4 Steps To Manage Your Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic and potentially serious medical condition where your blood sugar levels are too high. Your blood sugar is high, not because you are producing too much sugar but rather because the body is not producing enough insulin. Insulin is a hormone that the pancreas produces, and one of its main jobs is to transport glucose, aka sugar, to different parts of the body so it can be used as energy.
However, in a person with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce adequate amounts of insulin to do this. As a result, sugar builds up in the bloodstream and can lead to various health problems, including heart problems, obesity, blindness, nerve damage, and death to limbs, fingers, and toes. Therefore, if you have diabetes, it is essential to receive a diagnosis so that you can start treatment as soon as possible.
If you have Type 1 diabetes, which is when you have diabetes as a result of an autoimmune condition where your immune system kills cells in the pancreas, insulin replacement therapy is the main course of treatment. Insulin replacement therapy involves injecting yourself with insulin since your body is not able to produce any on its own.
While insulin replacement therapy is the main course of treatment for Type 1 diabetes, it is also a potential treatment for Type 2. However, because Type 2 diabetes is not always as severe as Type 1, you may be able to manage it with other methods. People with Type 1 diabetes will need to take multiple insulin shots each day for the rest of their lives, whereas those with Type 2 only have to take insulin injections if they cannot control it with other methods.
If you have Type 2 diabetes and your pancreas is producing small amounts of insulin, but not enough, you may be able to get by with oral medications. Oral medications, such as Metformin, can either help your pancreas produce more insulin or keep your liver from producing glucose. Either way, the goal is to keep your blood sugar levels under control and make it easier for your pancreas to do its job.
However, oral medications are not potent enough to help people with Type 1 diabetes or severe Type 2 diabetes, where the pancreas does not produce any insulin.
In addition to insulin injections and oral medications, it will also be necessary to make lifestyle changes for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Healthy lifestyle changes will help you manage the amount of sugar that goes into your body and break down what is already inside you.
Most of the sugar that goes into your body comes from carbohydrates in the form of food and drink. Therefore, it will be necessary to alter your diet and manage your sugar intake if you have diabetes.
Exercise is one of the most important changes you will need to make if you have diabetes. Exercise acts as a form of insulin in that it encourages the movement of sugar in your blood to various parts of the body. Exercise also makes it so that your body is more sensitive to insulin, which means you will not need as much to move sugar through the body.
Regardless of what type of diabetes you have, it will be necessary to monitor it carefully. This means regular blood tests to check your A1C and blood sugar levels. Careful monitoring will also help you know if treatment is working or if you need to try something new.
Diabetes is a chronic condition that you cannot cure but that you can manage to prevent complications. If you let it get out of control, however, it can cause serious health problems or even death. Therefore, it is important to know if you have diabetes so that you can begin treatment immediately.