Diabetes Treatment

Diabetes is a disease where a person’s body does not produce insulin or does not produce enough.  Insulin is the hormone which turns the body’s blood glucose into energy.  If the body cannot turn the blood glucose to energy, it will get built up in the blood stream causing many diseases secondary to the diabetes.
There are quite a few diabetes treatments available.  It is up to a doctor to decide which medication is the best for each individual person.

Diet

One treatment for diabetes is diet.  Diet will not always work well on its own, however, diet can make a big difference.  There are certain foods which keep blood glucose down.  Foods that are high in fiber such as fruits, beans, and peas can help treat your diabetes.  Staying away from fatty, sugary foods will also help with your diabetes.

A person with diabetes should watch their diet in order to keep their blood glucose down.  The American Diabetes Association states that a diabetic’s diet should consist of fifty to sixty percent carbohydrates, twenty to thirty percent proteins, and no more than thirty percent in starch and fats.  Keeping up with a diet like this can be very effective in diabetes treatment.

When a person is over weight, this can cause them have more secondary problems due to the diabetes.  A person who does not stay on a strict diet will have problems with their blood sugar until they get themselves on a strict diet.

Exercise

Although exercise alone will not be able to treat diabetes, it will still help in conjunction with medications.  Keeping on a strict exercise regimen will keep a person healthy as well as helping to keep their blood glucose level down. 

Insulin 
    
Insulin remains the number one treatment for Type one diabetes.  Insulin is administered as a subcutaneous injection.  It must be injected rather than taken orally because if taken orally, the insulin will be destroyed by gastric secretions. 
Insulin is taken in balance with meals and daily activity.  A diabetic should check their blood glucose level before breakfast. 

If their insulin level is too high, they should inject the insulin.  Usually, a diabetic will need an injection once a day, sometimes twice.  This depends on the severity of a person’s diabetes.  Although a person may only need their insulin once a day, they should be reassessed daily by continuing to monitor their blood glucose level.  If later in the day their glucose level gets higher, another dose of insulin may be necessary.

Sulfonylureas

Sulfonylureas are a medication which was produced as a “synthetic insulin.”  This insulin was produced as an oral medication to make administering this medication easier for the diabetic. 

This medication was supposed to be a better for of insulin, however, it did not quite work out that way.  Sulfoylureas are not an effective treatment for diabetes.  When people used this medication for three months, only sixty percent of them were able to keep their blood glucose levels managed.  In thirty percent of the cases where sulfonylureas were effective, they lost their effect after a while.  The medication did work for a short period of time but after just a few months they failed to produce a positive effect. 

In addition to either not working or losing their effect, these medications can cause harmful long term effects as well.  Some of these side effects include hypoglycemia, allergic skin reactions, fatigue, vomiting, headache and liver damage.
 
One medication called Tolbutamide, also known as Orinase has been associated with increased cardiovascular mortality.  Other names for these sulfonylureas are Chlorpropamide, or Diabetes, Glipizede or Glucotrol, and Toloazimide or Polonaise.  These medications are not only ineffective in most cases, but dangerous as well.

Metformin

Metformin has been used to treat Type 2 diabetes in more than ninety countries for more than thirty years.  Doctors in the United States have been using Metformin since 1995, since it was approved for use in the US.  Metformin reduces the excessive hepatic glucose production that characterizes Type 2 diabetes.  With reduced hyperglycemia, glucose uptake by peripheral tissues is enhanced while insulin levels remain stable or decline.  Metformin is also effective in lowering elevated cholesterol and lipids, particularly the serum levels of triglycerides.  Side effects of Metformin are not very frequent because the dosage to obtain the desired metabolic effect is very low.

Troglitazone

Troglitazone is a member of a new class of diabetic medications called “insulin sensitizer.”  It was selected because of its effect to lower glyceria without increasing insulin levels.  Another reason is its ability to improve lipid levels.  This is a medication highly recommended by physicians because there were no risk of side effects that were reported in short term studies.  These new oral drugs are very beneficial for people who are on an appropriate diet and exercise program.  This medication is good for people who have maintained an optimal weight and are still unable to control adequate blood sugar.  This is the most effective, easiest to administer medication that is being prescribed by doctors today.

Diabetes can cause severe health issues including coma or even death.  With the treatments and the knowledge of diabetes that we have today, there is no reason that a person should have issues with their diabetes.

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