Managing Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies
Overview
Discover how to manage diabetes for a healthier and happier life!
Written for anyone diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (and for anyone who loves someone with diabetes), Managing Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies is an essential guide to understanding the effects of diabetes and knowing what steps to take to successfully manage this chronic illness. Diabetes can lead to serious complications but people with diabetes can control the condition and lower the risk of its many complications. This is your easy-to-understand guide that shows you how. Under the direction of The American Diabetes Association, Managing Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies gives hope to the one in 11 people in the United States who are affected by the disease.
Written in simple-to-understand terms, Managing Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies is filled with a wealth of expert advice and includes the most current information on recent medical advances for treatment. Improperly managed diabetes and consistently high blood glucose levels can lead to serious diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, nerves, and teeth. With the authorities at the American Diabetes Association on your side, you will have a practical handbook for preventing complications and managing diabetes with confidence!
- Prevent and manage the complications of the disease
- Combat diabetes-related anxiety and depression
- Lead a healthy life with type 2 diabetes
Tap into the better living “rules of the road” with Managing Type 2 Diabetes For Dummies. By modifying your diet, consulting with your doctors, staying active, and understanding what medications are right for you, you will be on the path to a happier and healthier lifestyle.
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About The Author
The American Diabetes Association leads the fight against the deadly consequences of diabetes and advocates for those affected by diabetes. They fund research to prevent, cure, and manage diabetes, deliver services to hundreds of communities, and provide objective and credible information.
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managing type 2 diabetes for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
Diabetes is a disorder in which the amount of glucose in your blood is too high. Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to complications down the road, so it's important to take charge of your diabetes care! In addition to following a diabetes meal plan, maintaining an active lifestyle, and taking prescribed medications, you need to be able to perform certain essential tasks and skills to keep your diabetes care on track.
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Diabetes Recipes
Your eyes and eyesight are precious resources, and you need to take extra steps to preserve them when you have type 2 diabetes. It can be easy to take your vision for granted. It’s one of those senses that most of us rely on almost 24/7, unless we’re sleeping of course. And even then, we might need our peepers to help us find the bathroom light in the middle of the night.
Diabetes Recipes
Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your diabetes. The benefits are enormous. It can improve your mood and fight depression. It actually makes your body more sensitive to insulin and lowers blood glucose. It also improves cholesterol and blood pressure levels. And you could lose a few pounds to look and feel better, too.
Diabetes Recipes
A certified diabetes educator (CDE) is the other key player on your healthcare team. In fact, a diabetes educator may be the first person to really tell you about diabetes: what it is and how you can manage it daily.A CDE is your go-to person for education and management questions. Her goal is to make managing your diabetes easier in your everyday life.
Diabetes Recipes
A dietitian is your best bet for getting the latest info on healthy eating. Dietitians are experts in food and nutrition. You may see a dietitian when you’re first diagnosed with diabetes and then for yearly visits afterward. A dietitian is a great person to bounce ideas around with when you’re having trouble reaching your blood glucose targets.
Diabetes Recipes
Your mind and emotions are just as important as your physical health. In fact, the two are closely entwined. Living with a chronic condition such as diabetes can be exhausting and annoying. And it can also lead to conditions such as diabetes burnout, depression, and anxiety. Don’t be afraid to bring these issues up, even if your provider doesn’t specifically ask about your mental health.
Diabetes Recipes
You may think of your pharmacist as just that person behind the counter who fills and refills your prescriptions. Your pharmacist is that and much more. She is an expert on medications: dosage, uses, and how the drugs interact. A pharmacist is a key member of your healthcare team. If you have diabetes, you’re probably not just taking one medication, but perhaps a pill for blood glucose, a pill for high blood pressure, and maybe even another pill for cholesterol.
Diabetes Recipes
Podiatrists are doctors with specialized training to care for and treat foot problems. Podiatrists take care of corns, calluses, and foot sores to prevent more serious infections. A podiatrist can show you how to correctly trim your toenails and take care of your feet daily. They can prescribe and fit you for specialized shoes to make walking and exercising more comfortable.
