Diabetes Blog

Diabetes Meal Planner

Posted by john in Diabetes Care

Diet constitutes an essential part of treatment of diabetes mellitus. The restriction in diet is generally misinterpreted as abstinence from all rich and tasty meals. In fact diabetics need more nourishing and better balanced diet than normal people because of certain limitations in their metabolism. In an attempt to normalize blood sugar essential nutrients required for normal growth and

development should not be sacrificed. For a successful management patients must understand their daily food requirements, nutritive values of food items and how to select foods to avoid monotony and embarrassing social situations. Special adjustments are required in case of treatment with Insulin, specially short acting Insulin, or acute illnesses like infections, diarrhea and vomiting or for social, religious occasions like fasts, festivals and get-together’s. The doctors and dieticians can help you to ascertain your individual requirements according to your age, weight, sex, physical activities and suggest you the ideal meal pattern. But your own knowledge of food values will go a long way in stabilizing you diabetes and enjoying life in spite of the disease.

Normally a Diabetic Requires

• 25 to 30 Kilocalorie’s (Kcal) per Kg body weight.
• 1 to 1.5g Proteins per Kg body weight.
• 30 to 50g Fat (preferably 30g unsaturated).
• 200 to 300g Carbohydrates(CHO),mainly starch not sugar.
• Fibres: Fruits, vegetables and cereals contain more fibre.
• Vitamins and minerals.

Standard 1500 Kcal diet of Indian meal pattern along with its calculations of Calories and nutrients (Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate) is presented for your guidance. The food exchange lists have been prepared for selecting alternatives to provide variety and to break the monotony of meal pattern. The exchanges can be used for increasing or decreasing the Calorie or Nutrient allowances from the standard 1500 Kcal diet, if so, advised by your doctor.

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Diabetic Children

Posted by john in Diabetes Care

If your child has diabetes, he or she can continue to lead a normal childhood, attend regular schools, go to summer camp, travel, and participate in athletic activities. You can let your child continue to be a child. When the disease is under control and the child is knowledgeable about diabetes strenuous activities are not harmful. Many professional athletes have diabetes. Diabetes is not contagious. There is no way one child can “catch it” from another. And, unlike most of the llnesses the child has had be lore, diabetes is a disorder that rarely goes away by itself. Early recognition and treatment of the disease are important. The goal of treatment will be adequate growth for the child, both physical and mental. You, your child, and other family members will want to learn as much as possible about living with diabetes so that family life can continue as smoothly as possible.

How Much Should a Diabetic Child Eat?

Each child is different. Each child’s needs differ from day to day Children who seem to eat too much may be taking more insulin than they need, and the extra insulin causes increased hunger. However, hunger can also be a signal that the blood sugar is low. You can do a blood test at the time the child is hungry. If the blood sugar level is often low discuss changing the dosage of insulin with the doctor and nutritionist.

Diabetic children are like all children. They will want to snack between meals. For a diabetic child being treated with insulin, calculated snacking is important because the injected insulin continues to work even if no food is eaten. If a child’s meal is delayed for any reason, a snack should be given and then the meal should be reduced in size. Appropriate snacks for a diabetic child are ones with nutritional value, such as cheese, crackers, peanut butter, and skim milk. Raisins and other dried fruits are also good snacks for the child to carry with him or her.

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Special Concerns of Male Diabetics

Posted by john in Diabetes Care

Impotence, generally defined as a man’s inability to achieve and maintain an erection of the penis during sexual intercourse, is common in non diabetic as well as diabetic men. Impotence has many causes, including emotional ones such as anxiety and fear. It can result from an organic problem, such as systemic or vascular disease or a hormone deficiency. It can happen because of neurological reasons, including brain disease or damaged nerves. Abuse of alcohol and other drugs contributes to impotency. Sometimes side effects of certain medications cause temporary impotency.

While physicians say that there is a higher frequency of impotence in males with diabetes, only some diabetic men notice impotency or become impotent as a result of their diabetes. When nerve endings are affected by the disease, however, reduced ability to achieve erection will occur. Vascular problems such as hardening of the arteries also contribute to the inability to achieve and maintain an erection, because an adequate supply of blood must flow to the penis. Your health care team will meet with you and your partner to talk about your adjustments, both psychological and physical, to any changes in your physiological function. Some of the aspects they will probably mention are as follows:

• See your physician right away if you are experiencing impotence. It is possible that the condition is occurring as a response to some other factor and not your diabetes.
• Reduce or eliminate use of alcohol. This may alleviate the impotence.

