Life after a Diagnosis of Diabetes

Posted on by admin

Upon hearing a diagnosis of diabetes, many people feel their life is over. They are shocked, overwhelmed, and distraught. They wonder what they did to deserve this and what they could have done differently. If you have recently received your diagnosis, the first thing you should do is take a deep breath and relax. Your life is not over. All you will need to do is adapt to a healthier lifestyle.

One of the first things your doctor will discuss with you is how to monitor your blood sugar levels. You will probably be instructed to check the levels twice a day, when you first get up in the morning and before you go to bed. For most people, this particular task does not interfere with their life at all and becomes more routine, rather than the hassle it may first seem.

You also are going to be required to change your eating habits. While this can be a lot to learn at first, your nutritionist can help you to implement a diabetic diet into your daily life very easily. This is just a matter of weighing your foods and knowing what you should stay away from, such as carbohydrates and sugar. It can be a lot to get used to, but with time, your diet will not be such a large issue for you.

Another thing you may be required to do is change your level of activity. In other words, if you have been sedentary all of your life, you will need to start some type of exercise. What you must do is not look at this as a punishment. Instead, use it as a way of adding some fun to your life. Play basketball. Join a gym. Go for a walk. All of these can be fun when you do it with friends.

Being diagnosed with diabetes can be rather shocking. However, you must realize that this diagnosis does not mean your life is over. It simply means that you have to monitor your blood sugar levels and make a few changes in your eating habits and activity levels. With some time, you will get used to the changes and continue living your life as planned.

Posted in Coping with Diabetes, Lifestyle Tips | Tagged | Leave a comment  

Diabetes and Your Feet

Posted on by admin

When you first get diagnosed with diabetes, one of the first things your doctor should discuss with you is foot care. Many people often wonder why so much attention is paid to the feet. The problem is that diabetes can cause blood circulation problems and the area most affected by this is the feet.

One of the most common issues diabetics experience with their feet is neuropathy. The poor blood circulation actually causes numbness in the feet. What this means is that if you get a blister or a cut on your foot, you may not even notice it. Of course, these can then lead to massive infections with such poor circulation.

Basically, what this means is that you need to take some special care. Do not go barefoot and make sure there is nothing on the floors in your home that could cause an injury. Every night before you go to bed, treat yourself to a warm foot bath. When you are done, dry your toes and feet thoroughly and give them a thorough inspection. If clipping your toenails, be very careful and do it after the footbath, as they will be softer and easier to deal with.

Along with your own special foot treatments, if any issues arise, your doctor may recommend you visit a podiatrist. This is especially important to anyone experiencing signs of neuropathy. A podiatrist can fit you with special inserts to be placed in your shoes or other plans to make sure your feet stay in good condition.

The last thing anyone wants is to have their diabetes disrupt their life even more. Taking care of your feet may seem like another chore at first. However, the problems associated with the feet of diabetics can be very serious. A bad infection can very easily lead to amputation in a diabetic and you must do everything you can to prevent this from happening to you. Just a few minutes a day could save your feet.

Posted in Coping with Diabetes, Lifestyle Tips | Tagged , | Leave a comment  

Type 2 Diabetes: Natural Treatment

Posted on by admin

Type 2 Diabetes is a very serious health condition. However, it can be treated and managed, which helps to prevent long term complications of the disease, such as nerve damage, heart disease, liver disease, and vision damage. Mainstream medicine often treats type 2 diabetes with medications, diet, exercise, and sometimes insulin injections. However, if you are borderline diabetic or your blood sugars aren’t too much into the diabetic range, you often can treat the disease without medications, at least for a while.

The first thing to do is to go on a weight loss diet. The best diet for reversing type 2 diabetes and the silent inflammation that goes along with it is the Zone diet by Dr. Barry Sears. It still allows you to eat your favorite starchy foods, but in small amounts. For information on how to get started today, visit www.zonediet.com and click on the Quick Start Guide. The diet will improve your blood sugar within a couple of days, and often within a couple months you will have lost a significant amount of weight and your blood pressure should improve dramatically.

