Thursday, May 8, 2008

Are You Doing Diabetes Care?

Diabetes care is a serious issue and needs to be addressed immediately to ensure that more serious conditions don't arise. The key here is personal responsibility and one must accept this to successfully control or reverse diabetes.

First and foremost you need to start with awareness. Many people have diabetes and they don't even know it. There are many symptoms to be aware of such as frequent urination, constantly feeling tired or fatigued, an increase in appetite, constantly thirsty and an increase in weight loss are possible symptoms. If you have a family history of diabetes then you are at an increased risk. Do you exercise? Do you eat healthy foods? If you answered no to these two questions then you are definitely at risk and should have your doctor check your blood sugar as often as he or she recommends.

Contending with a serious medical condition can put a lot of stress on a person but there is hope. It is very important to remember that diabetes care is a personal responsibility. You most likely got yourself into this and the good news is you can get yourself out of it. Dr. Robert Young, author of "The PH Miracle for Diabetes" has put it so well when he said, "You don't get diabetes, you DO diabetes." You do diabetes by eating junk food, fast food, foods high in sugar, excess amounts of animal proteins and foods high in saturated fat. When you add this to a lack of movement or exercise you are creating an environment for diabetes to exist in your body. So, if you can get yourself into this condition you can also get yourself out. You are the one who can keep yourself healthy.

The most important thing you can do now is to be aware of what you are eating and drinking. Diabetes care begins by changing your diet. Some simple changes include adding more veggies to your diet, especially green veggies like broccoli and cucumbers. Another important change you can do right away is dramatically reduce or eliminate sugary snacks and drinks and, reduce the amount of saturated fats you consume.

Diabetes care is not as hard as it is made to be. Depending on the extent of your blood sugar your doctor may decide to put you on medication. While many people cringe at the idea of an injection on a daily basis it is important to keep it under control. Un-controlled diabetes can lead to serious ailments such as heart attacks and strokes.

Diabetes care also includes monitoring your glucose and blood sugar several times a day. You need to be sure your blood sugar is maintained and in control. It is wise to keep a journal and let your doctor know your results. If for example, your diet and exercise program is working your doctor may reduce or eliminate your medication.

Just remember that you are in control and it is not something to worry over. It is your body's way of telling you that you are on the wrong path and you need to change course. Harvard did a study over a 25 year period and they concluded that 80-90% of diabetes, cancer and heart disease were directly related to lifestyle habits. By simply modifying your diet and adding exercise to your daily rituals you will be on your way to controlling and possibly eliminating diabetes.

Further Complications Associated With Diabetes

Diabetes is considered as a mother of host of maladies. So a diabetic should take extreme care while he is undergoing treatment and even afterwards. Once you develop diabetes, you are likely to remain affected with it for the rest of the life. So you need to be extremely careful and attentive towards prevention of complications that most of the times develop without you noticing it.

If you are diabetic and want to prolong your life, you need to be much conscious in your quest to keep blood sugar levels under control. That's the key to your safety from complication that would prove disastrous for your health.

Your little negligence would add to your misery. A diabetic is also needed to know in detail about expected complications, so that he/she could check or prevent these diseases on right time.

From your eyes to kidney, most of your body organs become vulnerable to diseases once diabetes afflicts you. Diabetic nephropathy is a kidney dysfunction that may even result in kidney failure that is quite common among patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Similarly your eye's retina could be affected due to diabetes. The disease is called as diabetic retinopathy.

If you are diabetic you are very much prone to attain increased level of bad cholesterol that in turn may result in coronary artery disease. In fact a good number of diabetics every year die of cardiovascular complications. In order to prevent these complications, a diabetic must stick to the dietary restrictions. If you are diabetic, a little control over unhealthy food cravings could save your life.

High blood pressure is one such complication with which a diabetic often get afflicted. So, sometimes diabetics are needed to compliment their main medications with blood pressure medications.

A diabetic may also suffer from nerve damage. This malady is better known as diabetic neuropathy. The disease mainly damages peripheral nerves. In certain cases diabetics have been also found developing sexual impotency.

So, there could be n-number of complications that a diabetic could suffer from. Prevention from complications lies in effective diabetes control through medications and dietary measures.