Diabetes Type 2 is a chronic illness that is affecting people of all ages, but especially those over forty years of age that are overweight. At this time there is an alarming number of overweight children who are now developing diabetes type 2. Children are not immune to the complications of diabetes such as kidney failure, blindness and heart heart disease.

There is a way to reverse this disease and it can be started today. The most effective treatment for diabetes type 2 is diet. If you will add the exercise then the diet will become even more effective . As you exercise the weight will come off much quicker and the blood glucose come down faster.

The correct diabetic diet will be a blend of carbohydrates, protein, fat and fiber. Let’s start with protein which would consist of lean cuts of meat such as chicken with the skin off. Eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day. You can spread it out by having a fruit for breakfast then another for lunch and supper. You can add vegetables such as a salad for lunch. Cut down on your intake of sugar and alcohol.

There are people who have followed the diabetic meal plan and have lost twenty to thirty pounds.

There are diabetic diet meal plans that are planned with 1200, 1500, 1800 and even 2100 calories per day.

Decide that today is the day when you start eliminating diabetes from your life or the life of a loved one. What are you waiting for? Diabetes does not have to be in your future.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases with age and is common in the over 55 age group, an age when most have gained significant weight. This is the main reason type 2 was once known as Adult Onset Diabetes. However, these days diabetes is being diagnosed also in the younger age group, mainly due to the earlier onset of obesity.

Actually there is strong evidence which suggests type 2 diabetes can be prevented in people who are at risk, or in those who are showing early signs.

Those in the high risk category include:

• anyone over the age of 55 years
• anyone over 45 years with a weight problem, and/or high blood pressure
• anyone with a family history of diabetes
• any woman who had high blood sugar levels during pregnancy
• any woman with polycystic ovaries and a weight problem
• anyone from a high-risk ethnic group

Many years before the development of type 2 diabetes, people usually become overweight. This leads to insulin becoming less effective and then your body needs to make more and more insulin to control your blood glucose. After a while, the pancreas can no longer keep up and blood sugar levels start to rise. So maybe being overweight could be considered the first sign.

Early symptoms include:

• extreme tiredness, lack of energy
• needing to urinate more frequently, including during the night time
• passing a lot of urine at a time
• dry mouth and very thirsty
• dry skin
• blurred eyesight
• cuts or bruises that are slow to heal
• gum infections
• thrush, both oral and genital
• erectile dysfunction in men
• difficulty in concentrating
• numbness or tingling in your extremities

You usually have two or more of the above symptoms when your blood sugar levels are high.

Diagnosing what used to be called Adult Onset Diabetes is a simple procedure. Diabetes means high blood sugar and this is what is tested. Usually after you have not eaten for eight hours your blood sugars are tested, often early in the morning. Non diabetics would have a fasting level below 100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l). A value over 126mg/dl (7 mmol/l) would indicate you have type 2 diabetes. Your health care provider may repeat the test to be sure. He will also follow up with an oral glucose tolerance test. A definite diagnosis is made when the glucose level is 200 mg/dl (11mmol/l) or higher two hours after starting this test.

Diabetes can be a pretty terrifying disease to confront. Even if you don’t yet have it. If your blood glucose is up to diabetic blood sugar levels, it’s easy to freeze up or stay in fear. That’s unnecessary and it works against you.

Here are a couple of attitude adjustments to help you keep your head in the game, which may be all you need to stay healthy for life:

First, get serious about your current status and your regimen. If you’re on a treatment plan, you’ve got to take it seriously and do it correctly. Find out which medicines you take with food and which without food. Make sure you understand the schedule. And follow it religiously. Failing to take medication is the leading reason that diabetic patients’ health conditions don’t improve.

With type 2 diabetes, following a good diet and exercise plan can actually delay the onset of symptoms for years or indefinitely. In fact, diet and exercise are more effective in preventing diabetes than metformin, the most commonly prescribed medication. But you have to do them.

Second, don’t get morose about the future. If you’ve progressed to the point that you need to take insulin, it probably means your pancreas can’t produce enough even when stimulated by oral drugs. But it doesn’t mean you’re slipping downhill destined to die early. And there’s also no evidence that insulin causes complications like impotence.

Often, using insulin is often a short term measure for people who can’t take oral drugs because you’re sick or don’t tolerate them well. Losing weight and/or trying one of the new medications may help. Some people can even come off the insulin altogether. If you’re elderly, you may not need to keep so tight a rein on your insulin use because you’ll have less concern about complications developing.

