Controlling diabetes means to balance the amount of insulin and glucose in your blood. To achieve this balance, the cornerstones of treatment are eating plan and physical activity, and oral agents and insulin. Good compliance with treatment plan will help to maintain health and significantly reduce the likelihood of developing complications from diabetes.
If the person with diabetes is well it is customary to ask because they have to follow your treatment plan. It is important to know that not all those affected have the same symptoms, and that even if no symptoms, so no longer has diabetes. You should know that it is important to keep blood sugar under control even in the absence of symptoms. Elevated levels of blood glucose are toxic, and over time can cause damage to the eyes, kidneys, blood vessels and nerves. The body can adapt to high levels of blood glucose, and may be feeling well, but the closer than normal blood sugar, the greater the health of your body.
Diabetes is controlled by maintaining levels of blood glucose as close to normal range (70-110 mg / dl) as possible at any time of day (both fasting and after meals).
The basic elements of control of diabetes are:Medication
Insulin: People with type 1 diabetes do not produce the insulin that their bodies need, therefore must inject insulin every day needed to turn glucose into energy. Insulin must be administered to the body by injection because if the mouth, the body's digestive juices destroy it. Insulin injected under the skin it can be absorbed slowly into the bloodstream.
Oral antidiabetic agents: a pill used to reduce blood sugar, but not insulin pills. Insulin is a hormone and can not be taken orally because it would be destroyed by the same enzymes involved in our digestion, being reduced to simple substances and amino acids without any effect on blood glucose levels. The most common type of oral diabetes medications is the group known as sulfonylureas, which have been used for over 30 years. Sulfonylureas reduce levels of blood sugar because they stimulate the pancreas to secrete more insulin. Other drugs have recently emerged other than sulfonylureas also stimulate insulin secretion, are fast-acting secretagogues (repaglinide and nateglinide).
Another class of drugs known for decades, but have recently been shown to be effective in controlling diabetes and preventing its complications are the biguanides, particularly metformin, which act to increase the sensitivity of peripheral tissues (liver, muscle and fat tissue) to the action of insulin. It has been recently commercialized a new group, which acts similarly, the glitazones. There is another group that act by inhibiting the breakdown of complex sugars into simple sugars, which is the way it is absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream, are inhibitors of alpha-glucosidase.
For many people with type 2 diabetes, oral medications are effective. Each person can go one better than another, depending on which predominates over a problem of secretion of insulin or insensitivity to insulin, or that the problem is mild and is sufficient to prevent the breakdown of sugars in the intestine . But in all cases, in order to work on oral anti-diabetics, the pancreas of people with diabetes should produce some insulin. Occasionally, the medication may lose effectiveness after years of use, in that case, could be a combination of oral agents with complementary mechanisms of action, you can start treatment with insulin.
Power Plan
Foods make blood sugar levels rise, and exercise and insulin make these levels decrease. Diabetes control is a constant balance of these three elements, and that this could be done efficiently is necessary to educate patients about diabetes. If not set this balance there is a risk of occurrence of the two acute complications of diabetes, which are: hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). If sugar levels remain very high for a period of time, this can result in a dangerous situation, called ketoacidosis. If not controlled the high level of glucose in the blood for several years may develop the dreaded complications associated with chronic diabetes. Diet and regular exercise are the mainstay of treatment of type 2 diabetes. Because overweight is a major cause of type 2 diabetes, a balanced eating plan and increased physical activity are the first choices of treatment that the physician may prescribe. Weight loss and exercise help the body's cells use insulin more efficiently, so that in many cases people with type 2 diabetes can keep their blood glucose levels within the normal range without any additional treatment .
Food is one of the key factors in the treatment of people with diabetes, because nutrients consumed are absorbed in the intestine and pass into your blood where they will be distributed to the organs they require it to provide energy or building and cell turnover. To carry out this distribution of nutrients the body produces various hormones and a major is insulin, which is involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The purpose of following a diet plan in the person with diabetes is to provide the amount of energy, protein, carbohydrates and fats that your body can use it properly and coordinate with medical treatment (either insulin or oral antidiabetic agents) and exercise physical. The nutritional needs of people with diabetes should be assessed after careful assessment which includes body weight, height, age, laboratory analysis and food habits of the individual.Physical Activity
Physical activity is important for everyone, but it is extremely beneficial for people with diabetes. The completion of an exercise program helps improve our metabolism. During physical activity, the body's muscles use more glucose than when the body is at rest and this makes the levels of glucose in the blood drop. In addition, long-term exercise increases the sensitivity of body cells to insulin (injected or produced by the body), making it more effective. Exercise also helps to reduce levels of blood fats such as cholesterol and triglycerides. Excessive amounts of these fats in the blood contribute to trigger the "atherosclerosis (fat deposits on the walls of blood vessels) disease that occurs most often in people with diabetes, thus lowering the levels of these fats in exercising blood, generates a great benefit. Exercise can also help you lose weight, so that helps control diabetes. And finally make the person feel better physically and emotionally.Diabetes Education
Diabetes education: Diabetes is considered a "life situation" rather than a disease. This is because people with diabetes need to have a specific lifestyle, eating habits, proper and necessary care at all times in order to maintain health. This implicaque people with diabetes should know very well how to handle all these aspects of the most effective way to achieve the best results in your control. To make this possible must receive adequate diabetes education.A person with diabetes who worry every day to learn more and more about all aspects that relate to this "Living Conditions", you can make better decisions about what to do at all times and will know to watch for to avoid problems or situations that may compromise their quality of life.
By acquiring the necessary knowledge and diabetes education, knows how to avoid the appearance of both acute and chronic complications and how to deal with any problems that may arise, so you can enjoy a healthy, productive, happy and free of complications . On the other hand, the ignorance about diabetes is the determining factor for the occurrence of complications. With the skills, knowledge and skills acquired through education about diabetes can enjoy a healthy and productive life, and without this knowledge of diabetes may be enslaving and frustrating.
There are different ways to acquire the education that every person with diabetes needs. This educational process must be continuous and comprehensive and can be through:
* Lectures or courses taught by healthcare professionals, individually or collectively.
* Meetings of "support groups" of patients with diabetes
* Holiday camps.
* Books pamphlets and magazines.
* Films and tapes.
* Websites devoted to diabetes.
The ideal is to use all means possible to keep more and more educated and informed, in addition to or guide to what your doctor and the multidisciplinary health team (educator, nutritionist, podiatrist, etc.) Must have taught in diabetes
