One of the first things after being diagnosed with diabetes, whether it be type l or type ll is going to be the change in your diet that is required. One of the most important things we have to do everyday with our diabetes, is monitoring our blood glucose levels several times a day. This is something that is very essential, we learn very quickly of where these levels should be, morning noon and night and especially before and after meals. For most of us our plasma levels should be about 90 to 130 before meals and below 180 an hour or two after a meal.

We all know to well the temptations that we encounter day to day when it comes to choosing what we have to eat. By choosing what we eat we have to keep in mind what this will do to our blood glucose levels. In today’s fast moving society it seems that are first and easy choice is fast food, now we all know how good that is. Even if it is a fast food choice we make we can still make wise choices, say like a salad instead of that burger or maybe a bowl of fruit in place of that creamy dessert. There are many changes we have to make in are diet, but it is still up to you to do that.

Though we have to modify our diets, that does not mean we have to give up eating well. One of the most important things we have to keep in mind is that we need to control our weight. Being overweight is one of the things that can contribute to having serious long term complications with diabetes. This may lead someone to question then, how do I know if I am eating properly. This is where your doctor comes in, they can set up a diet plan or refer you to a diet professional to set up a daily meal plan. You have the right to eat right to stay healthy, if you do not you deprive your body of the essential nutrients to stay healthy.

One of the most important things you will probably hear from every diabetic when it comes to diet change is something we have all been told we will have to watch, and that is are carbs. Now not to say that all carbohydrates are bad would not be right, there are good and there are bad and you will have to learn the difference. We all need carbohydrates for nutrition and energy, but they do play a big part in our glucose levels. You will become very familiar with dealing in the consumption of carbs so don’t worry you will come to know what is good and what is bad. The hardest part will be giving up the bad, but remember this will be very important in controlling your diabetes.

There are many things that we can do to change our lifestyles, whether it be by diet or by medications that you may need to take. Just remember by doing these things and sticking to them will make a huge difference in the way you deal with and control this awful disease. But always do one thing and that is to remember you are not alone, there are many people just like you dealing with this everyday so there is always someone to help you.

I will be writing more on this subject at different times in the future. I will talk about everything from the different medications we may have to take to insulin. Also we are learning that there are a lot of natural products that can help in fighting this disease and I like discussing those also. This can be dealt with and I hope that I may help in some small way.

When many people think of diabetes, probably the first things that come to mind are testing their blood glucose levels and insulin injections. And while this is part of the illness, there’s much more to diabetes than just blood testing and insulin injections. As important as it is to know your glucose levels and keep them level, there’s more to managing diabetes than you may think.

Knowing Diabetes

The first step in managing your diabetes and helping monitor your blood glucose is to know all you can about diabetes, and your specific type of the illness. The better informed you are, the easier it will be to keep yourself healthy. So make sure you know the difference between the different types of diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes means your body doesn’t make insulin. With this diagnosis, you will need to take insulin every day.

Type 2 diabetes means the body doesn’t use the insulin it makes very well. Many people with type 2 diabetes need to take insulin or medication, but others can manage this type with diet and exercise. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type.

Gestational diabetes may be diagnosed in women who are pregnant. If a woman has gestational diabetes, she is at risk for diabetes for the rest of her life. It can also put her child at risk for diabetes.

Follow Instructions

When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor will help you understand your type of diabetes, and will give you instructions for how to take care of yourself and manage your illness. It’s important you follow the instructions carefully, and if you have any questions about any of them, be sure to ask! The instructions you’re being given are to help keep you healthy. The doctor isn’t telling you what to do just because he or she thinks you need to exercise more. It could mean the difference between managing your diabetes or ending up in the hospital.

If your doctor gives you specific dietary requirements or recommends an exercise program, do whatever you can to stick to your new lifestyle. It may help to get support from family and friends, or look for diabetes support groups in your area so you don’t feel like you’re doing everything on your own.

Diabetic Control Solutions

Checking your blood glucose levels regularly is still a part of diabetes. Thanks to home glucose meters, it’s easy to check your blood glucose with a drop of blood and a test strip. However, there’s more to monitoring your blood glucose than simply testing every day, and that’s where diabetic control solutions come in.

