Archive for August, 2009

Controlling Blood Sugar In Type 2 Diabetes Without The Use Of Drugs

I was told in rapid succession that I was suffering from intermittent claudication (that’s blocked arteries in the legs), high blood pressure, Diabetes Type 2 and that I was overweight.

Not a lot of pleasure there! The intermittent claudication made it increasingly difficult to do much, so that in effect I had become a prisoner to my house and garden. Exercise was out of the question, my legs simply couldn’t cope, but it was hoped that angioplasty to each leg would cure the problem. It didn’t.

My high blood pressure, I was assured, could be treated by a cocktail of drugs and by weight loss. The cocktail of four different drugs worked, but I could not seem to lose weight.

So I was given a choice: the blood sugar levels could be controlled either by drugs or by diet. Since I was already taking four different drugs for blood pressure, I thought it best to try diet control. I was also hopeful that this might help me to lose weight. But where to start? My diabetic nurse provided me with a blood sugar monitor and said I should aim to stay under 9 as my reading. My Doctor said to stay under 7. Now she has reduced this to under 5. My current long-term reading is 5.3. A big drop from the high readings I used to produce.

So what did I do? At first I was taking blood samples three times a day and was truly astonished at how my blood sugar jumped about. Plain porridge and water, which I absolutely loved, would produce a reading of 16 and yet, being a slow release multigrain, I had always assumed it would be good for my health. A single apple, showed a reading of 12! Tea with milk but no sugar, 10. Obviously there was more to this than met the eye.

The first learning point was that the body needs water and lots of it. Out went sugared fizzy drinks and in came plain boiled water. The Swedes call it Silver Tea, I’m told, and it is very refreshing. Now a cup starts every day and two or three more follow. Low calorie tonic water is also useful (the quinine helps prevent cramps), mineral water (I especially like carbonated forms), low calorie Ginger Beer and cold filtered tap water.

The next, crucial, learning point: control your carbohydrate intake, in my case to under 40gms a day. Eliminate bread, cakes, sweets, pasta, rice, cereals, biscuits, sugars, fruit juice, potatoes, honey, jam, marmalade, baked beans. Reading the food labels is a real eye opener!

Instead, increase your intake of vegetables and low carbohydrate foods & fruits. All of the following are particularly good: Broccoli, cabbage, spinach, runner beans, brussels sprouts cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, swede, squashes, celeriac, green salads. Fruit can be very high in sugars, so use in moderation. Choose rhubarb, grapefruit, raspberries, loganberries, strawberries, blueberries, all of which are O.K. Do not add sugar, of course, so sweeten with cinnamon instead. Avocadoes are low in carbohydrates, but high in fat, so eat no more than half a fruit a day. Add nuts and seeds to your diet, again in small amounts.

As far as alcohol is concerned, all beers are out. One or two glasses of red wine a day are acceptable.

Avoid processed foods as much as possible and certainly do NOT eat hydrogenated fats of any kind. They are to my mind a food industry con. and of no use to any one other than manufacturers of processed food.

Buy only genuine, non-reconstituted lean meat, poultry, game and fish. Reduce your saturated fat intake by cooking on a griddle and cutting off any excess fat. Cook with olive and nut oils, as these unsaturated fats are good for you. Never use lard. Add game to your repertoire of ingredients, along with plenty of oily and white fish such as salmon, haddock, tuna, swordfish, mackerel & kipper.

I have never once felt hungry with this change in my eating habits to simple whole foods. I still find I miss eating plain yoghurt, vanilla ice cream and various cheeses. But then I occasionally do give myself a small treat – provided I stay within my allowance.

The results are good for my health:

• My good cholesterol is high
• My bad cholesterol is low
• My type II diabetes blood sugar is well controlled by diet alone
• I have lost 10 lbs in weight.

My next task is to lose another 30 lbs. I know now that this is achievable. The more weight I lose, the more able I am to increase my activity levels – and the more incentive I have to control my calorie intake. At last I feel that I am taking back control of my body and discovering that you really are what you eat!

Diabetes: What Type Of Insulin Is Right For Me?

Rapid onset-fast acting insulin

Rapid onset-fast acting insulin always looks clear. It is fast acting and starts to work within one to 20 minutes. It peaks about one hour later and lasts from three to five hours. When you use this type of insulin, you must eat immediately after you inject.

The two rapid onset-fast acting insulin types currently available are:

1. NovoRapid (Insulin Aspart)
2. Humalog (Lispro).

Short acting insulin

Short acting insulins always look clear. They begin to lower blood glucose levels within half an hour, so you need to have your injection half an hour before eating.

