Health and Wellness Access

Diabetes can present two main categories of problems, in the form of short term ill-effects and longer term harm. Minimizing both areas requires discipline.

The most common short-term effect is sudden dips and spikes in blood sugar. These can cause dizziness, confusion, upset stomach, and other problems. While some diabetics seldom have this problem, most will occasionally experience mild episodes. Routine self-care can help minimize episodes.

Regular and careful monitoring is a must. It’s no picnic to endure a finger prick three times a day. For those who simply can’t muster the will, it is worthwhile to look into some of the newer glucose monitoring devices that don’t require it.

Some contain tiny, powerful lasers that create a hole through which blood oozes. They produce only a mild tingling sensation. One recent device senses glucose level through the skin using an infrared beam, requiring no blood sample at all.

The goal is to keep the glucose-insulin balance as close to normal levels as possible. Non-diabetics have a fasting glucose level under about 99 mg/dL. Even after a heavy meal, when glucose may rise to over 200 mg/dL, insulin is released which brings it back down within a couple of hours. That means that keeping the glucose level right isn’t so much achieving a static number as maintaining the correct dynamic balance.

Monitoring should include routine physician visits and an A1C test four times a year. The glucose level at a particular time can be measured with various tests. However, the A1C test measures the average level over time. The test name comes the abbreviation for glycated hemoglobin-HbA1c.

Hemoglobin’s role is to carry oxygen from the red blood cells to the tissues. Hemoglobin is glycated when there is extra glucose in the blood. The A1C test can give an average glucose level, because glycated hemoglobin remains.

Long term the effects will accumulate, good or bad. Over 10-15 years or longer, many diabetes patients of the past would endure blindness, kidney damage, nerve damage and other ill health effects. That no longer has to be the case. With contemporary understanding of the disease and modern technology it’s possible to reduce the odds of those effects nearly to those without the disease.

Much of this management is disciplined exercise and diet. Many diabetics can keep their glucose-insulin balance nearly normal through diet and exercise, without medicine.

This is possible because the lowering of body fat with exercise and diet helps the body maintain a better balance on its own. Body fat affects hormone production and release and it affects how the body responds to glucose levels. There is a definite correlation between body fat and the degree of diabetes, although researchers don’t understand all the factors involved.

Proper weight and body fat maintenance will also help keep blood pressure at the right level. Chronic high blood pressure is one of the major elements in increasing the risk of common diabetes problems: heart attack and stroke, eye and nerve damage, and others.

With care the diabetic can lead a fairly normal life. Checking the blood glucose level a few times a day can mean fewer health problems and less worry in the long-run.