Type 1

Type 1 vs. Type 2 Diabetes

There are a number of different types of diabetes, but two of the most common are type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The complications of diabetes, regardless of the type, can be serious if the disease is ignored and left untreated.

Many people have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes without any knowledge that they have the disease. The high levels of glucose in the bloodstream can negatively impact circulation, which can thereby impact the nerves and lead to diabetic neuropathy.

Causes of diabetes are still unknown, although we do know how to treat it once it is discovered. Let’s talk about type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes, and what you can do about each of them.

What Is Type 1 Diabetes?

This type of diabetes is often diagnosed in childhood or early adulthood, so it is also referred to as juvenile diabetes. Patients with type 1 diabetes do not naturally produce insulin, or they produce very little insulin, which is the hormone the pancreas produces to convert sugar (glucose) into energy. Insulin is also needed by the body to store glucose for future use, thereby regulating your blood sugar levels.

Ongoing insulin therapy is imperative to maintaining the good health of someone with type 1 diabetes. With insufficient levels of insulin in your body, you can experience dangerously low energy levels and high blood sugar levels.

This condition requires close monitoring of blood sugar levels and regular insulin shots. In the case of type 1 diabetes, most patients are born with it and cannot prevent or cure it.

What Is Type 2 Diabetes?

Much more common than type 1 diabetes is type 2 diabetes. The causes are usually poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle. Smoking has also been shown to contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes.

Having someone in your immediate family (parent, sibling, child) with type 2 diabetes increases your risk of developing it. This is the type of diabetes that people are often unaware of until the symptoms become more apparent and complications occur; however, almost everyone with type 2 diabetes had prediabetes first, so regular checkups by your family medicine provider will detect it before it becomes an issue.

With type 2 diabetes, either the diabetic’s body does make insulin but there is a problem with the absorption of glucose by the cells (insulin resistance), or the body does not produce enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes is often an adult-onset disease, but more and more children are now being diagnosed with it due to high obesity incidence among children.

Symptoms of Diabetes

Regardless of whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, the symptoms can include:

  • Feeling very thirsty
  • Feeling very hungry
  • Urinating frequently
  • Losing weight for no apparent reason
  • Having blurry vision
  • Feeling extremely tired

Treatment for Type 1 vs. Type 2 Diabetes

Treatment for type 1 diabetes involves regular insulin injections as necessary to maintain normal blood sugar levels. However, treatment for type 2 diabetes typically involves making lifestyle changes, such as exercising and dietary changes. Medication and diabetic foot care is also part of the treatment to avoid limb loss.

Advances in technology and research have greatly extended the average lifespan of patients with diabetes. Today, both of these two types are manageable diseases, and you can live a normal and active life.

Diabetes Management in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach

Our board-certified internal medicine family medicine providers here at Advanced Medical specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic medical conditions, such as type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We will help you manage your symptoms and prevent complications so that you can enjoy life.

To schedule a consultation, call Advanced Medical today at (561) 434-1935 or request an appointment via our online form now. We look forward to being your healthcare partner!

Diabetes

There are more than 100 million Americans who have diabetes or pre-diabetes – encompassing almost a third of the country’s entire population. About 84 million have pre-diabetes, and 30 million do have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease that affects the body’s ability to process glucose (sugar). Glucose provides the energy necessary for the cells in our muscles and tissues to work properly, but diabetes leads to high sugar levels which can cause serious health problems.

In 2015, diabetes was among the top 10 causes of death in this country, ranking at #7. That is why it is so important to catch the disease early, at the pre-diabetic stage, before it turns into type 2 diabetes.

Types of Diabetes

There are several different types of diabetes. Let’s take a look at the most common forms of this condition:

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes occurs only in pregnant women. If a woman develops this condition, it usually first appears in the middle of pregnancy. This condition normally disappears after the baby has been born.

If gestational diabetes is ignored, it can cause the baby to be too large. This can create problems during delivery, and the baby can develop nerve damage because there tends to be too much pressure on the baby’s shoulder during the birthing process.

A woman with gestational diabetes also has a greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes later. Therefore, it is important for the woman to continue following a healthy lifestyle of diet and exercise.