Short acting insulin has a peak effect at two to four hours, and lasts for between six and eight hours. Short acting insulin types currently available include:

1. Actrapid
2. Humulin
3. Hypurin Neutral (bovine – highly purified beef insulin).

Intermediate acting insulin

Intermediate acting insulins always look cloudy. They have either protamine or zinc added to delay their action. These insulins begin to work about 90 minutes after you inject, peak at four to 12 hours, and last for 16 to 24 hours.

Intermediate acting insulins currently available include:

1. With protamine added – Protaphane, Humulin NPH and Hypurin Isophane (bovine).

Preventing Diabetes

You’ll need to keep an eye on your blood sugar levels and take treatment for your diabetes for the rest of your life. If you don’t have good control of your blood sugar you’ll be at risk from damage to the blood vessels and nerves, with problems such as deterioration in eyesight, stroke, kidney disease and infections.

As your doctor has already explained, careful diet and pills are all that are needed in most cases. If you’re overweight, simply eating less and losing weight can be enough to allow the insulin to work more effectively.

Why Use Insulin Pumps?

The number of people using insulin pump therapy to manage their diabetes is growing rapidly; roughly 250,000 people around the world use an insulin pump. Their reasons for choosing the pump are many, but generally “pumpers” all agree that it gives them tighter control and more flexibility — both in terms of their schedule and lifestyle. This control and flexibility includes advantages such as:

1. Eating what you want, when you want
2. Worrying less about low blood sugars (“hypoglycemia”)
3. Living life on your terms, not a schedule of snacks and shots

There are many scientific studies that demonstrate that insulin pump therapy results in better outcomes for teens and adults with type 1 diabetes. There are also studies that show that insulin pump therapy works well in toddlers and pre-school children.

Causes of Diabetes, Major Factors of Diabetes

Certain factors that contribute to the development of diabetes are -

Heredity

Heredity is a major factor. That diabetes can be inherited has been known for centuries. However, the pattern of inheritance is not fully understood. Statistic indicates that those with a family history of the disease have a higher risk of developing diabetes than those without such a background. The risk factor is 25 to 33 percent more.

One reason why diabetes, especially type-2 diabetes runs in the family is because of the diabetes gene. But even it is caused by genetic factors beyond your control; there is no reason to suffer from it. Diabetes mellitus cannot be cured in full sense of the term, but it can be effectively controlled so that you would not know the difference.

Diet

Diabetes has been described by most medical scientists as a prosperity’ disease, primarily caused by systematic overeating. Not only is eating too much sugar and refined carbohydrates harmful, but proteins and fats, which are transformed into sugar, may also result in diabetes if taken in excess.

It is interesting to note that diabetes is almost unknown in countries where people are poor and cannot afford to overeat.

The incidence of diabetes is directly linked with the consumption of processed foods rich in refined carbohydrates, like biscuits, bread, cakes chocolates, pudding and ice creams.

Obesity

Obesity is one of the main causes of diabetes. Studies show that 60 to 85 % of diabetics tend to be overweight. In the United States of America, about 80 percent of type –2 non-insulin dependent diabetics are reported to be overweight.

Excess fat prevents insulin from working properly. The more fatty tissue in the body, the more resistant the muscle and tissue cells become to body insulin. Insulin allows the sugar in the blood to enter the cells by acting on the receptor sites on the surface of the cells.

Older people often tend to gain weight, and the same time, many of them develop and mild form of diabetes because who are over weight can often improve their blood sugar simply by losing weight.

Stress and Tension

There is a known connection between stress and diabetes mellitus, those who are under stress and/or lead an irregular lifestyle, need to take adequate precautions and make necessary lifestyle adjustments.

Grief, worry and anxiety resulting from examinations, death of a close relative, loss of a joy, business failure and strained marital relationship, all a deep influence on the metabolism and may cause sugar to appear in the urine.

Smoking

Smoking is another important risk factor. Among men who smoke, the risk of developing diabetes is doubled. In women who smoke 25 or more cigarettes a day, the risk of developing diabetes is increased by 40 percent.

Lifestyle Risk

People who are less active have greater risk of developing diabetes. Modern conveniences have made work easier. Physical activity and exercise helps control weight, uses up a lot of glucose (sugar) present in the blood as energy and makes cells more sensitive to insulin. Consequently, the workload on the pancreas is reduced.

A Short Tutorial About Various Diabetic Supplies

Diabetes is a chronic disease with no cure but the good news is that proper care and treatment a person can live a log and healthy life. Nearly 2,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes everyday.

