Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
Being diagnosed with diabetes can be a difficult message to receive. Diabetes requires a look at lifestyle, food choices, medications, blood glucose testing, and all that advice offered by well-meaning family and friends. It can be overwhelming to say the least. Learning how to live well with diabetes takes time and it takes lifestyle adjustments to do it well. Some people are just not up to it on their own. The best support a person with diabetes can get is from medical professionals who really know diabetes, family members who are willing to provide a healthy supportive environment including healthy food choices for everyone in the family, increased physical activity as a norm and a willingness to learn about diabetes together. It is often said “diabetes is a family disease” because it ends up effecting everyone.
Depression affects nearly 40% of those diagnosed with diabetes. It is unclear if depression is a result of high blood glucose levels or from the demand the disease has on the person living with it. Treating the depression becomes an integral part of treating the overall disease of diabetes.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
Inside each muscle cell, tiny agents called glucose transporters migrate to the cell wall to allow in glucose. During and after exercise, these transporters are highly active pulling glucose out of the blood stream at a remarkable rate. Whenever the large muscles in the body, such as the thigh or buttock muscles, are being used, these transporters are actively helping to clear excess glucose out of the blood stream.
The human body is designed to be active, to the tune of walking five miles each day. When our lifestyles have us sitting most of the day (computing, commuting, and watching TV), the glucose transporters get sluggish and lazy. Finding a way to add activity into daily life is an essential part of controlling diabetes. It is recommended to walk 30 minutes most days of the week for general health. To get started three sessions of 10 minutes walks is fine. The transporters respond to any and all activity.
Apple cider vinegar taken at meals appears to help lower post meal blood sugar levels and is certainly a safe, albeit tangy, food to take. Studies have also shown that taking apple cider vinegar before bedtime may improve weight loss.
This much studied vitamin-like substance appears to minimize symptoms of nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy) as a result of high blood glucose levels. Long-term studies as still needed to determine if ALA can slow the progression of neuropathy.
This much studied vitamin-like substance appears to minimize symptoms of nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy) as a result of high blood glucose levels. Long-term studies as still needed to determine if ALA can slow the progression of neuropathy.
Vinegar Apple cider vinegar taken at meals appears to help lower post meal blood sugar levels and is certainly a safe, albeit tangy, food to take. Studies have also shown that taking apple cider vinegar before bedtime may improve weight loss.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
Specific herbal therapies can help lower blood glucose levels and/or treat problems (some of the complications ) of diabetes. These therapies may be referred to as “herbal” or “nutriceuticals”“nutriceuticals.” A tour of the health food store suggests an extensive list of supportive products such as cinnamon, gymnema, fenugreek, bitter melon, ginseng, nopal, aloe vera, banaba, caiapo, bilberry, milk thistle, chromium, vanadium, nicotinamide, alpha lipoic acid, gamma linolenic acid, ginkgo biloba, garlic, vinegar and St John’s Wart. However, many experts agree that although these may not be harmful if taken, their actual benefit on lowering blood glucose levels requires further research, particularly studies with a greater number of study participants.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. Simply put, the pancreas over time, perhaps years, the body does not respond adequately to the insulin present. Additionally, though less true of type 2 diabetes than type 1, the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to accommodate the needs of the body. The need for medication to help the body make insulin, replace missing insulin, or make the body more sensitive to utilizing insulin is considered necessary. Early on in the disease, when it is often not known that diabetes exists, some can become necessary. Some people can control their blood sugars without medication referred to as “diet and exercise controlled”. But virtually everyone many with type 2 diabetes will may need some medication at some point.
The goal of treating diabetes is to come as close to normal blood glucose control as possible. Normal being a fasting sugar around 100 mg/dL or a lab test called a Hemoglobin A1c value of less than 6.5%.
Medications to control blood glucose fall into distinct categories. It may often require two or three medications to reach glucose goals as medications work on different parts of the body involved in glucose control. Guidelines recommend that practitioners begin a person recently diagnosed with diabetes on the medication Metformin at the onset of the disease.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
Symptoms like increased thirst, frequent urination, reoccurring infections can often be indications of diabetes. However, a formal diagnosis of diabetes is through having a fasting lab blood glucose level over 126 mg/dL; or a random lab blood glucose over 200 mg/dL with symptoms of high blood glucose such as increased thirst,frequent urination, reoccuring infections; or a hemoglobin A1c lab value greater than 6.5%.
A diagnosis of prediabetes is a fasting blood glucose of 100 mg/dL - 125 mg/dL.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
The onset of type 2 diabetes is very slow. Abnormal blood glucose slowly increases over time, often over five to ten years. High blood glucose levels are often associated with:
The diagnosis of type 2 diabetes very often follows the complaint of a sore that does not heal, a change eye glass prescription or medical or dental attention for an infection. Nearly 40% of people with diabetes suffer from depression. Undiagnosed or untreated depression makes diabetes self care and its demands challenging.
