Monday, July 25, 2011

Get Your Facts Strait on Diabetes - Research and Studies Every American Should Know

ByAlbert Roth

If your blood glucose is in the red often, you may be a person diagnosed with diabetes. When your body doesn't produce the correct amount of the hormone insulin you are considered a diabetic. Doctors can tell you about your blood sugar level, if it exceeds 110 mg/dl, you officially have hyperglycemia.

History will tell our grand children that diabetes was one of the fastest growing chronic diseases of our time. In the top ways of dieing in the US, diabetes takes a trophy. Woman and children alike are effected by diabetes, yet blame can not be put on the disease itself. People may go for years and years without actually feeling the symptoms of diabetes, until it is too late and difficult to reverse. Keep your entire body, including your heart, healthy and in shape to prevent diabetes. Synonymous with diabetes is also stroke and heart attack. You can say that it's best to live an overall healthy lifestyle to prevent problems such as those.

Depending on how the body uses insulin, people have either type 1 or 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes (formerly known as insulin-dependent or juvenile-onset diabetes) is usually diagnosed before the age of 30.

Type 2 diabetes is also commonly called adult-onset diabetes. Although diagnosed in children, many adults develop this later in life due to a poor lifestyle. Up to 95% of diabetic cases are Type 2. These cases are becoming increasingly common in the older crowd. If a person contracts type 2, monitoring their blood sugar and taking injectable or oral medication will help them manage the disease.

Whichever type of diabetes you may have, it's important to be educated and take steps to prevent it from getting any more severe. The first step for a doctor to know about your glucose level, is to have a reading of it over several months. This is done using a A1C test. Use diet and exercise to keep the complications of diabetes at bay. Of course, if you choose to simply manage your diabetes the medication is a valid course. Sometimes multiple medications and insulin are needed to control blood sugar levels.

Take medication and watch your glucose on a daily basis if you are diagnosed with diabetes. If you have a possible family history of diabetes, you may be at a greater risk. If you have diabetes, you should take any medication as directed and make sure you are following the proper nutrition plan.

Test your blood sugar before a meal. If it is outside of 70-130 mg/dl then you should talk to your doctor. Be careful of caffeine as it can also cause you problems. If you have type 2 diabetes, avoid excess amounts of caffeine as it can increase blood sugar levels. Check your glucose amounts every so often with a A1c (HbA1c) test. The A1c (HbA1c) test will give you insight and allow you to chart your blood sugar over time. Treatment of diabetes focuses on lowering blood sugar or glucose (BG) to the near normal range, approximately 80-140 mg/dl (4.4-7.8 mmol/L).

You can also get more information from the AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION (ADA):

No comments:

Post a Comment