Many older diabetic patients present with symptoms from the complications of diabetes in the eye (cataract, retinopathy). In diabetic patients, sometimes there are problems in the blood vessels behind the eye, leading to retinopathy which is a disease of the retina, especially one that is non-inflammatory and associated with damage to the blood vessels of the retina and sometimes blindness.

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most serious complications of diabetes which usually occurs in people with chronic diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes are usually affected. A diabetes research has shown that retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States.

According to diabetes research, the symptoms of diabetes that associate diabetic retinopathy are spots floating, dark streaks or red films that block the vision, loss of vision, poor vision in the night, shadows or missing areas in the sight.

When you notice warning signs and symptoms of diabetes retinopathy, a dilated eye exam for the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy is necessary. This test is performed by examining the retina and dilating the pupils using eye drops. The doctor examines for abnormal blood vessels, swelling, damage to the nerve tissues, growth of new blood vessels and scar tissues, bleeding in the retina, and retinal detachment. For the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, retinal photography test is also necessary.

Treatment for retinopathy in diabetes is decided depending upon the type and severity of the condition. An already damaged retina can’t be reversed. The treatment is aimed at preventing the disease from getting worse and stopping further damage. However, laser treatment can be administered if necessary.

A prompt surgical treatment may be required. Surgical treatment helps to stop the progression of the disease. Regular eyes check-up after the treatment is necessary because there is a possibility of further retinal damage and vision loss in diabetic people.

The only way to prevent diabetes retinopathy is to know the right steps to take to keep your diabetes under control. Firstly is recognizing the early signs of diabetes and its symptoms. The early signs of diabetes are often confused with symptoms of other health problems. A good number of people who have diabetes are not aware that they suffer from the disease. The early signs and symptoms of diabetes you must know are frequent urination, increased thirst and appetite, weight loss, skin infections etc.

Know the appropriate diabetes diet and exercises to control diabetes. A well-planned diabetes diet helps maintaining the blood sugar level. Ensure to monitor and maintain your blood sugar levels using blood glucose tests regularly. Nutritious diabetes diet and regular exercise help in controlling blood pressure and cholesterol. There are certain healthy diabetes diet recipes which can be enjoyed by diabetic patients. The type of diabetes diet recipes not only reduces the risks of developing diabetes, but they are also essential for general good health. Diabetes diet should also have sufficient proportions of vegetable and non-vegetable foods as well. Simple carbohydrates must be avoided in diabetes diet, as they lead to food cravings and weight gain in most people. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are high fiber foods.

Most importantly, for a complete diabetes diet recipe, refrain from ‘junk foods’ and high calorie snack foods and desserts. Try having boiled foods as far as possible and reduce the amount of fried foods. Boiled foods reduce levels of cholesterol and accumulation of fat in the body. A strict adherence to diabetes diet recipe is necessary and enjoyable.

Any notice of slight changes in vision should be directed to an eye specialist.

Article Author: Piere Arnold

Regardless of whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, it is important that you now realize that you have a problem in your hands, you have an illness to take care of and if you do not do anything about it and keep the same lifestyle that you have been having up until today, you can pretty much kiss your life goodbye! Yes, I know these are harsh words and at more than one person may even get upset about it, but when it comes to diabetes the truth can be very upsetting and that is that if you do not take care of your body now that you know if your condition consequences can be dire.

After you have been diagnosed with diabetes you will get several medications as well testing supplies so you can be on top of your health condition at all times. However, the best medication doesn’t cost a thing and it’s something that you should’ve been doing in the first place, such medication/treatment is called exercise.

Diabetics don’t like to hear about the “E” word because it implies physical activity, movement, sweating and some might not be comfortable about the whole idea but exercise is just part of your treatment and you need to get used to be a deity you need to move around and keep your body not only in shape but healthy if you want to be around for those important moments in life such as your children graduation, their wedding and such.

Exercise it doesn’t necessarily have to involve weight lifting or running for hours at the local gym, in fact you can start with very small changes around your house that will also count as an exercise as much as weight lifting at the gym do. For instance:

1. Try to vacuum four times per week, even if your house is not that dirty. Vacuuming can be a great exercise that will help you move around, sweat a little and achieve your main goal which is to remain healthy and keep your diabetes and check.

2. Walk, walk, walk and then walk some more. Lots of people often come up with very ingenious excuses about the many reasons they have for not walking, maybe it is raining, maybe they work a lot of hours and don’t have enough time throughout the day to walk, well you need to get over those excuses and find or better yet make some time throughout your busy day so you can dedicate at least five to 10 minutes to this exercise.

3. Go to your local mall and walk around.

4. Whenever you go out shopping try to make many trips from the car to your house instead of making just one trip with all the things you have purchased.

5. Play around with your kids, pets or try to get yourself a workout buddy that can encourage you to reach your goals.

Article Author: Phillip Adams-Wright

Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas whose primary function is to lower blood sugar. It does this by binding to insulin receptors on the cell wall which open glucose transporters. Once the glucose transporters are opened by the action of insulin, glucose can flow freely from the blood into the cell.

