Diabetic Treatment Options

Treatment for diabetes can include insulin, oral medications, exercise and diet depending on the type of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is typically treated with a combination of insulin, exercise and diet. Type 2 diabetes generally focuses on weight loss prior to diet and exercise treatment methods. The primary goal of treatment is to keep your blood glucose at an optimal level.

Approximately 24 million Americans are living with diabetes. Type 1 diabetes prevents the body from producing insulin, which is used to help us convert sugar into energy. Without insulin, sugar builds up in blood which can cause life-threatening complications. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes whereas the body does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells ignore the insulin.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Tradjenta tablets as a supplement to diet and exercise, to manage blood glucose levels for those living with Type 2 diabetes. This drug increases the amount of hormones that stimulate the release of insulin after meals.

4-Step Treatment for Diabetes

There is no single treatment for diabetes. Carefully managing your diabetes calls for a plan of attack and a healthy lifestyle. Diabetes is a condition that results from abnormally high blood glucose levels. In diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin to control sugar levels, and when blood glucose levels increase, complications can occur.

Medication, such as insulin, helps keep blood glucose levels in check. But medication isn’t the only treatment for diabetes. You can also control your diabetes with a healthy lifestyle.

1. Begin an exercise routine and get at least 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity three times a week. Any type of activity is acceptable, as long as you’re moving. Go for a bike ride, go to the gym for a workout class, enroll in a sport or exercise in your living room.

2. Take off extra pounds and maintain a healthy weight.

3. Change up your eating habits and eat four to six small meals a day. This keeps your metabolism active and eliminates overeating.

4. Give up unhealthy foods. Watch your sugar intake and take in plenty of healthy alternatives, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Eliminate processed foods from your diet and avoid fatty foods.

Recognizing the Symptoms for Diabetes

The challenges of detecting the symptoms for diabetes can be many but understanding the disease, and its symptoms can help those who are afflicted live normal lives. It all starts with glucose and the fact that there is not enough in the body’s cells. Instead, there is an overload of glucose in the blood.

There are two types of diabetes. For Type 1, the challenge is that the abundance of glucose in the blood is due to the fact that insulin produced by the cells have broken down and been decimated. For Type 2, the cells have, somehow, become resistant to the insulin that gets produced.

Recognizing the symptoms for diabetes can be challenging if one is not alert to one’s own body reactions.

The major symptoms include:
- Too much urination due to an increase in the glucose. The kidneys are constantly filling up due to no insulin and too much glucose. The kidneys are unable to effectively filter the glucose back into the blood.
- A loss of weight without dieting or exercising and weakness are definite symptoms for diabetes. The pancreas begins to break down in its ability to produce insulin. The body’s cells are not getting their energy from glucose so the cells begin to feed on fat and muscle.
- Constantly being thirsty. The kidneys are pulling out as much water as they can, and many trips to the bathroom eventually cause a continuous dehydration.
 

Other symptoms for diabetes include:
- tingling in the extremities
- dry and itchy skin
-blurry vision
- constant and prevailing fatigue

 

Nutrition Strategies for the Diabetic

One of the greatest challenges for those who suffer from diabetes is cobbling together some manner of diet for diabetics. Huddling with your health care provider and dietician will yield the maximum benefit in the long run. In considering a diet for diabetics, one must take into consideration that everything depends on the balance of glucose in the blood as well as lifestyle. Many diabetics tend to balk at having to readjust their lifestyles to accommodate their nutritional needs but it seems to be the only way to effectively combat the affliction.

- The major consideration in any diet for diabetics& is the importance of planning your meals at regular times during the day. This helps to control and stabilize your glucose and allows your insulin production to work more efficiently.

- Try to incorporate all of the traditional dietary elements of carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and proteins into your everyday diet planning. The carbohydrates produce much needed energy and can be gathered from whole grain breads and cereals as well as fruits and vegetables. Any diet for diabetics should keep a watchful eye on carbohydrates.

- Monitor your blood levels closely with regard to certain foods and temper how they affect your levels and your overall feeling of well-being. This will help you to adjust your diet so as to get the maximum advantage from your food intake.

- Salt is a killer in any diet for diabetics and must be avoided at all costs. Enough salt is taken in through various foods and there is absolutely no need to add any to your nutritional strategy.

- Try to switch to, or at least incorporate, a vegetarian lifestyle for your nutrition. Animals, birds, and fish only add more unneeded cholesterol to your body. Your liver generally produces all of the cholesterol your body needs so try to avoid adding any more.