Hugs Help

Your needs Jour love and emotional support are the same as those of non diabetics. Your health care team will help you balance these needs with the special features of your diabetic life style. A combination of acceptance, understanding, and team work will help you and those you care about live a happy life.

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Generic Drugs

Posted by john in Diabetes News

To avoid the high cost of regular drug use, many people prefer to switch to generic drugs. Only two commonly prescribed oral anti diabetic drugs are available generically: tolbutamide and chlorpropamide. While many generic drugs are safe, the Food and Drug Administration says that these generics may not be as effective as the nongeneric items. Batches of the generic drugs have been recalled, while in 22 or more years of production none of the non generic anti diabetic drugs have been recalled.

Generic anti diabetic drugs can be harmful if they work too quickly or strongly, because a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) reaction may occur. Also, if the drug isn’t as strong as it should be, your blood sugar level may become elevated without warning. If you want to switch from one brand to another, do so only under your physician’s supervision. If your diabetes is stabilized with one particular product, you might jeopardize that control by switching to one to which your system reacts differently, advises the American Diabetes Association.

Use of generics in control of diabetes requires caution. Making an unmonitored switch from a prescribed brand to a generic may mean loss of diabetes control. In that case your cost in additional medical attention may more than outweigh any savings realized from purchasing the generic products.

Because some generic products cost less than their prescription equivalents, many physicians write prescriptions for the generic drugs. If your physician thinks a generic drug will work well for you he or she will so indicate on your prescription.Whether you use injected insulin or an oral medication, it will be regular use of the preparation, plus diet, a regular exerciseprogram, and a good mental outlook, that will help control your disease, Medication alone won’t do the job. The combined treatment approach works best.

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Hypertension and Diabetes

Posted by john in Diabetes News

You can achieve short and long-term savings by starting right now. You can take the first step in your personal campaign to avoid serious, un measurable costs by understanding them. Knowing what you are saving will encourage you to take the next step and plan each dry to include a proper balance of diet and exercise. Current evidence strongly suggests that complications of diabetes threats to life can be prevented or greatly reduced by general good health measures. One of the most important aspects of your new savings program will be to guard against hypertension (high blood pressure). This is important because hypertension and diabetes have several things in common. First, hypertension Occurs more frequently in obese people; so does diabetes. In fact, in non-insulin-dependent diabetes those extra pounds may be a factor in the development of hypertension.

A reduction of weight can mean control of your diabetes as well as your hypertension. Also, hypertension is more common in older people, and so is diabetes. For reasons not entirely certain both diseases affect more people in later life than during earlier years, but both diseases can be controlled in many cases through changes in lifestyle at any age. Although hypertension is more common among diabetics than among non diabetics, having diabetes does not mean that you will have high blood pressure. Nearly 35 million people in the United States with or without diabetes have hypertension. But, because hypertension can have so many effects on your vital organs, it is important to have it checked frequently so that you can do something about it if it becomes even mildly elevated.

Usually you can’t tell whether your blood pressure is high unless it is checked with a blood pressure measuring device. Generally high blood pressure offers no warning. signals and gradually damages your vital organs. In some cases diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease are linked closely. Experts don’t always agree on the sequence in which these problems Occur. High blood pressure can cause the walls of the blood vessels in the kidney to change and block some of the flow of blood, resulting in damaged kidney tissue. Also, diabetics who have kidney disease often develop high blood pressure as a result of the impaired function of their kidneys. Because the problems of diabetes, hypertension,and kidney disease are so closely interrelated, preventing or controlling one helps reduce the complications of others.

Why is Hypertension Dangerous?

Hypertension does its damage by hastening the development of atherosclerosis. When this happens fatty deposits harden in the walls of the arteries and prevent blood from flowing smoothly throughout your body just as a clogged garden hose prevents a
smooth flow of water from reaching your lawn.

Why treat hypertension?

Studies have shown that hypertension may shorten life by 20-30 years. Experts say that half of all heart attacks and two thirds of strokes Occur in people who have high blood pressure. Appropriate treatment can result in fewer and milder effects. When high blood pressure leads to hardening and blockage of arteries in the heart, heart attacks or severe pain can result. With hardening of the arteries the heart may not be able to continue to pump adequately and the lungs and other body tissues may become congested. When the body retains fluids a person may feel out of breath and tired after engaging in mild activity. When the arteries leading to the brain are clogged stroke or brain damage can occur. High blood pressure can lead to hardening of the arteries in the legs and to poor blood circulation. When poor circulation is combined with diabetes, infection and sores on the feet and legs can be more difficult to treat and heal.