Diabetic control solutions are used to ensure both your testing strips and glucose monitor are working properly. You use the solution to perform a control test, then use the results to make sure everything is working.

If you’ve been recently diagnosed, you can also use diabetic control solutions to become familiar with your glucose monitor and get in the habit of how to check your levels. It can also be helpful if you’ve just gotten a new glucose monitor and need to learn how to use it.

If you have been diagnosed positive for diabetes recently, you must be feeling overwhelmed about all the new restrictions and suggestions from your doctor and friends. The most important thing you need to do now is to monitor your blood glucose levels regularly and keep them well under the allowed limits. For this you need to keep checking your blood levels every day or twice a day as prescribed by your doctor or your health care professional. Any carelessness in maintaining correct glucose levels can lead to severe health complication so need to be very careful in this regard.

Most of the times people suffering with diabetes are elderly and retired and purchasing diabetes supplies like glucose monitoring meters, strips etc is difficult for them as cost of diabetes supplies is very high. Thankfully if you are insured, there are several possible ways to find free glucose meter another diabetes supplies. You need to simply visit the respective website fill in the simple form and your contact details and the companies get in touch with you. If they found you eligible they will send you all the medical supplies free of cost to your doorstep.

Though most of the companies who offer such free supplies require you to be a valid US citizen with a valid health insurance cover but recently there are several other social organizations coming up offering free supplies to other people also. Now you can choose from a wide range of brand diabetic supplies and get them to your doorstep without any effort anywhere in your country and that too without paying for any shipping costs. So now forget about all the hassles of waiting in the long queues at your local drug stores. Simply search online, visit the respective website and fill in the forms. The companies will get in touch on the phone number you provided and check if you qualify for the offer.

Reports about new treatments for diabetes keep popping up all the time and most people take this as “good news”. There is always a need for developing new therapies because none of the existing unnatural interventions seem to help the body work naturally to combat this disease. These treatments seem just to “mask” symptoms of diabetes at best.

Drug researchers say that each new treatment for diabetes help in “bringing more options and convenience to diabetes care”. Now take note of the importance of the term “options and convenience“.

There is nothing wrong with new options and convenience, per se, but so little is being done to promote the prevention of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases by lifestyle modification, as compared to what is being done everyday to treat symptoms. Is there any wonder that the industrialized US has the best technology for medical operations - surgeries and other medical procedures, and also the best pharmaceutical operations but not nearly the highest life expectancy? We have done so well at keeping sick people alive, but far less in preventing them from getting sick in the first place.

New treatment for diabetes approved

Note the many times you read that a new treatment for diabetes has been approved by the FDA, only to find a list of side effects that has also been approved for your experience.

I can never fathom how approval can be given to drugs with known side effects and unsatisfactory safety performance and then turn around a make a “re-call” of the substances and label these substances safe.

You may remember the announcement about a popular diabetes drug - a new treatment for diabetes approved in late 2006? The release statement also said, “The most common side effects in clinical studies were upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, and diarrhea.” Now, compare that to the effect of Milagro de la Selva (no contraindications in studies), Diametrix (no side effects from any of the natural ingredients), and these natural products have been used for hundreds of years.

Note that by “treatment for diabetes” or treatment for any illness we have to mean pharmaceutically derived chemicals or combinations of chemicals. The FDA mandates treatments to be chemical concoctions from laboratories.

My personal take on these new treatments for diabetes

There is an effort now to combine several medications in order to maximize “effectiveness”. I believe these drugs should only be used short term. Does anyone believe that a 40-year old type 2 diabetic who is otherwise physically able should give up his/her life for a life on a combination of drugs? Some of these chemicals may be determined 4 years down the road to be deleterious - and the drug companies will say, “sorry”.

I fear these announcements about any new treatment for diabetes, I really do. With every new “treatment” comes the reality of additional “new” sanctioned injuries. To borrow a proverb, I should have to “cut off my nose to fix my face.” Whenever a new diabetic is given medication, he or she should be mandated to exercise therapy. Insurance should be able to pay for group sessions. In addition, patients should be told the truth about their diets - a plant-based diet is best for us. This is what I believe because it has worked for me.