- Eliminate sugar, salt, and fat from any diet for diabetics. Try to find alternative ways to get your protein rather than through animals or animal products.

The goal of any diet for diabetics is to bring those blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible so that your body can produce what it should and be able to function as it should. Consulting with your health care partners is a great first step toward achieving a lifetime of helpful nutrition.

Ordering Diabetes Supplies Online

If you have been managing diabetes for a while and are hoping to save some money on your diabetes supplies, check with your doctor about ordering these supplies online. A little bit of research can lead to significant savings on your monthly diabetes supplies.

Once you get the go-ahead from your doctor, start asking other people you know who have diabetes, where they order their diabetes supplies. Start making a list of companies using online reviews as well, and then begin your research.

There are many diabetes supplies that can be ordered online – from a continuous glucose monitoring system, lancets, control solutions, to insulin pumps but you need to validate the online supplier.

First, check out the BBB (Better Business Bureau), to be sure there are no complaints or lawsuits pending. Then, check to be sure that your health insurance plan is accepted by the company. If you narrow down your list with these two requirements, you can then begin to check other requirements you may have.

For example,some of the companies on your list may offer free shipping. Some may have a minimum order amount, but that might be feasible for you each time you order. Make sure there are no upfront expenses, and if there is a no-risk guarantee, take it, and try them out.

There may also be some extra incentives for you to try a company, and these are good to note. Maybe a company has an order reminder that you can set up with your email account to help you stay on top of your supplies. Companies may offer free items to entice you such as cookbooks or meters or even online support. This is a great way to stay connected and may tip the scale in that company’s favor.

Take your time and have a checklist. Once you realize the ease and savings of ordering online, you may never have to invest that much time keeping up with your diabetes supplies again.

Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes

Each year more than 13,000 youths are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Also known as juvenile diabetes, type 1 diabetes is a condition in which a child’s immune system destroys pancreatic cells that make the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar. Only 5 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease.

Type 1 diabetes requires consistent care, including monitoring of blood sugar and regular insulin injections daily or a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump. But even young children diagnosed with the disease can learn to manage the condition and live long, happy lives. Early detection and treatment is important.

The symptoms for type 1 diabetes usually develop quickly. Here’s what to look for:

• Increased thirst and frequent urination
• Extreme hunger
• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Irritability or unusual behavior
• Weight loss
• Yeast infection or diaper rash in babies

Talk to your child’s pediatrician if you feel your child may be exhibiting any of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes. Early detection of diabetes symptoms and treatment for diabetes may decrease the development of the complications of childhood diabetes.

Living with Brass Monkey

While living with diabetes means learning how to control your blood sugar levels through diet and exercise, for some it also means learning how to use various diabetes supplies. One such supply is the insulin pump. Using an insulin pump can initially make many patients nervous, but once they realize the benefits and the control they maintain, it becomes a great tool in their efforts in managing diabetes.

An insulin pump is set to deliver small amounts of insulin throughout a 24 hour period via a catheter placed underneath the patient’s skin. With an insulin pump the insulin will keep up with how you like to spend your day rather than you having to change your activities based on your blood sugar levels. Because it delivers insulin in small doses, you can be assured that your blood sugar levels are maintained between meals and while you sleep. It is very accurate and will prevent large swings in your levels. You can also control an extra amount of insulin if you have just eaten a high carbohydrate meal or snack. This extra shot is called a bolus and it covers the extra insulin needed.

The insulin pump allows you to maintain the quality of life you have always had by eliminating the need for individual injections and letting you have more flexibility in what you eat. You and your diabetes team should always be striving to find the best, most efficient ways to help you keep your blood sugar levels in your optimal target range.

Type 2 Diabetes Can Strike Adults, So Know the Warning Signs

For many health-conscious adults in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, their primary concerns are things like high cholesterol and blood pressure, heart disease, and other ailments. And that’s a good thing: heart disease remains the leading cause of death in America, and the more people watch their diets, exercise, and get regular checkups, the better.

That said, adults may not be aware of the alarming fact that they’re susceptible to Type 2 Diabetes. Unlike Type 1 diabetes, where children are diagnosed at a young age and subsequently spend their lives managing diabetes, Type 2 can strike later on in life. That’s because while adults naturally produce insulin, they suddenly cannot process it due to the combined ingestion of sugar foods, unhealthy meals, and alcohol.