Diabetes Recipes
Exercise physiologists are health professionals who help you develop a fitness program. They work directly with you to assess your current health — and come up with an exercise plan that fits your goals.Your diabetes care provider may refer you to an exercise physiologist if you have certain complications like heart or lung problems.
Diabetes Recipes
An eye specialist such as an ophthalmologist or optometrist should be part of your healthcare team. An ophthalmologist is a doctor of medicine (MD) who specializes in eye care and eye diseases; an optometrist is an eye doctor with a doctor of optometry degree (OD) who diagnoses vision changes and disease and does sight testing and correction.
Most people who choose insulin pens do so for the convenience. You don’t have to carry around a vial of insulin, and you don’t have to draw up the insulin on the spot. You can also easily toss them in your bag or purse. However, insulin pens may be more expensive than using a syringe and vial, so do your homework.
Many people use syringes to inject insulin. They’ve been around for ages! Syringes are made of a disposable plastic tube with a needle on the end. You insert the needle into a vial of insulin and draw up the insulin into the syringe. Syringes hold a variety of insulin amounts or doses, so choose a syringe that holds your entire dose of insulin.
Your healthcare provider will give you a prescription for insulin, which will usually come in a vial. Read the package instructions about the best way to store insulin once you get it from the pharmacy. Usually, insulin can be kept at room temperature for up to a month. And that’s the preferred way to do it because injecting insulin at room temperature is more comfortable than injecting cold insulin.
Whether you’re starting a new job or you’ve been at your company for years, you’ll want to consider your diabetes management at your workplace. Some things to think about include who (if anyone) to tell about your diabetes and how to communicate and educate others. You’ll want to know your rights and responsibilities as someone with diabetes.
Diabetes education is simply an opportunity to increase your knowledge of diabetes and skills for managing diabetes during your everyday life. Diabetes education is often referred to as diabetes self-management education and support (DSME/S).The most well-known type of diabetes education is probably a diabetes education class, which is often taught in a group setting by a diabetes educator.
Checking your blood glucose when you have type 2 diabetes requires pricking your finger and using a blood glucose meter to get a reading. Many people are intimidated by the idea of using a blood glucose meter, especially when they're first diagnosed. But it takes only seconds once you get the hang of it.Follow these six simple steps to check your blood glucose:
Wash and dry your hands.
Diabetes Recipes
Pills aren’t the only option for people to lower their blood glucose. Patients have access to injected medications (other than insulin), which are injected under the skin with a needle. This is different from a pill that you pop in your mouth.There are two non-insulin classes of injected medication for type 2 diabetes: GLP-1 agonists and amylin analogs.
An insulin pump is another option for people with type 2 diabetes who need to give themselves multiple injections of insulin each day. People choose insulin pumps because they might help them better manage their blood glucose. Pumps can be convenient and can offer more flexibility to your insulin routine.An insulin pump (shown here) is a small device that you wear on your body that holds and delivers insulin.
Diabetes Recipes
Individual health insurance often pays for diabetes education. For example, “insurance plans typically cover up to 10 hours of diabetes education the first year you have been referred, with varying levels of coverage after that,” according to the AADE website.Call the number on your health insurance card to find out more about your benefits, including details about amounts or number of hours covered.
Diabetes Recipes
Diabetes is a disorder in which the amount of glucose in your blood is too high. Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to complications down the road, so it's important to take charge of your diabetes care! In addition to following a diabetes meal plan, maintaining an active lifestyle, and taking prescribed medications, you need to be able to perform certain essential tasks and skills to keep your diabetes care on track.
Diabetes Recipes
Get a flu shot each year to try to prevent influenza, which can be more severe for people over 65 years of age or those with an underlying condition like diabetes. Ask about vaccinations against pneumococcal pneumonia, which is a common complication of the flu and can cause dangerous infections.The American Diabetes Association also recommends that people with diabetes 19–59 years old have the hepatitis B vaccine because they are at higher risk for this infection.
Diabetes Recipes
People with type 2 diabetes often also have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, so you may take medication for these conditions as well. High blood pressure and cholesterol increase your risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and other complications, so it’s important to keep these in check. It’s particularly important for people with diabetes because they are about two to three times more likely to die from heart disease than people without diabetes.
