Diabetes is a serious condition that can affect multiple areas of your body. It is a disease that can occur to anyone at any age, and its real origins are difficult to pinpoint. Some people get diabetes as a result of their weight issues, other people have a history of diabetes in their families. But diabetes can also be the result of a serious illness, a medical procedure or even an accident where you sustained serious injuries.
When you talk to a family doctor in Gilbert about diabetes, your doctor will tell you that you have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Both conditions revolve around issues with producing or using insulin, which is the enzyme that allows the body to properly process glucose (sugar). Type 1 diabetes accounts for approximately 10 percent of the cases in the United States and occurs when the immune system starts aggressively killing the cells that make insulin. When diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the body in unable to properly use insulin to process glucose. Over time, the body develops a dangerous condition called insulin resistance.
Your doctor diagnoses you with diabetes through a blood test called an A1C panel. This measures your body’s ability to utilize glucose, and it is an accurate way to diagnose this condition. A good A1C number is in the three to five range, anything higher for a consistent amount of time will trigger a diabetes diagnosis.
The effects of diabetes on your system can range from minimal to extremely severe. Some of the more common effects of diabetes include high blood pressure, excessive urination, heart disease, nerve damage in the feet, vision issues such as glaucoma, yeast infections in women and excessive thirst. Diabetes that goes untreated or becomes out of control can lead to blindness, heart disease or death.
The good news is that there is plenty you can do to control diabetes and get on with your life. The family doctors at Complete Care Medicine offer full diabetes screening and treatment plans that will help you to keep your diabetes under control. While you are getting care from a premier Gilbert health center, there are steps you can take to help your treatment to be more effective.
Talk with your Complete Care Medicine doctor about a diet and exercise plan that will help to bring down your A1C numbers and get you feeling healthy. You don’t want to go on a crash diet or overdo it with too much exercise because your system might not be able to take it. But following a good diet program and getting a reasonable amount of exercise each day will help you to fend off the effects of diabetes. Remember that activities such as cleaning the house or using the stairs instead of the elevator count as diabetes-fighting exercise.
When your Complete Care Medicine doctor gives you a diabetes treatment plan, you need to follow that plan to the letter. Your doctor may ask you to check your glucose level every so often and take medication when it reaches a certain point. You need to follow these instructions to make sure that you are giving your body every chance to fend off diabetes.
Eating right is extremely important to combating diabetes, and that means eating every meal you are supposed to eat, each and every day. Part of a good diabetes management plan is having meals scheduled throughout the day that are designed to fortify your body against diabetes. You should never skip meals, and you should always follow your diet plan closely every day.
If you start to feel symptoms such as being faint, nausea or vomiting, then you need to report those to your doctor immediately. When you are managing diabetes, you have to be vigilant and take responsibility for your own condition. If you feel as though something may be wrong, then you need to contact your doctor immediately.
The most important aspect of managing diabetes is to be aware of how important it is to take good care of yourself. The doctors at Complete Care Medicine will give you the tools and resources you need to live a healthy life with diabetes. But it is up to you to make sure that you do what it takes to give your body a fighting chance every single day.
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