Diabetes is an incurable chronic disease. It is traced to the impairment of the glucose cycle which consequently alters the metabolism of the body. When it comes to the management of Diabetes, several factors, such as lifestyle modification, exercise and a proper diet, come into context. It is imperative for those who are diabetic to achieve and maintain foot care as well as the proper weight through diet and exercise.
Management Issues
Prior to managing diabetes, the main concern revolves around the glucose cycle. This is with regard to the availability of glucose for the bodily cells via the bloodstream. This process depends on the two cycles of glucose namely: when glucose enters the bloodstream; and when insulin allows the appropriate uptake onto the bodily cells. These two aspects are vital for Diabetes Management.
The Modern Approach
At present, the modern approach for diabetes relies on lifestyle and dietary management. These are often mixed with an ongoing and regular monitoring of one’s blood glucose levels. It is diet management that enables the awareness and control over the nutrient types that enter one’s digestive system. This indirectly allows significant control over the changes in your blood glucose levels.
The monitoring of your blood glucose levels can promote verification as well as a closer control which are deemed vital for the treatment of diabetes. This is because most of the symptoms of the disease are not evident if there are no actual tests and measurements done. Hence, another approach is through exercise and a change in your lifestyle that has a strong impact on your glucose cycle.
Moreover, having a sturdy patient-doctor partnership poses an essential tool for the successful management of the disease. It is the doctor that initially diagnoses a patient for diabetes and offers some of the necessary tools for the patient to start with the management program. Hence, the best thing a patient can do is to have regular appointments or visits with his doctor as well as a Certified Diabetes Educator during the first few weeks following the diabetes diagnosis.
Your physician, endocrinologist, or specialist will then conduct a full medical and physical examination. This assessment will cover topics like blood pressure measurements, weight and height measurements, thyroid examination, and blood tests on A1C, cholesterol, and blood sugar. It will also cover a close examination of the fingers, hands, toes, and feet, particularly for certain circulatory abnormalities. Other topics would pertain to one’s medical history for previous medical conditions and infections; a family history pertaining to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and stroke; one’s smoking history; exercise and eating habits; vision abnormalities; urination abnormalities that may constitute to kidney disease; plus, a list of presently taken medications such as over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs, minerals, vitamins, or even herbal supplements. For women, an additional topic about pregnancy complications should arise.
All these are very important because Diabetes is a very complicated disease which requires careful management and treatment methods.
Managing Blood Sugar Levels
A glucose meter is a type of device that measures a person’s blood sugar levels. Optical management refers to the measuring and recording of your blood glucose levels. This is why most diabetics keep a diary about this. It is also important that you note down the effects of exercise and certain foods to implement a lifestyle based on these factors. This way, you have better chances of controlling diabetes. With regard to diabetics who are already administering insulin shots, your involvement in the program is very important to achieve effective dosing as well as timing methods.
Hyperglycemia and Hypoglycemia
Hyperglycemia occurs when your blood sugar levels are very high. Hypoglycemia, on the other hand, is the other way around. However, hyperglycemia is harder to detect as compared to the latter. This is because it normally happens after a few days. If these conditions are untreated and disregarded, its results are as tragic as diabetic coma and even death.
As of now, there is no way to test if you can be susceptible to the complications of diabetes. This is why diabetics are recommended to have their blood sugar levels checked either every day or every other day. However, blood testing manufacturers came up with computer software that can display such results as well as its trending fashion. Since Type 1 Diabetics undergo insulin therapy, they are normally the ones who have this checked regularly.
Glycemic Control
The typical blood sugar levels of diabetics are called glycemic control. It is noted that long-term complications such as those in the microvascular system resulted from a prolonged and untreated hyperglycemia condition. This is why having a good glycemic control is a vital goal for diabetes care.
Monitoring Diabetes
I. Insulin and other Drugs
At present, diabetics are either avoiding or minimizing the complications of chronic diabetes. This is to help them avoid acute conditions such as hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. Through adequate control of the disease, there is a lower risk of acquiring complications that can be linked to unmonitored diabetes. This would include blindness, kidney failure, or even limb amputation.