Pre-Diabetes

If a person has pre-diabetes, it is necessary for them to modify their diet in order to avoid developing type 2 diabetes. Regular exercise that the person enjoys and a healthy diet comprising foods the person likes are essential to maintaining a healthy body going forward.

If you have pre-diabetes and you continue to follow an unhealthy lifestyle, eating high-fat foods and being notably overweight, you are likely to develop type 2 diabetes within five years. That is the dangerous stage of diabetes, so it should be carefully avoided.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a serious form of this disease, and its exact cause remains unknown. It is believed to be either an inherited disorder or caused by a virus.

This type of diabetes causes a person’s pancreas to release very small amounts of insulin or no insulin at all. Without insulin, sugar levels will continually build up in the bloodstream, causing severe side effects.

Insulin is a hormone that enables glucose to enter our cells for energy. We get glucose from the foods we eat after the food is processed by the digestive system.

This form of the disease was previously called juvenile diabetes. It usually appears during childhood or adolescence, and it requires daily insulin injections to stay alive because the pancreas is not providing the proper insulin support.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease, and it can develop at any age in a person’s life – but it usually affects people over the age of 40. With type 2 diabetes, the body doesn’t use insulin properly, even though it still produces it.

This form develops over many years, and symptoms may not be obvious. With proper nutrition, daily exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight, the development of type 2 diabetes can be delayed and even prevented.

Complications from Diabetes

Having diabetes dramatically raises the risk of many cardiovascular problems, such as a heart attack or a stroke. The presence of excessive sugar in the bloodstream can lead to nerve damage, especially in the legs – which, if left untreated, can cause a loss of all sensation in the affected limbs.

Complications often affect the feet and legs of diabetic patients. This can lead to the need for amputation of the foot, leg, or both in order to keep the diabetic person alive.

Kidney damage can also be caused by diabetes. Severe kidney damage can lead to kidney failure, which may require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the retina, potentially leading to issues in the eye. This can cause glaucoma, cataracts, and even blindness.

Family Medicine Provider in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach

Our skilled and experienced medical team at Advanced Medical Clinic is here to assist you in all of your health care needs. We practice family and internal medicine – and if you have any risk factors for diabetes, we can provide a full evaluation and treatment if necessary.

Call us at (561) 434-1935 today, or request an appointment online right now. Let us help put your mind at ease about diabetes.

Managing Diabetes: 6 Tips for Type 1 Diabetes

Contrary to popular belief, type 1 diabetes is not only a childhood disease. Although it usually strikes in people under the age of 20, it can occur at any age, in every race, and to people of every shape and size.

Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose, a sugar that is used as a source of fuel for the body. Normally, the hormone insulin helps glucose enter the cells where it is used for energy.  People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin. As a result, glucose does not get into the body’s cells and stays in the bloodstream. Too much sugar in the blood makes people ill and can result in medical complications. Therefore, people with type 1 diabetes have to monitor their blood glucose levels constantly and appropriately administer insulin every day of their lives.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for type 1 diabetes, but there are many things you can do that will help you manage your condition in order to live a long and healthy life.

Get the Right Support

Every person who has diabetes should have a personal plan and a health care team. You’re in charge of putting that plan into action, but you don’t have to compile it on your own. Speak to your family medicine provider about setting up the right support for you. This should include an endocrinologist, a nutritionist, or a dietitian, and you may even want to include a podiatrist and an ophthalmologist and a diabetes educator to explain to you how to live better with the condition.

Get Regular Checks with Your Health Care Team

Talk with your health care team regularly, and keep them in the loop on your condition. High blood sugar can affect organs and tissues throughout your body. Even if your diabetes is controlled well, health problems can still arise – so it is important to get checked out regularly and watch for warning signs such as sores that don’t heal, swelling, tingling, or numbness in your hands and feet, and blurred or double vision. You should report these concerns early on so they can be treated quickly before getting worse. You can slow or even stop the damage if you act quickly.

It is vitally important to see your endocrinologist at least every 90 days and have your longer-term blood sugar levels checked. A Hemoglobin A1c test tells you and your family medicine provider what your blood sugars are doing over a 90-day period and helps tremendously in managing the disease.