Exercise is the other component of treating diabetes naturally. All that you need to do is exercise for at least 30 to 45 minutes daily, because after 30 minutes is when the body really starts using fat for fuel. Make sure to eat a small snack with a balanced ratio of proteins, good fats, and carbohydrates about one hour prior to exercise. If you are out of shape or significantly overweight, consult your physician to make sure it is okay to begin an exercise program. If you get the okay, then get moving. You don’t need to start out at a crazy speed, just start moving and work your way up. The key is to just keep moving for at least 30 minutes even if it is not high intensity.

After doing this for several months, go back to your doctor and have them recheck your glucose, fasting insulin, A1C, and blood pressure, and most likely they will be much improved, if not completely normal.

Posted in Lifestyle Tips, Treatment Ideas | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment  

Insulin Pump Therapy

Posted on by admin

An insulin pump is a great option that enables diabetics from having to take multiple daily injections of insulin (MDI). Those on the MDI protocol usually have to take a shot of long-acting insulin such as Lantus once daily followed by several shots throughout the day of regular insulin. The Lantus acts as background insulin that would normally and slowly be secreted by a normal pancreas throughout the day. The regular insulin such as Humalog is fast-acting to begin to work on meals that are eaten and whenever blood sugar levels creep up too high and need a boost of insulin to bring them back down.

An insulin pump only uses fast acting insulin that is constantly infused through a tiny flexible cannula that the user changes about once every three days. The cannula is flexible plastic and about the diameter of an insulin needle. It is able to infuse insulin into the subcutaneous space just under the skin in small amounts throughout the day and night as well as being able to bolus larger amounts for meals and to correct any high blood sugar levels.

It is like giving a shot once every three days to insert a new infusion set. The sets are comfortable and the cannula is so tiny that there is rarely any sensation of it being in place. If by chance it should be placed in a spot that has a nerve that is disturbed, it is itchiness that is usually felt. Just use a new set in a new spot to fix the problem.

New pumps even work with the glucometer that will send blood sugar readings directly to the pump. The pump is fully programmable so it will compute the amount of insulin needed to bring a blood sugar level back to normal. It also keeps track of how much insulin is already on board to make such calculations. Wearing a pump daily is like having a tiny pager that is carried everywhere, even to bed. The infusion tubing can be disconnected up at the point where each new infusion set is attached. They stick in place with a round fabric that has adhesive on it. The part that sticks to the body can be disconnected from the tubing and pump. Disconnect it for showering or intimate moments. It takes about one second to disconnect it and only a second to put it back on.

If the thought of MDI therapy is a bit daunting, then consider an insulin pump. It makes managing diabetes much easier.

Posted in Treatment Ideas | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment  

Diabetic Nerve Damage

Posted on by admin

The nerve damage that diabetes causes is called neuropathy. It can manifest in one of two ways. It will either be peripheral neuropathy that causes damage in the nerves of the hands, feet, legs and other external parts of the body or it can be autonomic causing damage to the internal organs. Autonomic neuropathy causes damage to the nerves that control the automatic functions of the body such as digestion and heart rhythm.

Damage to the nerves of the gut that move food along to be digested is called gastro paresis. This condition can range anywhere from mild or devastatingly severe. The nerves of the gut begin to not function appropriately due to high blood sugars causing damage to the actual nerves. In gastro paresis, food will sit in the stomach for longer and longer periods of time as the damage worsens. It is caused due to nerves not being able to communicate to the gut to move things along in a timely manner.

For a diabetic this is horrible due to the need to eat and take insulin expecting the insulin to work on the food that has just been eaten. However, with gastro paresis, the food sits in the stomach while an insulin shot or bolus is at work lowering blood sugar. This can cause low blood sugar. Later, as the food begins to digest, there is no extra insulin on board to handle it. This causes high blood sugar. Couple that with the automatic rebound high that is experienced whenever there is low blood sugar and the high blood sugar level can be extraordinary.

Gastro paresis causes feeling of bloating and will cause gas due to the food sitting in the stomach for hours without moving along further into the digestive tract. It can also cause a food bolus to form. This is when food in the stomach forms a hard mass that cannot be digested and needs to be broken up by endoscopic tools. A food bolus stuck in the stomach can cause continual pain. A gastroenterologist is a specialist in digestive disorders and will need to be added to the diabetic’s medical team if this condition is suspected.

Posted in Symptoms | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment