So you have been diagnosed with diabetes? You look at your physician and think he or she must be wrong. You don’t really feel any different today than you did yesterday when you didn’t have diabetes. You think, “It must have been the dessert I ate the night before. I don’t really have diabetes”.
Does that sound similar?
For those of you who have recently been diagnosed or maybe you have lived with diabetes for a while, this seems to be what so many patients feel. Diabetes is like a termite in your house. Unless you take care of the little bugs they multiply and eventually the house crumbles.
It is the same for diabetes. You really don’t feel different in the early stages of the disease. It is a slow progression to feeling bad.
What I often hear at the Diabetes Care Center when patients get their blood sugar under good control is, “I didn’t realize how good it feels to feel good.”
For many patients, early diagnosis and treatment is helpful in slowing the progression of the disease. It is important to understand what is going on in your body when you have Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes, in simple terms, is a disease where your blood sugar remains higher than the normal range. Your pancreas produces a hormone called insulin, which regulates your body’s blood sugar. When your blood sugar is high the body produces insulin to bring your blood sugar down.
The natural history of Type 2 Diabetes includes a period of approximately 5-10 years of Pre-Diabetes. During this time the body is often resistant to the insulin the pancreas produces so the pancreas has to produce more and more insulin to overcome this resistance. This can work well for several years by keeping the blood glucose in relatively normal range, which is why it is difficult to identify diabetes. At some point the pancreas is unable to keep up the supply of insulin and the blood sugar levels increase.
Most people have lost 50 to 70 percent of their beta cell function (the cells in the pancreas that make insulin) by the time they are diagnosed with diabetes.
The better the glucose control early in the disease process, the longer the individual will be able to control their diabetes with diet and exercise.
What is all of the concern about? Here are the stats on diabetes:
- Approximately 24 million Americans have Diabetes
- 1 in 4 of these people do not know they have the disease.
- 1 in 5 adults are at risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes
- For many people diagnosis comes 7-10 years after the onset of the disease
What are the risks of diabetes?:
- Adults with diabetes have a 2-4 times higher risk of death from heart disease or stroke.
- It is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20-74 years of age.
- More than 60 percent of non-traumatic lower limb amputations occur in people with diabetes.
What can you do to prevent diabetes or if you have the disease, lesson the complications associated with it?
To improve your health, healthy eating and being more physically active is the key. There are some small steps you can take to make sure these changes are long lasting:
- Make small changes one at a time. If you are trying to eat healthier dinners and change your current menu, pick one new healthy meal to add to your diet each week. After a year you will have a month and a half of new healthy meals.
- Do you focus on your bad habits? Accept that you have bad habits. How can you make changes if you don’t recognize what needs changing?
- To be successful YOU have to want to make the change. The changes need to be important to you. Make a list of the pros and cons of habits you are trying to change. This will guide you as to which changes you should tackle. For example if there are too many benefits to eating a favorite dessert, then you are not ready to make that change.
- Pick some changes that you want to do the most and that will have the biggest impact. Think about how specifically you can make your changes. Be sure to set SMART goals:
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S: specific (I will become physically active)
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M: measurable ( I will walk for 15 minutes every night)
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A: Attainable (make sure walking isn’t painful)
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R: Realistic ( make sure you have 15 minutes every night)
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T: Timely (Give yourself a target to work toward.)
Write down your goals and chart your progress it will help keep you on track and let you know what you have accomplished. Enlist the help of others to keep you motivated.
Your physician can help guide you in making sure you are getting regular check-ups. Ask your family to help with healthy eating and physical activity. Look for a Diabetes Program in your area that has experts in diabetes. These professionals can help you with education and coaching to keep you going in the right direction.
Working with a Certified Diabetes Educator can make all the difference in making this a manageable disease. The following link will direct you to Certified Diabetes Programs in your area: http://professional.diabetes.org/erp_zip_search.aspx
Remember you are working on changing your health permanently. A quick fix won’t work with a chronic disease.
J
oanne Tippin MS, RD, CDE is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator with 15 years experience specializing in Nutrition Counseling for Diabetes, Kidney Disease, Heart Disease and Adult and Childhood Obesity. In addition, she is Certified in Adolescent and Childhood Obesity Management. She has taught nutrition science at the University and Community College level for more than 15 years. Joanne Tippin can be reached at JTippin@primehealthcare.com.