In other words, a poor diet and lack of exercise can also contribute to the onset of Type 2 diabetes, so it is important to be aware of diabetes symptoms when they arise: frequent trips to the bathroom, chronic fatigue, persistent thirst and hunger, and a general feeling of full-body weakness. If any of these symptoms resonate, get tested immediately.

The Latest Developments in Treating Diabetes

The last twenty years have seen radical advances in the treatment of diabetes, meaning the disease no longer acts a precursor to painful and life threatening complications such as blindness, amputation and kidney failure. Aided by modern science people with diabetes can now expect to lead long, rewarding lives, and these advances continue to accelerate as the disease becomes more widespread.

Much emphasis and research continues to surround the role of insulin in Type 2 diabetes, the most frequently occurring form of the condition. In particular, scientists are studying the relationship between energy created at a muscular level and its response to insulin generation in relation to impaired phosphate movement, as an early stage symptom of diabetes. This research is helping us to understand the problems of weight management among many insulin-resistant sufferers, who appear to have a lower calorific requirement than the rest of the population.

Insulin delivery is also the subject of much research and new implantable insulin delivery capsules are at an advanced stage. When commercially available these tiny pumps will be capable of measuring blood sugar levels and releasing exact quantities of insulin, mimicking natural delivery methods. Early progress in using the body’s own nutrients, to create insulin, means their life spans could be indefinite once biocompatibility issues can be overcome and the body prevented from attacking such devices.

The development of insulin inhalers is currently being fast tracked in clinical trials and could be used to deliver amounts of the compound through the mouth. While they may not completely eradicate the necessity for daily injections they will deliver a rapid amount of insulin to the bloodstream

With so much research underway including vaccines, cell transplants and gene therapy the lives of the 20 million Americans living with diabetes are set to be vastly improved over the next decade.

Insulin and Diabetes: Why Insulin is Necessary

Nearly all diabetics will have to use insulin to control their diabetes at some point in their life. A lucky few who catch the disease in its extremely early stages and follow a regimen of diet and exercise may be able to stave off the effects of the disease, but for most people with diabetes, insulin will become a part of their lives. Insulin provides the body a means to use glucose for fuel and helps keep glucose levels normal. High glucose levels can damage eyesight, nerves, kidneys and blood vessels and low glucose levels can lead to irregular heartbeats, cold sweats, coma and even death.

Type 1 diabetes is the less common of the two types of diabetes. It can develop at any age, but is more common in children and adolescents. With Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. It is suspected that the body’s own immune system kills off the cells responsible for producing insulin. Type1 diabetes can occur in older people through destruction of the pancreas due to alcohol consumption or anything else which can lead to destruction of the pancreas or its removal.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to use the insulin that the pancreas produces and is sometimes called insulin resistant diabetes. The pancreas is forced to produce larger and larger amounts insulin, eventually leading to the pancreas not being able to produce insulin at all. Insulin injections are required to supply the body with what it can no longer manufacture for itself. This type of diabetes is by far the more common of the two. Since there are no symptoms until the body stops making insulin, many people don’t even know they have the disease.

Insulin comes in vials available by prescription from your pharmacy and a small syringe is used to inject the fluid, usually into the upper arm. Some new syringes are available that come with insulin already in the syringe. This type of syringe is clear and has measurements on the side to denote dosage amounts. Many diabetics find this method more convenient than traditional methods since the syringe fits neatly into a pocket or purse and can be carried easily wherever you go. Researchers are currently working to improve a method of delivering insulin orally, which would completely eliminate the need for painful injections except in the most extreme emergencies. Insulin pills are available, but their effectiveness is not truly comparable to the injection method, requiring larger doses and inducing nausea.

One recently approved method of insulin delivery is through an inhaler. Much like an asthma inhaler, insulin is delivered directly to the lungs and is spread through the body like oxygen. One potential problem has already been identified with insulin inhalers, though, which could prove a significant hurdle for this method. A small decline in oxygen transport through the lungs could prove to be a serious problem, if the symptom increases with more use of the inhaler.

Insulin, in whatever form it’s taken, is essential to a diabetics continued health. Without regular doses, glucose levels would raise high enough to damage the body, or drop significantly enough to cause coma and death.

[tags]diabetes,Insulin[/tags]

Insulin – An Anabolic Hormone, Insulin Preparations

Insulin is produced by beta cells of pancreas. It is called anabolic because it promotes synthesis – synthesis of glycogen, protein and triglycerides.