Watch What You Eat and When You Eat

It is a good idea to have a healthy meal plan in place which includes complex carbohydrates, protein, fiber, lots of green, leafy vegetables, and limits to the amount of fat in your diet – especially saturated fats such as bacon, sausage, and full-fat dairy. Saturated fat raises your chance of heart disease, and with diabetes this increases your risk further. Making smart food choices can lower that risk.

Carbohydrates are found in many foods including grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and sugars. They are your body’s main source of energy, but they raise your blood sugar levels faster than any other food – so knowing how many and what type of carbs you can eat can affect how well you manage your diabetes.

It is a good idea to work with your family medicine provider or dietician to establish a personalized eating plan to figure out how many grams of carbs you should be eating throughout the day and try to ensure you are eating a healthy, balanced diet.

Eating little and often rather than the usual three meals a day is more likely to keep your blood sugar levels stable than going long periods without eating.

Get Active

Regular physical activity can help you lose extra weight, keep blood sugar levels healthy, and lower your blood pressure. It can also improve your sleep, mood, and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, which can all negatively affect blood glucose levels.

Just 5 minutes of walking can dramatically reduce your blood glucose levels. Try to find a form of exercise you enjoy, whether this be individually or in a group.

It is important to keep a close eye on your blood sugar levels before, during, and after exercise, because it can raise or lower your levels and can even trigger hypoglycemia.

Take Advantage of Advancements

Diabetes management has come a long way. Be sure to take advantage of the tools and technology that exist to help aid in the daily management of the disease.

Make sure you have a blood glucose monitor and that you do regular checks (at least four per day). Most monitors use a very small drop of blood and display the results very quickly. There is even a monitor available that requires no finger sticks at all.

Consider getting a CGM as well. A CGM is a continuous glucose monitor. The device is a small sensor you wear on the skin that reads and displays blood sugar results every 5 minutes automatically. This allows you to know what your blood sugars are doing 24 hours per day. The results display through your smartphone, and alarms signal an oncoming low or high, allowing you to stay ahead of blood sugar changes.

Instead of injections, consider an insulin pump. An insulin pump can help you manage your diabetes by matching your insulin to your lifestyle, rather than getting an insulin injection and matching your life to how the insulin is working. Insulin pumps deliver short-acting insulin 24 hours a day through a catheter placed under the skin. You then deliver insulin through the pump based on the number of carbohydrates you will eat at mealtime or to correct a high blood sugar. There is even a wireless pump available that allows you to wear it discreetly on multiple places on the body as well as swim and shower with it.

Be Kind to Yourself

Living with diabetes and its daily demands can be stressful, so it’s really important to focus on and feel good about your achievements. Don’t be overly critical of yourself if you fall short of a goal, and give yourself credit when you are successful at managing your blood sugar. Remember to do the best you can do and keep a positive attitude.

At Advanced Medical, PA, we pride ourselves in providing personal and individualized, quality health care. Our experienced medical staff take the time to get to know our patients, and we are here to help you manage diabetes and other chronic conditions. To learn more about us and the services we offer, or to arrange a visit, call us at (561) 434-1935 or request an appointment. We are always happy to answer any questions you may have about our practice and the primary care services we provide.

Managing Your Weight with Diabetes

For more than 30 million Americans, diabetes or prediabetes is a fact of life. Being overweight is a major factor that can make a person susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes.

In type 2 diabetes, the body either resists the effects of insulin or it doesn’t produce enough insulin for the cells to maintain proper levels of glucose (sugar). Insulin is a hormone that regulates the sugar in your body’s cells, and being overweight puts excess pressure on your body in regulating these levels.

If you have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, losing weight can make a significant positive impact on your health and diabetes management. Let’s take a look at how your weight affects – and can be affected by – diabetes.

Weight Gain and Diabetes

Obesity is a major risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, but actually any amount of excess weight makes you more likely to have diabetes. In fact, 90 percent of people diagnosed are overweight. In addition, fat that is concentrated around your waist (belly fat) carries an even greater link.

For those who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, excess weight can make your body become resistant to insulin. Your pancreas therefore makes more insulin in response to this resistance, and the pancreas can eventually lose function from being overworked.

How Weight Loss Can Help

According to the American Diabetes Association, losing just a few pounds can make diabetes more manageable. Plus, obesity is also linked with heart disease, so losing weight truly improves your overall health.