It is estimated that there are 17 million people with diabetes in the U.S and another 16 million have pre-diabetes or higher blood-sugar levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

Buying diabetes supplies online can save time and money. In this article you will find the most used supplies and tools to achieve a good diabetes control and aid in everyday self-care.

For those who have been diagnosed with a diabetic condition, diabetes supplies are a fact of life. In order to maintain good health, diabetics must rely on various tools to help them monitor their conditions. Still, diabetes patients need to exercise caution when buying diabetes supplies.

The company that you buy your diabetes supplies from should have a phone number in case you need to contact the business because of a problem with the order. In fact, it’s best if the company has a toll-free hotline number that you can reach 24 hours a day. It is much better to register a complaint by phone than by e-mail.

Also, the company should have a pharmacist available to answer your questions. Having a pharmacist on staff indicates that the company is legitimate and is determined to provide excellent service to its customers. When ordering diabetes supplies, you’ll want to pay close attention to shipping charges so that you don’t experience sticker shock when you receive your final bill.

Typically, a diabetic pays a substantial sum each month for diabetes supplies, including pills, insulin, syringes, alcohol pads, lancets, ointments, salves, and special foods. Because competition for business is so great, the prices of items such as testing strips and glucose monitors are often competitive.

This competition can help to keep the diabetes patient’s expenses in check. However, there is no question that a diabetic must devote a portion of his or her income or insurance costs to diabetes supplies. In order to control glucose, blood sugar levels must be monitored closely—at least once a day.

Insulin Cases : Environmental factors such as excessive heat and freezing will have major affect on type of insulin. So, there is a need to keep insulin safe by using special cases while traveling and going out.

Blood Glucose Monitors : It is used to examine blood glucose level. Blood glucose levels below 120 mg/dL before meals, and below 180 mg/dL after meals, is the goal to stay healthy and prevent or delay the development of diabetes complications.

Blood Pressure Monitors : It helps to check blood pressure level of a person. High blood pressure affects 20-60% of people with diabetes and results in causing eye disease, kidney disease and heart disease.

Diabetes Software : This software can be used in your computer to help you to share the information with your Health Care Team to make the best choices in your treatment. Diabetes software includes OneTouch diabetes management software, OneTouch diabetes management software kit.

Glucose Tablets : Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar levels can occur very quickly and is a sharp complication of diabetes, especially if you use insulin. People with diabetes must always carry glucose tablets.

Glucose Gels : Glucose gel is absorbed more rapidly than tablets. In case of severe hypoglycemia 15 g of glucose in the form of glucose gel must be administered immediately orally.

Experts recommend that you deal only with those Internet companies that offer a return address rather than a post office box. If you want to make sure that you are buying diabetes supplies from reputable businesses that have their own offices, rather than an individual who is simply buying diabetes supplies from an Internet auction site and re-selling them to new customers.

7 Diabetes Foot Care Tips

If you have diabetes information about how to manage your condition is vital to your well being.

If you don’t look after your feet you run the risk of developing sores or infections that could, in the worst case scenario, lead to amputations. As happened to my father-in-law. Reduce your risk of infection or amputation by incorporating these 7 foot care tips…

1) Check your feet daily – especially if you have low sensitivity or no feeling in your feet. Sores, cuts and grazes could go unnoticed and you could develop problems leading to amputations.

2) Don’t go around barefoot, even indoors. It’s easy to tread on something or stub your toes and cut yourself. Protect your feet with socks/stockings and
shoes/slippers.

3) Be careful if you have corns or calluses. Check with your doctor or podiatrist the best way to care for them.

4) Wash your feet daily in warm, NOT HOT water. And don’t soak your feet (even if you’ve been standing all day) because it could dry your skin and form cracks or sores.

The Diabetes Massage Method for Feet

5) Take extra care to dry your feet completely, especially between your toes. These are natural moisture traps – leaving them damp or wet could create all sorts of problems.

6) Exercise your legs and feet regularly. Even when sitting you can rotate your ankles; wiggle your toes or move your legs up and down. These all keep your blood circulation flowing and helps to minimize the risk of foot problems.

7) Get your feet professionally checked, at least once a year, for sensitivity and signs of any problems. You can usually arrange this when you have your annual check up for your AC1 levels (blood glucose levels over a 3-month period), blood pressure and cholesterol.

Take constant care of your feet. Get help from a relative or professional; Doctor, diabetic nurse or podiatrist if you are not able to bend when trimming nails or checking for sores. Taking these simple actions will help you reduce the risk of painful problems.