Regulation of insulin secretion in the body :

Glucose – After ingestion of carbohydrate rich diet, there will be increased levels of glucose in the blood. Beta cells sense this increase and releases insulin.

Amino acids – Ingestion of protein leads to increase in amino acids in the blood. This is also a stimulus for insulin release.

Hormones produced in the intestines – like secretin. They are released in to blood when we eat food. And these rise the levels of insulin well before the actual glucose increased in the blood.

All above factors increase insulin secretion after food, where as in fasting the insulin secretion is inhibited. We need fuel in fasting states, so epinephrine (a stress induced hormone) inhibits insulin secretion and mobilizes glucose from liver and fatty acids from fat stores. These glucose and fatty acids are used as fuel in starving state.

How insulin acts in the body :

* In muscle and fat, insulin increases glucose uptake by increasing the number of transporters in the cell membrane.

* In liver, insulin decreases the breakdown of glycogen (glucose storage form) to glucose.

* In liver , insulin inhibits glucose synthesis.

* In fat stores, insulin inhibits release of fatty acids in to the blood.

* Insulin increases uptake of amino acids by cells leading to protein synthesis.

Types of insulin preparations :

Rapid-acting insulin – Action will be with in 20 minutes. It is convenient for taking before meals and don’t have to wait 60 minutes as with regular insulin. But patient is instructed to eat carbohydrates first.

Short-acting insulin – Effect occurs with in 30 minutes after subcutaneous injection and lasts for around 6 hours. It is generally used after hyperglycemic episodes and emergencies, after insulin changing needs like after surgeries.

Intermediate-acting insulin – Example is Lente insulin. Its action starts within 2 hours and extended up to 18 – 24 hours. It needs two doses per day for this reason. It is used for regular daily maintenance of blood sugar.

Long-acting insulin – These actions prolonged more than 24 hours. Daily dose is used in two divided doses.

Most important thing to follow when using insulins is careful monitoring of blood glucose at home, recording it in a dairy. Follow your doctors instructions carefully, when to take and how much to take. Any deviation from your original healthy state should be intimated to your doctor for further checking.

How Insulin Works

Insulin is produced by beta cells of the pancreas. It is called anabolic because it promotes synthesis – synthesis of glycogen, protein and triglycerides.

Regulation of insulin secretion in the body :

Glucose – After ingestion of carbohydrate rich diet, there will be increased levels of glucose in the blood. Beta cells sense this increase and release insulin.

Amino acids – Ingestion of protein leads to an increase in aminoacids in the blood. This is also a stimulus for insulin release.

Hormones produced in the intestines (like secretin) – These hormones are released into our blood when we eat food. And these raise the levels of insulin well before the actual glucose increases in the blood.

These factors all increase insulin secretion after eating, while during fasting insulin secretion is inhibited. We need fuel in fasting states, so epinephrine (a stress induced hormone) inhibits insulin secretion and mobilizes glucose from liver and fatty acids from fat stores. These glucose and fatty acids are used as fuel in a starving state.

How insulin acts in the body :

• In muscle and fat, insulin increases glucose uptake by increasing the number of transporters in the cell membrane.
• In the liver, insulin decreases the breakdown of glycogen (glucose storage form) to glucose.
• In the liver, insulin inhibits glucose synthesis.
• In fat stores, insulin inhibits release of fatty acids in to the blood.
• Insulin increases uptake of amino acids by cells leading to protein synthesis.

Types of insulin preparations :

Rapid-acting insulin – Action will be within 20 minutes. Convenient for taking before meals as you don’t have to wait 60 minutes as with regular insulin. But the diabetic patient is instructed to eat carbohydrates first.

Short-acting insulin – Effect occurs with in 30 minutes after subcutaneous injection and lasts for around 6 hours. Used after hyperglycemic episodes and emergencies and insulin changing needs like after a surgery.

Intermediate-acting insulin – Example is Lente insulin. Action starts within 2 hours and extends up to 18 – 24 hours. Two doses per day are needed for this reason. Used for regular daily maintanence of blood sugar.

Long-acting insulin – These actions are prolonged more than 24 hours. Daily dose is used in two divided doses.

Most important thing to follow when using insulins is the careful monitoring of blood glucose at home and recording it in a dairy. Follow your doctor’s instructions carefully regarding when and how much to take. Any deviation from your original healthy state should be shared with your doctor for further checking.

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