Diabetes is serious. It’s the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure among adults and the seventh leading cause of death in America. But it’s not the arc of your life.

Take intelligent action. Get on a regimen you can absolutely depend on to get you down from diabetes blood sugar levels to a normal range and help you stay there so you stop the damage that high glucose levels is doing to your body as soon as possible.

And follow it religiously.

An observational study shows that glycemic control improves when repaglinide is added to metformin in patients with Type 2 diabetes not adequately controlled with metformin monotherapy.

An insulin secretagogue is usually the next agent added in patients failing to achieve adequate glycemic control with metformin monotherapy.

In a real-world, observational study, Michel Hermans (Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium) and D D’Hooge (Novo Nordisk Pharma, Brussels, Belgium) evaluated the benefits on glycemic control of adding the short-acting insulin secretagogue repaglinide to metformin in 2171 patients managed in routine primary care.

Participating physicians recruited three to five consecutive patients with Type 2 diabetes who were not adequately controlled with metformin monotherapy and in whom a switch to dual therapy with metformin and an insulin secretagogue was being considered.

The initiation of dual therapy, as well as starting dose, frequency, and any changes in treatment, were based on physician’s clinical judgment.

Patients made two visits, at the repaglinide??”metformin dual therapy initiation and at a follow-up visit within 10??”20 weeks. Measures recorded at both visits included glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting blood glucose, body mass index (BMI), and number of hypoglycemic episodes in the past month.

At the second visit, the authors reported a statistically significant decrease in HbA1c levels from 8.2% to 7.2%, and in fasting plasma glucose from 179 mg/dl to 135 mg/dl. BMI decreased slightly by an average of 0.4 kg/m².

The percentage of patients experiencing at least one hypoglycemic episode within the previous month rose slightly from 5.0% to 5.6%, but did not reach statistical significance.

The authors also determined the proportion of patients at HbA1c treatment goal at each visit. When using a goal of 7.0%, 145 (8%) patients achieved the goal at the first visit and 699 (38%) patients achieved this goal at the second visit. The number of patients with high HbA1c values (ie, at least 8.0%) decreased from 53% to 19%.

The authors note that almost all patients (98%) decided to continue dual therapy with metformin and repaglinide after the study had finished.

“Combining metformin with repaglinide appears a safe and effective therapeutic option once monotherapy with metformin is no longer adequate in adult patients with Type 2 diabetes followed in a primary care setting,” they conclude in the journal Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews.

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a part of Springer Science+Business Media. © Current Medicine Group Ltd; 2009

Free abstract

Prior to the development of insulin and other laboratory-manufactured medications, ancient healers prescribed natural remedies for the treatment of diabetes and lowering blood sugar. Please understand that while these examples should in no way replace conventional medical treatment, the following methods have been clinically shown to be effective in lowering? levels in adults suffering from Type II diabetes.

Cactus. Native Mexican Indians have used cactus leaves to lower blood-sugars for years. Recent studies have confirmed its effectiveness in reducing blood glucose due to the sticky pectin found in its mucilage. For this to be effective you only need to blend prepared and chopped cactus with some water to thin. Two tablespoons of cactus juice in the morning and two tablespoons at night have proven to be effective in lowering blood sugar.

Bitter melon and other green foods. Bitter melon is highly effective in lowering blood sugar. For centuries, cultures around the world have used bitter melon to lower levels naturally. Please beware however if you are pregnant or preparing this for a child as consuming the melon flesh, cooked or raw can cause hypoglycemia.

Vinegar. On-going trials are testing the efficacy of vinegar in lowering blood sugar levels and so far have promising results. Doctors theorize that properties in vinegar mimic the actions of diabetes medication such a Metformin. Participants in clinical trials took a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before each meal.

Cinnamon. As little as 1 gram of cinnamon a day can have positive effects for diabetics. The beneficial component in cinnamon is not affected by heat which makes it a good additive to decaffeinated coffee or tea.

Coffee. Studies show that coffee drinkers have a 30 percent lower risk for developing diabetes. However you must only drink decaffeinated coffee as caffeine is known to cause spikes in blood sugar.