If You Do Have High Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, it will be important to control it along with your diabetes to safeguard your vital organs, especially Your kidneys, heart, brain, and eyes. It is important for non diabetics to treat hypertension, too, but it’s even more important for diabetics because of the combined menace the diseases present.

Your health care team will explain the significance of weight loss, if you are a little heavy, salt and cholesterol limitation in your diet, and exercise for cardiovascular fitness in fighting high blood pressure along with diabetes. If you smoke, you will be advised to stop. If these methods do not bring your high blood pressure under control, you will be advised to follow a program of drug therapy under your physician’s careful supervision.

Diabetes and Hypertension Medication

If you have diabetes and hypertension, your physician will explain the interaction of antihypertensive medications and blood glucose levels. Because of this interaction, if you need medication, your medication and diet may be a little different from those prescribed for others with high blood pressure who do not have diabetes. Diuretics are the most widely prescribed category of antihypertensive drugs. Unfortunately, in addition to reducing your blood pressure, some diuretics may also reduce your potassium stores. Some authorities say that inadequate potassium may interfere even more with your ability to make adequate insulin.

If you are advised to take a diuretic, you may also be advised to eat a diet rich in potassium (bananas, citrus fruits) or take a potassium supplement. Some diuretics also tend to increase levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, and you may be advised to offset these effects by following a diet that includes less animal fat and fewer dairy products. Many persons with hypertension take one of a category of drugs known as beta blockers, which influence one part of the sympathetic nervous system. Tex work by blocking the effects of the stimulation coming to the heart and blood vessels through a I special group of sympathetic nerve fibers called beta adrenergic. These drugs decrease cardiac output by acting on nerve receptor sites in the heart. In this way they decrease the amount of sympathetic nervous output into the heart. The heart rate slows the heart does not work as hard, less blood is pumped,and blood pressure goes down. However, the beta blockers also suppress the effect of hormones, including adrenaline, responsible for constricting blood vessels and maintaining salt and water levels in the body.

Because adrenaline is also the body’s mechanism for signaling development of hypoglycemia, these drugs must be used
cautiously if you have insulin-dependent diabetes.

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Travelling with Diabetes

Posted by john in Diabetes Information

Travel is part of the spice of life. A little change of scene is as
good for diabetics as for non diabetics. Along with a change of scene, however, comes a change in personal care routines. As a diabetic you should plan for changes in your routine ahead of time by consulting your health care team. Plan as far ahead as possible. Learn the locations of local American Diabetes Association affiliates in the areas in which you will travel. Other suggestions your health care team may make include the following.

• Carry identification indicating that you have diabetes and information about your medication and dosages. Carry a prescription from your doctor for your insulin and syringes. Carry anti nausea medication as well as medication to relieve possible vomiting and diarrhea.
• Plan to alter your meal plan according to your travel plans. For example, when traveling by car, plan on having extra food supplies with you to avoid an insulin reaction. You can keep hard candy, raisins, graham crackers, or fruit handy.
• Store your insulin in a cool place such as inside the car with you rather than, in a trunk or glove compartment, where it might be extremely warm or exposed to heat or sun.
• If you are flying, be prepared to change your insulin injection procedure if you need to have an insulin injection while in the air. Plan on putting about half the usual amount of air into your insulin bottle to balance for pressure In the cabin in a high altitude flight.
• Be aware of changing time zones and administer your insulin injections and have your meals on your home time rather than according to the time zone you are in. Your health care team will assist you in planning ahead for time zone changes of two hours or more.
• Because traveling causes special stresses, it will be important to continue testing your glucose levels frequently to be sure that your diabetes is under control. If you notice high sugar readings, try to exercise more and reduce your intake of carbohydrates. Your health care team will give you instructions to follow regarding changes in insulin doses if your glucose level can’t be controlled with exercise and carbohydrates.
• Learn to say (or carry a card with you reading) “I have diabetes” in the languages spoken in the area in which you might travel.
• Tell your traveling companion(s) that you are diabetic and how the can assist you in case you need help. If you are on a tour, be sure that the tour guide or operator knows about your special needs, particularly about having meals at proper intervals and about what to do if medical emergency occurs.

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