Insulin therapy and oral hypoglycemics are noted as the most common medicated form of the disease. This is also called the hypoglycemic treatment. There is also emerging evidence which indicates that having full blown Type 2 Diabetes may be evaded by those with mild glucose tolerance impairment undergoing hypoglycemic treatment.
Since 2004, further studies on mechanisms for insulin application have been conducted. In fact, there was an experiment about a certain capsule which passes onto the liver, delivering insulin through the bloodstream. Another result of medical experiments is the so-called GAD, or Glutamic Acid Decarboxylsae, which is a proposed vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes.
For those with Type 2 Diabetes, management includes a combination of exercise, diet, and proper weight loss. This is still very much dependent on the patient. This program is merely based on findings that Type 2 Diabetics mostly suffer from obesity, which greatly contributes to insulin resistance. Through exercise and weight reduction, a you can improve your tissue sensitivity to insulin, allowing proper usage via target tissues.
Type 2 diabetics who still possess poor diabetic control, subsequent to lifestyle modifications, have another option called oral hypoglycemics. If your body is still unresponsive to this treatment, insulin therapy is already the best option. In insulin therapy, education as well as compliance with the treatment is vital so as to manage diabetes. Improper usages of insulin as well as other medications are both very dangerous and life threatening. They can lead to severe hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic episodes.
Close monitoring is essential to insulin therapy. A good example is if there is a reduction in the patient’s food intake, only less insulin is needed. If less food is taken and the dose given is not reduced, it can trigger hypoglycemic reactions. Aside from this, there is a reduced need for insulin if the patient is doing some exercises. This is because exercise can increase the bodily cells’ glucose intake, wherein, the glucose intake remains controlled by the insulin, and vice versa.
The risk with insulin therapy is the inability to continually monitor one’s blood glucose level to adjust appropriate insulin infusion. Yet, advances in technology note a few solutions to this dilemma. You can now buy portable and small insulin infusion pumps to enable you to have constant infusion of only small insulin amounts anytime. They also enable you to provide bolus doses during instances where a person has high blood glucose levels. This function is similar to the function of the pancreas.
Thus, a treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) known as Exenatide has the ability to control the blood sugar of those with Type 2 Diabetes. This treatment was actually based on a Gila monster’s saliva.
II. Supplements and Diet
For patients of Type 1 and Type 1 Diabetes, you can have normal blood sugar levels by controlling your diet. For those with Type 2 Diabetes, there is a greater chance of controlling it through dietary modification. Since Diabetes can result to several possible complications, it is important to maintain a normal blood sugar level. Diet is the key solution to this.
Here are some of the noted dietary recommendations by the American Diabetes Association:
Low Carb Diet – It is suggested that a gradual exclusion of carbohydrates from your diet and replacing it with certain fatty foods like seeds, nuts, fish, meats, eggs, and oils may reverse diabetes. Other foods would be vegetables, olives, and avocados. Since those fats become the body’s main calorie source, certain complications because of insulin resistance become minimized.
Glycemic Index – By reducing the glycemic index of your diet, you can improve your control over the disease. This involves avoiding foods like white bread, potatoes, and the like, as well as favoring foods like whole grains and legumes.
High Fiber Diet – It is proven that having a high-fiber diet is actually helpful in controlling one’s blood sugar levels; thus, controlling diabetes. It is as efficient as taking oral diabetes drugs.
Cinnamon – Although this has yet to be evaluated and proven by the FDA, there were studies that showcased the effects of cinnamon in reducing the disease.
Chromium – Triglycerides and cholesterol are not only risk factors of heart disease, they can also promote diabetes. Chromium is noted to have the ability to lower the levels of LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and cholesterol. In fact, chromium supplements like chromium picolinate can improve your glucose tolerance, particularly if you are a Type 2 Diabetic.
Vanadium – There are evidences that suggest vanadium’s ability to improve the glucose control of those with type 2 Diabetes. This can be in the form of vanadyl sulfate.
III. Exercise
Stressing the importance of exercise for people who have Type 2 Diabetes due to obesity is no less than a proven fact. It is not only essential for those who are already diabetic but for those who know that diabetes is a hereditary disease that has been running in their family for generations.
Qigong and Tai Chi – Pilot studies have proven the ability of Qigong and Tai Chi to reduce the gravity of type 2 Diabetes.