Tea. Both black and green teas boosts insulin activity while the polyphenols contained in the tea reduce the amount of the enzyme, amylase, that is necessary to convert starch into glucose. Decaffeinated teas are the way to go.

Water. Water was the first natural remedy prescribed by the human body itself. Diabetics experience excess thirst as a way for the body to flush out the excess glucose from the blood. Drink lots and lots of water.

While these are important in lowering blood sugar it is important to avoid things that cause high blood sugar as well. Avoid sugary drinks, refined wheat products, refined sugars, alcohol and aspirin.

People suffering from diabetes can have various diseases like kidney malfunction, blindness and so on. Diabetes requires oral medicine or insulin in order to control it. Side by side you need nutritional management in the form of a diabetes diet menu to help you maintain the level of blood glucose and you need to maintain or lose weight along with this.

You insulin or oral medication should match with the foods you eat. So you should take the help of health care professionals who will decide the menu according to your lifestyle. You have to balance the food you eat, together with your insulin or oral medication and physical activity. Along with this you need to take care of your health too.

You should always remember to control your calorie intake. The total calories that you get from fat should not be more than 30 per cent out of which 10 per cent should be from saturated fat and the rest from meat protein. You should also have meals which are spread throughout the day at intervals of 2 to 3 hours.

Make sure that you do not skip breakfast, lunch or even dinner. Light exercises after every meal you have will help you to kick start your digestive system and control the sugar level in the body. Appropriate serving of food of each category at every meal will deliver a steady flow of sugar to the bloodstream which will help us to balance our energy level.

The foods that your diabetes menu should avoid is red fatty meat, highly processed food, fried food, fast food and highly saturated fatty food. Avoid sugar and sugar products and instead eat fruit for your desert serving. You also need to include the same amount of food in your diet everyday.

Your food groups should also consist of starches, vegetables, meats, fruits, milk and yogurt. The quantity will depend on your dietician after careful evaluation. So you should follow this diabetic diet menu and every bit of food you have, should be according to the menu. This will help with your condition.

As a Medicare beneficiary, you should know the kind of services you benefit from if you are a diabetic who requires supplies to take care of his/her condition. Medicare does not cover all the supplies you need and the ones that are covered include the blood glucose self testing equipment and supplies, therapeutic shoes and inserts and insulin and the insulin pumps.

Medicare normally takes care of about 80% of the costs of your diabetic supplies. This means that the rest of the costs have to be taken care of by you but most of the time, it is your private insurance company that will pay for that if you have one. Medicare will also determine how often you get your diabetic supplies and hence there are limits that may be set for you depending on your condition.

You will need a doctor’s prescription if you want to receive your supplies under Medicare plan and the doctor should state that you have been diagnosed with diabetes and provide other relevant information such as the supplies you will need and the types as well as the number of times you will need them. Basically, to get all the supplies that Medicare covers, you will need a doctor’s prescription.

When your expenses are covered under Medicare, most of the time you don’t need to pay for the shipping or delivery costs since they are all billed to Medicare as well your insurance company if you have one. This has made it easier for most of the diabetes patients who cannot afford the costs of the supplies out of their pockets to have the supplies.

Medicare and diabetic supplies information can be obtained online where you will also know how to find out whether you are eligible or not for the plan. You can also find a company that deals with Medicare from where you will be getting your supplies and let them handle the filing out of the claim forms for you.

Have your child’s symptoms been worrying you? Are you wondering if she’s just run down of if there’s something more serious at work? You think they might be symptoms of juvenile diabetes?

Diabetes is a double edged sword in the US. On the one-hand the symptoms for diabetes can be drastic. It’s the seventh leading cause of death, and the leader in causing blindness and kidney disease (it also can often lead to cardiac problems and others).

Paradoxically, it’s one of the most straightforward diseases to treat. And one of the few that you can largely reverse yourself.

So what are the symptoms of juvenile diabetes you should be looking for? I’ll give you the quick 5 and a warning you need to read at the end:

1. Your child wants to drink all the time (because their urine is absorbing all the excess water to dilute the excess glucose).

2. Your child wants to pee all the time (because her urine is absorbing water making her bladder full).

3. Your child is always hungry (because her cells can’t absorb glucose well so they are always sending signals that she’s starving.)

4. Your child is always tired (not sleepy, fatigued, because glucose can’t get into her cells to fuel her muscles).

5. Your child is losing weight (because she’s low on insulin which is a builder hormone and her cells are breaking down her muscle and fat trying to find some energy somewhere).