If you are insulin dependent your body relies on insulin injections in order to function correctly. This is either because your pancreas is not secreting any insulin, as in type 1 diabetes), or else the insulin that your pancreas is making is not doing its job properly, as in type 2 diabetes.

Insulin Basics

Before we jump into discussing the various insulin regimens, I need to first explain two terms which you will come across frequently:

Basal insulin – This is the injection of a long-acting insulin which mimics the insulin secretion of the pancreas. A single basal shot of insulin continues to act slowly throughout the day, therefore you only need to inject it once or twice daily. These long-acting insulins are “peakless” which means that they try and maintain the same glucose level throughout the day, unlike the fast acting insulins which result in a rapid decrease in blood sugar.

Bolus insulin – A bolus is a medical term for a single dose. Bolus insulin is given when you eat food in order to counteract the rapid increase in blood glucose after a meal. Bolus insulins are typically fast-acting, some of which start bringing down blood glucose in a matter of minutes. They do not remain in your system for long, being metabolized and excreted out of the body usually within a few hours.

So, to summarise… basal insulin keeps your blood sugar stable in the absence of food, but when you eat you need to take a bolus of fast acting insulin in order to counteract the sudden increase in blood sugar which comes from the breakdown of carbohydrate into glucose.

When Is Insulin Needed?

Insulin is always necessary for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, because there is a complete lack of the hormone in these patients. Type 2 diabetics do not usually require insulin until the disease has progressed to a point where the patient has become highly resistant to insulin, or when oral antidiabetic medications are no longer enough to keep blood glucose levels down.

A patient with insulin dependent type 2 diabetes has to use insulin in the same way as type 1 diabetics. However, there is a difference in that type 2 diabetics usually have to take much larger doses of insulin than type 1 patients because they have become so resistant to the effects of insulin.

For many type 2 diabetics, the addition of a long acting (basal) insulin such as Lantus or Levemir is usually enough to provide enough help to assist the body’s own insulin in doing its job. If this is still not effective enough, a basal dose can be taken in addition to fast acting boluses of insulin at mealtimes.

Insulin Mixtures

These come premixed under certain brand names, a popular one is a 70/30 mix (70% long acting, 30% fast acting) called humulin or mixtard. These are usually taken before breakfast and supper.

However, the combination of basal and bolus injections provides much tighter glucose control and is a more flexible system than taking premixed insulin. This is because you can vary the amount and timing of the bolus to match what type of food you eat and when you eat it.

With mixtures of insulin such as the 70/30 mix, you have to take it on a rigid schedule, and you can only eat a certain number of carbohydrates each day and at a scheduled time. You are not able to vary the timing of the injections because they contain both slow acting and fast acting insulin, and you are not able to eat more or less food depending on how hungry you are that day.

How to Inject Insulin

Depending on the insulin regime prescribed by your doctor, you may have to inject insulin via a traditional syringe. However, the majority of patients now are using injection pens which come pre-filled with insulin as they are much easier to use. In either case, the following basics apply:

Step 1: If using a syringe, roll the insulin vial (or the syringe itself if it has been pre-filled) between the palms of your hands a number of times before filling the syringe to redistribute any particles that may have settled to the bottom. This ensures an even concentration of insulin in each dose. The same applies to insulin pens, but they should also be shaken as most pens have a small glass ball inside which can move around and mix the insulin thoroughly.

Step 2: Choose an injection site and pinch the skin slightly. Position the syringe or pen so that the insulin is injected under the fatty layer of the skin. Note that a 45 degree angle is best for children and adults who are very thin, otherwise a 90 degree angle may be more appropriate.

Step 3: You should rotate your injection site regularly. Insulin is best absorbed through the abdominal area so rotating injection sites in this area is ideal. You could visualize your abdomen as a grid of 8 squares. Assign to each square a particular day and change to a new one each day of the week.

Insulin Injection Tips

1. Subsequent injections should be delivered at least 1 inch away from the previous injection site.

2. It is not necessary to disinfect the injection site with an alcohol swab as long as your skin is clean.

3. If necessary, insulin may be injected through clothing, but this is not recommended.

4. Never shake a vial of insulin as this creates air bubbles which can clog the syringe.

5. Never mix one type of insulin with another in a single syringe. This can make it’s effects erratic.

6. Try not to inject insulin into muscle tissue. It is painful and the insulin is absorbed too quickly and cause hypoglycemia.

Insulin Pumps

Insulin pumps are normally used in type 1 diabetes however they can work as effectively for insulin dependent type 2 diabetics also.

Some advantages of using an insulin pump include:

You change your infusion site once every 3 days, so if you have a dislike of needles, insulin pumping is better than having to inject yourself times a day.

You will use less insulin with a pump than on injections. Insulin pumps only use fast acting insulin which is more efficient than the slow acting types. Typically you use 20% less insulin when using a pump.

Because you have more control of the amount of insulin you take, if you are motivated, you can achieve much lower HbA1c (glucose average) than with injections. This improved control is due to the fact you can take doses that are not whole units, but fractions of a unit.