Diabetes Recipes
During your first visit with your diabetes care provider, you’ll come up with a plan for managing your diabetes. Work with your provider to determine clear goals for your blood glucose, including if and when to check it with a blood glucose meter on your own. Your provider may say you don’t need to check it at all if you’re not taking medications, or you may need to check it several times a day if you take insulin.
Diabetes Recipes
Communication is so important when working with your healthcare team. Check that all your providers have one another’s names, phone numbers, and fax numbers so they can share your health records or call each other if something comes up. Make sure all the providers on your team know when you make changes to your medications or other treatments.
Diabetes Recipes
Generally, people with diabetes aren’t restricted when driving or getting a private driver’s license. There may be some restrictions for obtaining a commercial driver’s license. All states have special licensing rules about medical conditions. Some states apply these rules to all drivers with diabetes. Others apply them only to people with certain medications or symptoms (insulin use, loss of consciousness, low blood glucose, seizures, foot problems such as neuropathy, and vision problems such as retinopathy).
Diabetes Recipes
Good oral care is a top priority for people with diabetes because they may be more susceptible to mouth and gum infections. Elevated blood glucose can encourage infections and can hamper the healing process. The best way to prevent these infections is to brush twice a day and floss. It’s good for your mouth — and your breath will thank you, too.
Diabetes Recipes
Diabetes education is a cornerstone of your diabetes management. Why is it so darned important? Because you’re the one who’s taking care of your diabetes most of the time. It’s not your doctor or nurse or dietitian or spouse. The most important person is you. And you can only be effective if you understand what diabetes is and how it affects your body.
Diabetes Recipes
Your diabetes shouldn’t slow you down from traveling, whether you’re off for a long weekend or a month-long European vacation. You’ll want to plan ahead by talking to your physician, bringing extra medication, preparing for airport security if needed, and thinking about snacks and meals.
Talking to your physician
If you’re planning a longer vacation, talk to your healthcare provider about what you’ll need to take care of your diabetes while you’re away from home.
Diabetes Recipes
Work with your provider to come up with a plan for healthy eating and more physical activity. This includes both a discussion of daily food goals and weekly exercise goals.Ask whether to plan for a certain number of calories or carbohydrates per day. Ask whether to target specific goals for limiting sodium or sugar.
Diabetes Recipes
Making yourself a priority is one of the best steps toward taking care of your diabetes. Yes, you are a priority. After all, only you can manage your diabetes. It’s not your endocrinologist or your wife or your son who is dealing with diabetes every day. It’s you.
Feel better most days
Start taking care of your diabetes so you can feel better most days.
Diabetes Recipes
Your blood pressure and cholesterol are also closely linked to your diabetes and overall health. People with diabetes are at risk for damage to blood vessels in their heart, eyes, kidneys, feet, and other parts of their body. This can lead to all kinds of problems such as heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure, and amputation.
You’ll step on the scale during each visit to see whether you’ve lost or gained weight. Losing or maintaining weight can help you keep your blood glucose in your target range, so it’s an important measurement for anyone with type 2 diabetes.Your height will also be recorded. The ratio of your height and weight is called body mass index (BMI), and it’s used to determine whether you’re underweight, normal, overweight, or obese.
Diabetes Recipes
When you make your appointment, ask your diabetes care provider, nurse, or the office receptionist what to bring with you. Every office and provider is a little bit different, so it never hurts to ask.Typically, you’ll bring along your blood glucose meter or logbook so you and your provider can discuss how your numbers look.
Diabetes Recipes
Each year, you’ll get a series of physical exams and lab tests for your diabetes. We’ve covered them in detail earlier in this chapter, but we’ll also outline them here in checklist form.
Physical exams and appointments
Weight and height measurements for calculating BMI (every visit)
Blood pressure measurem
The majority of medications for type 2 diabetes are oral medications, meaning they’re in pill form. Some have been around for decades, and others have recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pills for type 2 diabetes fall into nine major classes, which is just a fancy way of saying that these groups of medications work in similar ways.