Losing weight therefore reduces the need for insulin medication, decreases feelings of depression, and can reduce or eliminate obstructive sleep apnea.

Why Diabetes Can Make Losing Weight More Difficult

Maintaining your weight after losing it successfully is hard for everyone, but these are some additional hurdles you may face if you have type 2 diabetes:

  • Medication to lower blood sugar can cause weight gain.
  • People who are treated for depression or other psychiatric disorders (which are common with diabetes) may take medicine that causes weight gain.
  • Peripheral nerve damage (diabetic peripheral neuropathy) can affect the body’s ability to maintain weight.
  • Changes in metabolism related to diabetes can make weight loss more difficult.

Strategies for Weight Management

It is important to remember that weight loss is a long-term process, and patience is important. Dramatic changes in eating habits may cause you to lose weight right away, but this is virtually impossible to maintain.

Below are some excellent ways for those dealing with diabetes to manage their weight:

  • Evaluate your lifestyle. Are you eating out of habit and not when you’re hungry? Are you including physical activity in your daily routine?
  • Stick to your plan. Developing a safe weight-loss plan with your primary care provider will help with accountability, and your family medicine provider will make sure the plan will work for your lifestyle.
  • Make good food choices. Set realistic expectations for the foods you eat; complete deprivation of the foods you love can lead to failure. Your family medicine provider  can advise you about good snacks, too.

Family Medicine Provider in Palm Beach County

Working with a trusted primary care provider is one of the best things you can do for diabetes management – and for your overall good health. Advanced Medical Clinic in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach offers continuity of care throughout our patients’ lives.

Our experienced medical staff take the time to get to know our patients at their wellness exams, and we are here to help you manage diabetes and other chronic conditions. We will help you set realistic goals and keep you on track for success.

Call (561) 434-1935 for an appointment at Advanced Medical Clinic today, or fill out our online appointment request form. We offer same-day appointments for your convenience. We look forward to serving you and helping you live an active, healthy lifestyle you enjoy.

Is Type 2 Diabetes Preventable?

With the alarming rise in diabetes diagnoses in recent years, it should come as no surprise that the medical community is doing all they can to thwart the increase. This includes empowering patients, both adults and children at risk of developing diabetes, through education.

There are 2 main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Understanding the difference between these can help you understand your risk and prevention.

Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes because it typically shows up in childhood, is a result of your body not producing enough insulin. While the cause is still not completely understood, genetics certainly play a critical role in its development. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5% of diabetes in the adult population.

On the other hand, type 2 diabetes happens when your body produces enough insulin but you are resistant to it. It seems to be caused predominantly by lifestyle factors and makes up nearly 95% of adult diabetes. While genetics still may play some role, there are ways you can lower your risk for developing it.

Healthy lifestyle habits are a key component to lowering your risk. While there currently is no magic vaccine that prevents type 2 diabetes, there are simple lifestyle and diet changes that can greatly reduce your risk. These same changes also benefit other areas of your health, like your heart and lungs.

You are seven times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes if you are overweight. Moreover, if you are obese it makes you 20 – 40 times more likely to develop diabetes. Keep your weight within a healthy range to help lower your risk of developing diabetes.

Be active! Not only does exercise help you lose excess weight, but working your muscles also helps to improve their ability to use insulin and absorb glucose. This in turn can lower the stress on your insulin-making cells.

Watch what you eat. Spikes in blood sugar and insulin take a toll on insulin-making cells. This makes you more susceptible to developing diabetes. Choosing foods like whole grains that slowly and gradually increase your blood sugar and insulin, over starchy and sugary foods and drinks, can significantly lower your risk.

It goes without saying that quitting smoking can drastically increase your overall health, but did you know it could greatly reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes? Smokers are statistically much more likely to develop diabetes (and many other unnecessary diseases and disorders) than non-smokers. So please, quit smoking as soon as possible.

If you are concerned about your risk or want to be evaluated for your risk for diabetes, board-certified internal medicine specialist Dr. Ishan Gunawardene and Nurse Practitioner Shariffa Gunawardene at Wellington Advanced Medical are here to help. Through a comprehensive exam, our compassionate providers fully assess your risk, and then offer lifestyle and dietary change support. To make an appointment with one of our diabetes experts in Wellington or Royal Palm Beach, request an appointment online or call (561) 434-1935 today.