Tracking your blood sugar levels

The aim of diabetes management is to control blood glucose levels and to screen and treat related conditions such as high blood pressure, high bad cholesterol, and other complications of diabetes. This means that you will need to learn how to monitor your blood glucose levels, and you will also have to undergo recurrent laboratory tests and visits to your diabetologist than people without diabetes. This blog tells you how you will monitor your glucose levels.

Monitoring Diabetes

When you have diabetes, your glucose levels fluctuate much more than those of people without diabetes. In people without diabetes, fasting glucose levels in the morning are usually between 60 and 100 mg/dl. Before each meal, the levels are below 100 mg/dl. The peak values one to two hours after a meal are in the 120s and usually stay below 140, even after a meal rich in carbohydrates.

Conceptualising Home Monitoring

Blood glucose monitoring at home is an important part of diabetes management and serves a number of purposes. First, monitoring at home makes it easier to detect low blood glucose reactions, because you cannot rely on how you feel to detect low glucose levels. Many people with diabetes develop hypoglycemic unawareness meaning they can have glucose levels in the 40s and 50s and still feel quite fine. For this reason, measuring glucose levels frequently allows detection and treatment before the glucose levels fall too low. This monitoring is particularly relevant when exercising or performing activities such as driving or operating machinery, when you need to be alert.

Second, home monitoring allows you to detect high glucose levels. Elevated glucose levels may reflect dietary indiscretion or failure to take or to adjust diabetes medications. If you are on an insulin pump, there is not a big depot of insulin in the subcutaneous tissues, and if for any reason the insulin delivery gets interrupted, glucose levels can go very high and DKA can develop over a few hours. Persistently elevated high glucose levels increase the risk of developing long term complications of diabetes.

Finally, home monitoring allows you to adjust medication doses, particularly insulin. If you’re an insulin-treated patient, check your blood glucose levels at least four times or more a day. If you have type 2 diabetes controlled with diet only or are on medications that do not cause low glucose levels (like metformin, rosiglitazone, or exenatide), checking blood glucose levels a few times a week may suffice. However, if you have type 2 diabetes and are taking oral medicines that can cause low glucose levels (sulfonylureas, repaglinide, and nateglinide), one or two blood glucose checks per day are necessary.

For more information, book an appointment with qualified diabetologists. They will assist you monitor your blood sugar levels in a more secured way. 

World Health Day 2016: Beat the hell out of diabetes

World Health Day is observed on April 7^th every year and this year it’s focused on slowing the rise of diabetes worldwide. In both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, individuals have trouble producing insulin, potentially causing dangerous results if left unmanaged.

The World Health Organization has time and again published relative information about beating diabetes, as well as organised fun quizzes and put posters aimed at raising awareness. The disease disproportionately impacts poor countries.

Here are some facts about diabetes, which is expected to become the seventh leading cause of death globally by 2030.

The Numbers

About 350 million people worldwide have diabetes and about 1.5 million people die from it each year. More than 80 percent of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization reported. Ninety percent of diabetes cases are Type 2. 

Type 1 vs. Type 2

In Type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system destroys cells that release insulin, ultimately preventing the body from producing any. Cells are unable to absorb glucose without insulin, which is needed to produce energy. Type 1 occurs in children.

Type 2 diabetes is most common among adults, although it’s also on the rise among youth. It occurs when the body is unable to use insulin the right way, called “insulin resistance.” As it intensifies, the pancreas may produce a deficient amount of insulin.

What are the symptoms?

Hunger, fatigue, needing to use the bathroom more often than usual, dry mouth, itchy skin and blurred vision are all symptoms of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, according to leading diabetologists. Individuals with Type 2 diabetes may also experience yeast infections, slow-healing cuts and pain or numbness in the feet or legs. Those with Type 1 might experience unexplained weight loss or nausea and vomiting.

What are the risks?

Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can be dangerous if left untreated or poorly managed. Monitoring the disease can help significantly reduce risk, as both types increase risk of blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke. People with diabetes are also at risk of needing amputations.

How is diabetes managed?

The discovery of insulin in 1921 offered new hope for those with diabetes, who used to be expected to die within the first few years after diagnosis. It’s not a cure, but it helps manage the disease. Insulin injections or an insulin pump help manage Type 1. The amount of insulin is determined from the amount of food consumed and daily activity. Those who use insulin regularly monitor their blood glucose level. With both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, healthy eating, physical activity and blood glucose testing are important.

When to see a diabetologist?

It’s a good idea to see your diabetologist if you have to urinate frequently, if you’re feeling weak or constantly thirsty or if you have a bad stomach-ache. Breath that smells like nail polish remover is a sign of high ketones and is a good indicator that you should head to the diabetologist.