Here’s the warning I promised:

There?are peculiar symptoms of juvenile diabetes in addition to the normal symptoms for diabetes. And they’re deadly serious (of course, always consult your doctor). Your child may have bouts of nausea, stomach aches, and vomiting.

This happens when they’ve had a lot of fat breakdown in their bodies. Ketone bodies begin to accumulate in the blood and spill into the urine.

At the same time blood glucose can rise to dangerously high levels - 300 mg/dl or much higher. Your child can lose fluids, potassium, and sodium, and fall unconscious. In extreme cases, it can lead to death.

Diabetes is a chronic disorder usually affecting the middle aged and elderly population. But Juvenile Diabetes can affect kids too. It is basically an endocrine dysfunctional disorder.

Diabetes is mainly of two varieties. Type one Diabetes, where the patient’s body does not produce enough Insulin. The other variety is the Type two Diabetes, where in spite of Insulin being available the blood glucose or the blood sugar values are not controlled by it. This means that the Insulin in spite of being available cannot lower the blood glucose or blood sugar values. There is also an exclusive variety of Diabetes found only in pregnant females which is known as Gestational Diabetes. This is usually a transient phase lasting only as long as the pregnancy, but many cases develop the Insulin resistant variety of Diabetes later on in life.

The common symptoms of Diabetes are called as the triple “P” syndrome. The first P stands for Polyurea, which means passing urine several times within short intervals. The next P stands for Polydipsia, which means increased thirst and drinking water at frequent and short intervals. The last P stands for polyphagia, which means eating frequently or increased hunger. The patient is hungry soon after a meal.

In addition there are symptoms of excessive fatigue, lack of stamina, excessive sweating, and weight gain, swelling of the face or generalized edema. The immunity levels maybe low putting the patient at an easy risk of catching the candidal or fungal infections. There may also be issues with healing process, where even small wounds suppurate or take an unusually long time to heal. The other commonest symptom is visual disturbance leading to blurring of vision or even spots in the visual field.

The most important part of any diabetes treatment plan should be effective patient education.

Diabetes Mellitus is an old age chronic ailment. It was recognized as early as was Greek civilization. Diabetes Mellitus was initially characterized by the excretion of too much diluted urine. Today we know that it is a disease of disorder of metabolism and results in inappropriate levels of blood sugar.

The disease is classified into two types

• Diabetes mellitus
• Diabetes insipidus

Diabetes Mellitus

The characterizing feature of this disease is high-level of blood glucose which results by low insulin production by the pancreas. The typical symptoms of diabetes mellitus are

• Excessive urination (polyuria)
• Unquenchable Thirst (polydipsia)
• Blurriness In Vision

Diabetes Insipidus

On the other hand the characterizing feature of diabetes insipidus are the excretion of too much extremely diluted urine. This flow of extremely diluted urine cannot be lessened down by reducing the fluid consumption. This leads to severe disability of kidneys for concentrating urine.

Types of Diabetes Mellitus: Gestational Diabetes: WHO (World Health Organization) has further identified three main types of Diabetes Mellitus. One of those types is termed gestational diabetes. This form of disease occurs during pregnancy. The good thing about gestational diabetes is that early diagnosis can cure the disease.

The prime cause of gestational diabetes is that body of the mother is the only supplier of glucose to the body of the mother as well as the body of the baby. The glucose is carried to the baby via placenta. As a result the placenta produces hormones which help the baby to build up insulin. But the same hormones hinder the body of the mother to use insulin. In the later stages of pregnancy the placenta increase the production f these anti-insulin hormones. This hinders movement of glucose from the blood to the body of the mother. The condition is termed insulin resistance and results in gestational diabetes.

There are many contributing factors that increase the chances of developing this problem during pregnancy. These includes

• Obesity
• Family history of diabetes
• Age more than 25
• History of giving birth to stillborn child
• Giving birth to a baby weighing no more than 9 pounds

There are not any obvious symptoms of this problem during pregnancy. However American Diabetes Association recommended that every pregnant woman should be screened for gestational diabetes during 24th to 28th week of her pregnancy.

Following screening tests are needed

• Fasting blood glucose test
• Oral glucose tolerance test

If a woman is already suffering from diabetes when she got pregnant then it is important to tell her about the possible complications and risk to the growing fetus.