even less subtle dig at Penny who has a penchant for hoovering up those mini bags of sweets you often find in kids’ party bags). You’ll come over as excessive, out-of-control – and not in a good way.

6. Your ditziest remarks.
Guys like a girl with a brain. Don’t ask “Is East Berlin near West Berlin?” as I (Sarah, one half of this writing duo) once did. Or say, “So is Japan in Europe?” as I also did (Come on! It’s all the same land mass). Show interest if the conversation gets beyond you – Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis anyone? Ask interested questions and the guys will LOVE explaining it all. Their chests will swell with pride – they are so well-read and clever. Let them, don’t spoil it.

7. Your beauty routine.
What beauty routine? You just splash on a bit of soap and water, a light application of moisturiser, some mascara and you’re done! Never mind the heel-grater, the pumice stones, the cuticle softening cream, the anti-fungal nail varnish, the waxings, the shaving, the endless exfoliating, moisturising, plucking. They don’t need to know this – until MUCH later. You are a natural beauty. Do all of this preparation work in your own time. Otherwise he will be driven crazy waiting for you to get out of the bathroom.

8. Your vital statistics.
He WILL tell his friends, especially cup size. Plus, we all seem to have an image of the standard ideal woman as coming in size 36-24-36. That was in the 1950s! Everyone was petite then or held in by corsets! Just say you don’t know. But if he wants to tell YOU about any of his vital statistics, let him go ahead….(yikes!)

9. Your crush on his friend.
Men have their insecurities too. Just because we are dating someone does not mean that we can’t appreciate another man’s hunky good looks, wit and charm. It is one thing for his mates to think you are great. But, men do not like you to extol their friends’ virtues too enthusiastically. You wouldn’t like it either if he started to do this about your friends would you? Keep your thoughts to yourself.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says growing up living in a pub helped teach him the secrets of being a successful football manager.

The Frenchman’s parents owned a bistro called La Croix d’Or in Duttlenheim where he would spend hours studying the behaviour of the football-loving customers.

Wenger, who has won the Premier League on three occasions with Arsenal, spoke about his early life at the League Managers Association’s conference at the Emirates Stadium.

“There is no better psychological education than growing up in a pub,” Wenger said. “because when you are five or six years old you meet all different people and hear how cruel they can be to each other.

“You hear the way they talk to each other like saying ‘You’re a liar.’ And from an early age you get a practical psychological education into the minds of people. It is not often that a boy of five or six is always living with adults in a little village.

“I even learned about tactics and selection from the people talking about football in the pub… who plays on the left wing and who should be in the team.”

Wenger, who turns 60 next month, became a manager in his early 30s and had thought he would retire from the job at 50.

“I said I’d stop at 50 but now I don’t believe in retiring unless you have to. I never have days where I think I can live without it. But I know some day I will do something different.”

2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 World Cup Groups Group A Egypt T&T Paraguay Italy Group B Nigeria Venezuela Spain Tahiti Group C USA Germany Cameroon S. Korea Group D Ghana Uzbekistan England Uruguay Group E Brazil Costa Rica Czech R. Australia Group F UAE S. Africa Honduras Hungary		Twenty-four teams from around the globe will battle for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup title in host nation Egypt. Six groups of four teams will face off during the tournament which will take place between September 24 and October 16, 2009.The group winners and runners-up will automatically qualify for the knockout stage of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, along with the four best third-place finishers from each of the groups. A total of 16 nations will then fight it out in the Round of 16 in a single elimination format all the way through to the final on October 16. The United States has found itself in a tough Group C where the Americans will take on European giants Germany, African powerhouse Cameroon, and Asian stalwarts South Korea. Head coach Thomas Rongen has led the U.S. to its seventh-straight U-20 World Cup. Their best-ever finish? Fourth place back in 1989 when the tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia. The reigning FIFA U-20 World Cup champions are Argentina, who defeated the Czech Republic in the 2007 final in Canada. It was the second-straight FIFA U-20 World Cup title for the Argentines after they defeated Nigeria in the 2005 final in the Netherlands. Sergio Aguero led the way for the Albicelestes two years ago, but it will be up to a new player this year to lead his young team to ultimate glory.