Food labels are a fabulous resource for finding out how many carbohydrates are in your foods. You can use these labels to compare the carbohydrate content of different products and track the amount of carbohydrate you eat. Reading food labels is a vital skill for anyone who counts carbohydrates. To find the amount of carbohydrates in your foods, follow these steps:
Look for the line that reads "Total Carbohydrate" on the label.
Eating healthy foods, exercising, losing weight, and of course, taking necessary medications like pills or insulin are all proven strategies to manage your blood glucose and prevent complications. But now, some people with diabetes have another effective option: surgery.Surgery to treat diabetes is called metabolic surgery.
Diabetes Recipes
You may have heard the terms diabetes self-management plan or diabetes care plan. Both of these terms refer to how you take care of or manage your diabetes. Your plan takes into account your big-picture goals and your nitty-gritty choices each day.On the one hand, diabetes management is not a small endeavor. You’re the person most responsible for taking care of your diabetes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
You don’t just inject insulin anywhere you want on your body. That’s not safe. Instead, there are techniques and tips for properly injecting insulin and making it as smooth and pain-free as possible. Ask your diabetes educator, nurse, or another provider for step-by-step instructions on injecting insulin.Insulin is injected, using a syringe or pen, into the layer of fat that lies directly under your skin.
A blood glucose reading below 70 mg/dL is called hypoglycemia (low blood glucose). Low blood glucose can be dangerous when you have type 2 diabetes, so it's important to recognize the symptoms of low blood glucose and understand how to treat it.
Warning signs of lows
The symptoms of low blood glucose can be different for each person, but classic warning signs of lows include
Shaking
Nervousness or anxiety
Sweating, chills, or clamminess
Irritability (or, with severe lows, anger, sadness, or stubbornness)
Color draining from the skin
Hunger and nausea
Rapid heartbeat
Weakness, fatigue, or sleepiness
Headache
Tingling or numbness in the lips or tongue
Nightmares or crying out during sleep
Lightheadedness, dizziness, or confusion
Difficulty seeing or blurry vision
Unusual behavior such as clumsiness or slurring of words
Anger, sadness, and/or stubbornness
Seizures or becoming unconscious with severe lows
Rule of 15
The "Rule of 15" is an easy method for treating low blood glucose.
People with diabetes have been able to inject insulin since the 1920s when scientists began extracting insulin from the pancreases of cows and pigs. Phew, we’ve come a long way in the last century! Since the 1980s, pharmaceutical companies have been able to manufacture synthetic human insulin.Nowadays, two groups of injected insulin are available: synthetic human insulin and analog insulin.
You have diabetes, or perhaps someone you love has diabetes. That’s not an easy diagnosis to hear. But it doesn’t have to be a scary unknown either. In fact, scientists know more about diabetes and have more tools at their disposal than ever before.The following discussion explains how diabetes affects your body.
Diabetes Recipes
People with type 2 diabetes have several things going on in their bodies with blood glucose, insulin, and other hormones:
People with type 2 diabetes may not make as much insulin as they used to — or none at all.
People with type 2 diabetes may not be as sensitive to the hormone insulin (called insulin resistance) as people who don’t have diabetes.
Your child will spend the majority of her day at school, so you’ll need to work together with school administrators, the school nurse, and other school staff to ensure he is safe and successful. Your school may not be familiar with caring for and supporting preteens and teens with type 2 diabetes. After all, the increase of type 2 diabetes in young people is a fairly recent health concern.
Your diabetes care provider is your go-to person. A diabetes care provider might be your primary care provider whom you’ve known for years and years. It could be a family practitioner, internist, or nurse practitioner, and that provider may have been the person who first diagnosed you with type 2 diabetes.You may also choose to see an endocrinologist, a physician trained to treat people with hormone imbalances including diabetes.
When you have type 2 diabetes, you'll get a series of physical exams and lab tests each year for your diabetes and to screen for any complications. Here's a schedule of what to expect from your appointments and a list of what to bring to the doctor's office with you. Being prepared can help you make the most of these appointments and possibly prevent or delay diabetes complications.
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