The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) concluded in 2002 found that when a person with pre-diabetes made lifestyle changes (modest weight loss and increased physical activity) their risk for developing type 2 diabetes was sharply reduced by 58%.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
The epidemic rise in the prevalence of diabetes is associated with aging populations, cultural and social changes effecting dietary habits, physical activity levels and increasing urbanization. Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. Early on in the disease process, the body no longer handles the amount of glucose eaten throughout the day. A combination of factors are involved:
Pre-diabetes is often referred to as borderline diabetes, “a touch of sugar”, impaired glucose tolerance or , insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome. A diagnosis of pre-diabetes is a sign that the body is not processing glucose well enough to have normal glucose levels and abnormal levels lead to some cell damage.
Type 2 diabetes generally occurs in adults but, due to the rise in obesity in all ages, is occurring in children as well. The increased incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in children may be due to the effect of High Fructose Corn Syrup, a engineered sweetener found prevalently in soft drinks. This form of diabetes starts very slowly beginning with begins with the individual exhibiting slightly higher than normal blood glucose levels after eating. It can be many years before the fasting blood glucose ever appears above normal. An abnormal fasting blood glucose level will result in a diagnosis of diabetes. However, at the time a person's fasting blood glucose level is found to be abnormal they have had years and years of silent toxic levels of glucose coarsing through their veins. As insulin levels drop the body is also resisting the action of the existing insulin, a state called insulin resistance. The combination of less than optimal insulin and it’s resistance at the cell level results in higher blood glucose levels, if it gets smaller and does so early enough, can return to it’s normal relationship with insulin meaning that blood glucose control may improve with some weight loss. The high levels of glucose continue to be toxic throughout the body’s delicate cellular system.
Additionally, the anti-seizure medicine valporate (brand name: Depakote) used to treat mania in adults (and sometimes children) can cause obesity and diabetes along with PCOS.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
The epidemic rise in the prevalence of diabetes is associated with aging populations, cultural and social changes effecting dietary habits, physical activity levels and increasing urbanization. Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. Early on in the disease process, the body no longer handles the amount of glucose eaten throughout the day. A combination of factors is to blame. are involved:
The epidemic rise in the prevalence of diabetes is associated with aging populations, cultural and social changes effecting dietary habits, physical activity levels and increasing urbanization Pre-diabetes is often referred to as borderline diabetes, “a touch of sugar”, impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome. A diagnosis of pre-diabetes is a sign that the body is not processing glucose well enough to have normal glucose levels and abnormal levels lead to some cell damage. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) concluded in 2002 found that when a person with pre-diabetes made lifestyle changes (modest weight loss and increased physical activity) their risk for developing type 2 diabetes was sharply reduced by 58%
Type 2 diabetes generally occurs in adults but, due to the rise in obesity in all ages, is occurring in children as well. The increased incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in children may be due to the effect of High Fructose Corn Syrup, a engineered sweetener found prevalently in soft drinks. This form of diabetes begins with the individual exhibiting slightly higher than normal blood glucose levels after eating. It can be many years before the fasting blood glucose ever appears above normal. An abnormal fasting blood glucose level will result in a diagnosis of diabetes. However, at the time a person's fasting blood glucose level is found to be abnormal they have had years and years of silent toxic levels of glucose coarsing through their veins. As insulin levels drop the body is also resisting the action of the existing insulin, a state called insulin resistance. The combination of less than optimal insulin and it’s resistance at the cell level results in higher blood glucose levels. The high levels of glucose continue to be toxic throughout the body’s delicate cellular system.
Additionally, the anti-seizure medicine valporate (brand name: Depakote) used to treat mania in adults (and sometimes children) can cause obesity and diabetes along with PCOS.
Diabetes can be managed by making healthy food choices, leading a physically active life, taking medication (in most cases) and thinking positively! Denying the diagnosis wastes valuable time in beginning to live a healthier life. A diagnosis of diabetes often leaves a person frightened and confused. Questions asked early on include, “What did I do to cause this?” “How will my life and my family’s life change?” and “What can I eat!?”. The best defense against the fear is education.
Help improve this article. Become a contributor!
Diabetes is on the rise in the United States and around the world. Not coincidentally, it parallels the epidemic rise in obesity. Diabetes, or diabetes mellitus, has categories that help to describe its causes and treatment.
The International Diabetes Federation’s data indicates that 285 million people worldwide will live with diabetes in 2010. In the United States other statistics of diabetes nearly 8% of the population or 23.6 million people have diabetes. Those who have pre-diabetes have reached 57 million. Diabetes is the seve seventh leading cause of death in the United States. (ADA)
