type 2

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.

Diabetic and Sleep Deprivation Go Hand in Hand

Sleep. We talk about it a lot; not getting enough and needing more are usually at the top of the list. For people with diabetes or those with pre-diabetes, the relationship between sleep and blood glucose level is antagonistic, as they both can negatively impact the other.

To start, not sleeping enough or sleeping too much can increase your risk for type 2 diabetes.  Additionally, diabetes complications like increased thirst and urination can make it harder for you to sleep; yet diabetes can also make you more tired and fatigued.

If you are diabetic, you know how difficult it can be to sleep if your blood glucose levels are not in check. Eating healthily and exercising are crucial to keeping blood glucose levels where they should be and in turn increasing your chances for a good night’s sleep. Test your blood sugar before bed, so that you can head off any problems that may interrupt your sleep later.

For those of you who are at risk of developing diabetes, your sleep habits can negatively impact your risk. It is not uncommon to reach for sugary and caffeinated drinks to help wake you up in the morning.  If you did not sleep well, these drinks may be your go-to, all the while adding to your weight and further increasing your risk for diabetes.

With that said, it’s also been noted that taking naps and sleeping extremely long stretches of time can also increase your risk. Disrupting your circadian rhythms and internal clock can lead to issues with your metabolism, cardiovascular system, and immune system.

So what does all this contradictory information mean when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep?  Ultimately, it means that your diet and exercise play a key role in the value of the sleep you get. If you are pre-diabetic, getting regular exercise and eating healthy can prevent diabetes as a whole and make it easier for you to sleep at night. You will also not be as fatigued during the day and can avoid the unhelpful and unnecessary naps.

For diabetics, regular exercise and diet can help keep your glucose levels within a normal range and may also help prevent the typical culprits that wake you up at night: frequent urination, restless legs, nervousness and overheating.

Diabetes Management in Wellington

If you are concerned about how your sleep is affecting your diabetes or your risk for diabetes, board-certified internal medicine specialist Dr. Ishan can help. He will assess your situation and offer lifestyle and dietary recommendations to help control your diabetes or reduce your risk. To make an appointment with our diabetes specialist in Wellington or Royal Palm Beach, request an appointment online or call (561) 434-1935 today.

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.