A new development in the area of insulin pumps is the advent of the artificial pancreas. This device combines an insulin pump with a continuous blood glucose meter, and automatically calculates how much insulin you need, minute by minute. This device is not currently on the market, but foundations such as the JDRF have invested a lot of money into it’s R&D. Human trials are currently underway.

Is an Insulin Pump Right For Me?

Not everyone is suited to pump therapy, and it usually reserved for cases of type 1 diabetes or insulin dependent type 2 diabetes. In order to be successful at using an insulin pump:

You need to be good at counting carbohydrates. You have to manually program the pump with the number of carbohydrates you are going to eat. It then calculates the dose of insulin to give you.
You need to be comfortable working with technology. If you are unable to basic devices such as a cell phone, then the insulin pump is not for you. However, as you are reading this information on your computer, this is likely not the case.
You need to be patient in order to give the pump a chance to impress you. It usually takes at least a week or two before your glucose levels reach a healthy level. It will also be at least several more weeks after that before you become confidant with adjusting the device.
You need to have a cool head rather than anxiety prone. When your glucose level starts to seem a little scary you have to quickly figure out what changes you need to make. Your doctor will be able to assist you with the learning curve at first, but you will eventually have to cope with the device on your own as the lag time between seeing a problem and getting help is too long for another person to control your pump for you.
Finally, you must be willing to test your blood glucose level with a glucometer about 8 times per day and more often when you are making adjustments to your routine.

Article Author: Michael JC Murphy

Diabetes is insulin resistance or deficiency that deprives your other cells of the much needed metabolic nutrients that your body requires. As a result of the lost nutrients the body can develop complications such as stroke, hypertension, heart attacks and even blindness.

Do not let this happen to you. There is a solution and it starts today and the answer is diabetic diet, exercise and taking your medications as prescribed by your physician. If you will make these changes then you can possibly reverse this disease and avoid the complications.

Changing your diet is the most effective treatment for diabetes that is known. You are in complete control of what you eat and how much you eat. This is a topic that cannot be ignored. You must eat the foods that are recommended for diabetics because these are the foods that will stop your diabetes. The foods that are recommended will normalize our blood sugar. Make small changes in your diet such as eating whole grain bread instead of the processed white bread, or eat a piece of fruit instead of the cookies for snack. Think about the amount of unhealthy fat in your food intake. You want to lower your danger of stroke therefore you will need to lower the volume in your eating habits. Eat dietary items that are baked or broiled, not fried. Remove the skin of the chicken. Pass on rich gravy. Select healthy fats like avocado oil.

If you make several of these changes now then you have begun to manage your diabetes. Concentrate on your diet and exercise and the weight will fall off and you will feel young and healthy again

Article Author: B. Turner

One of the most common but the most feared diseases is diabetes. It’s feared and dreaded because it is very easy for the disease to get out of control and lead to death. If the US statistics are anything to go by, people are justified to dread the disease because the statistics show that diabetes comes third in the list of killer diseases in the US. The worldwide statistics regarding diabetes are equally shocking.

You might be wondering what leads to one being diabetic. Biologically, your pancreas excretes insulin to facilitate the normal functioning of the blood because it absorbs glucose, in form of sugar. There comes a time however that the insulin cannot match up the glucose and glucose will end up in your blood stream, and you’ll simply be referred to as a diabetic.

Once diagnosed as diabetics, it becomes part of your life. You’ll become more active in thinking only that this time you’ll be thinking about diabetes. You shouldn’t be surprised to find yourself chanting diabetes several times a day. You’ll start surviving hour after hour, and medication will become part of your day to day life. Be advised that the medication is highly probable to consume a large part of your earnings.

When you’re diagnosed with diabetes, your body will be vulnerable to other diseases such as heart diseases, kidney failure, blurred vision and blindness, nervous breakdown and infection of the extremities which might lead to amputation and the last thing to befall you once diagnosed with diabetes is death.

The predicaments begin with the prescriptions that you get for your condition. Note that these are just like any other medicine for another disease hence has their own share of side effects. Weight gain, skin rashes, respiratory diseases are few of the many adverse side effects that are virtually inevitable with diabetes medication. You’ll be overwhelmed by many Over the Counter Medications promising you instant cure to diabetes, but so far, no cure yet has been found. The cure lies inside you, you ought to control your diet and become much disciplined to stick to a diabetic diet, and change your lifestyle, that is if you want to live long.

One change of lifestyle that all medical practitioners seem to be in a consensus about is taking morning walks. This way, you’ll be taming your condition’s intensity. Change your diet completely, you might want to take some time to learn about a diabetic diet, what it should and shouldn’t contain. Ensure you stick to your dietary plan; this cannot be overemphasized because only your diet will determine how your recovery path would be. You may seek local treatments that will tame the escalating blood pressure, which should only be your hope at such a point in time. Thus, you shouldn’t be made to believe that all is lost, there is life after diabetes.

Article Author: Camile West