Archive for June, 2009
When people are diagnosed with diabetes, they often feel like they are being sentenced to a life without any kind of enjoyable food. But that’s simply not the case. Although you will probably have to eliminate a lot of junk food, sugar, or carbs from your diet, it doesn’t mean you can’t find delicious and simple to prepare meals that the whole family can enjoy.
To that end, one of the food categories that most concerns recently diagnosed diabetics is dessert. While many people opt to simply eliminate this part of the meal, it doesn’t need to be that drastic. Rather, you can simply replace a piece of cake or bowl of ice cream with some fresh fruit and cream. In this way, you’ll still be receiving a bit of sugar, but it will be sugar that’s better for your body to process. You’ll also be receiving some beneficial vitamins and nutrients. And if you ever feel stuck with your diet, just hop online. You’ll find all kinds of diabetes recipes that will give you quick, easy, and healthy choices for all your meals.
Increasingly, articles are appearing in the news about diabetics getting in accidents on the road because of episodes of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), sometimes with tragic results. Although it might not be right to charge those drivers with any type of vehicular crime, diabetics should not get a free pass just because they have this disease. Diabetics have a responsibility not only to themselves but also to those around them to properly monitor and control their blood glucose levels. Type 1 diabetes really is a controllable situation, and the best way to manage it is with constant blood glucose checks. A type 1 diabetic should check their blood sugar a minimum of 5 times a day, and some DMV codes say diabetics need to check their sugar EVERY time they get behind the wheel.
Blood glucose monitors can deliver a reading in less than 10 seconds. That really is not a long time for a diabetic to wait and see if he/she is in range, and thereby safe to operate a vehicle. No matter how busy someone is with errands, work, school, or life in general they HAVE to take the time to check sugar levels. Regular monitoring can help diabetics better detect glucose trends, react to carb intakes and maintain more consistent glucose levels, thereby minimizing the harmful long-term effects of peaks and valleys in their blood glucose. More importantly, diabetic drivers need to check blood sugars to avoid the potentially disastrous effects of hypoglycemia.
Controlling diabetes with a pump
For people with Type 1 diabetes who depend on daily insulin injections, changing to an insulin pump which delivers a regulated amount of fast-acting insulin might be an alternative they would want to look at for a number of reasons.
Because the pump can be programmed by the user to deliver varying amounts of insulin 24 hours a day, diabetics can more precisely control their insulin intake and quickly adjust for unforeseen adjustments. Users can also temporarily modify their bolus rates to account for a change in their daily habits (vacations, long travel periods, non-routine days).
The pump can be more convenient to use than needles or insulin pens. It is much less conspicuous to deliver a mealtime bolus at the dinner table with a pump than via manual insertion. Dosages can be controlled very tightly and with proper training from a doctor or diabetes educator, it is virtually seamless to set the pump to deliver several units of insulin immediately and then spread out a different dosage over the next 2 hours.
Some diabetics find the pump more comfortable than using syringes. Fewer injections means fewer injection sites. There are multiple injection delivery options, giving the user choices in picking the most comfortable type for them.
Tight blood-sugar control is key in controlling diabetes with a pump. Glucose should be tested at least 5 times a day and the user should be diligent in keeping track of not only the test results but also carbohydrate counts, corrections amounts and exercise.
Consulting with a doctor or diabetes educator is the first step in making the change to using a pump. Training can be extensive but the results can be more than worth the effort.
Diabetes is a serious but manageable condition. Even though diabetes most certainly means life changes, it can be kept in check with any combination of proper diet, exercise, and medication. The balance of those three factors depends greatly on the individual. As with any major life health change, however, the details of that balance should always be discussed with a doctor.
But once those details have been worked out, the responsibility really does fall on the shoulders of the individual. It’s up to them to stick to the plan that’s been outlined for them, and it’s also up to them to do all the necessary research into the disease. Diabetes affects everyone differently, which is why successfully combating the disease almost always comes from reading various books on diabetes as well as accruing personal experience with the condition.