Diabetes mellitus comprises of a group of metabolic disorders that share the common symptom of symptoms of hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar levels). They are caused by a relative or total lack of insulin in the body. Insulin is the hormone responsible for the uptake and usage of glucose by the body cells so its deficiency leads to accumulation of excess sugar in the blood. This exposes body cells to excessive sugar leading to various organ damages.

-It is a non-communicable{it can not be spread from one person to another}and incurable disease, it can only be controlled.

-It has received low priority in the health care budget of most countries, especially the developing countries.

-The number of people having diabetes world wide is on the rise, it is estimated that the number of sufferers would have tripled by the year 2025{approximately 300 million}.

-According to the International diabetes foundation about 6% of the worlds population{about 230 million} have diabetes.

-Complications from the more common type 2 diabetes mellitus{70-90%}lead to human death more rapidly than type 1 diabetes.

-The disease is a silent killer like hypertension.

-The five countries with largest numbers of people with diabetes are India{35.5million},China{23.8million},United states of America{16 million},Russia{9.7 million}, Japan{6.7 million}-International diabetic foundation.

-Most sufferers are not aware of it ,most of them {80%}only discover it when they develop complications.

-The disease is a complex product of industrialization and development. Rising number of diabetes world wide has been attributed to ageing and excessive consumption of “processed foods”.

-It is currently a global health problem

Common Symptoms

-Increased urination{polyuria}

-Weight loss

-Increased hunger{polyphagia}

-Blurred vision

-Skin infections

-Poor wound healing

-Excessive fatigue

Diagnosis

A fasting blood sugar of less than 110mg/dl is classified as non-diabetic range and fasting blood sugar above or equal to 126mg/dl is classified as diabetic.

Diabetes is diagnosed when there are classical symptoms of diabetes and fasting blood sugar is within diabetic range.

Management

Since there is no known cure for diabetes, management is aimed at controlling the disease so as to keep the blood glucose within normal range. Control of blood glucose is achieved mainly by lifestyle modifications and drug treatment.

Definition; diabetes is a group of diseases that share the common symptom of hyperglycemia which is abnormally elevated glucose levels in the blood.

There are different types/classes of diabetes:

1]Type 1 diabetes mellitus

This is also known as insulin dependent diabetes-IDDM

It accounts for less than 20% of all diabetes cases worldwide .It is a disease that starts usually in childhood with typical age of onset below 18yrs.

It is due to total lack of insulin production, hence the victim requires insulin for control of blood sugar, it can not be controlled by use of oral anti diabetics .It is highly prone to the development of acute complication of ketosis[this is an acute complication of diabetes that results in rapid deterioration of consciousness and ultimately death if not treated promptly.

2]Type 2 diabetes mellitus

This is also known as non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus{NIDDM}

It accounts for 80% of all diabetic cases worldwide

It usually starts after the age of 18 years, and the prevalence increases with age and obesity. Its symptoms appear slowly as it is due to a reduced secretion of insulin or increased resistance of the body cells to insulin

It is not prone to the development of ketosis.

3]Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is described as any form of glucose intolerance first diagnosed in pregnancy. Approximately 1-2% of women will develop gestational diabetes in pregnancy.

4]Impaired glucose tolerance

This people are also known as pre diabetes. Their blood levels are higher than normal but not as high as diabetic range.

Fasting blood sugar higher than 6.1mmol/l and less than 6.9mmol/l

5]Secondary diabetes

This is when diabetes is due to an identifiable cause such as;

a}drugs-certain drugs can cause increased blood glucose eg thiazides diuretics,corticosteroids

b}pancreatic diseases like pancreatitis, cancer of the pancreas, damage to the pancreas

c}other endocrine diseases like acromegaly, cushings disease etc

d}Infective agents like cytomegalovirus,rubella

The first 3 types are the main types of diabetes mellitus, the last 2 are other not too common types.There are still some other types that are worth mentioning.