Seventeen million adults have type 2 (adult onset) diabetes in America, and each year two million additional adults are diagnosed with this disease. For these people, the disease literally takes over their lives, as the steps to monitor and control it can be all consuming.  Daily monitoring, frequent medical checkups and a highly restricted diet are necessary to keep glucose levels low and prevent an onslaught of damage that can be caused by diabetes.

Monitoring

One of the first things a diabetic has to learn is how to monitor his blood glucose (sugar) on his own, since this important measure can change constantly and elevated levels can be life threatening.  Normally, a glucometer is used to indicate the levels, and it is recommended that levels be measured before and after meals, since food is the main trigger for increases. (Although stress and pain can also trigger sudden spikes.)  Levels should read 70 to 130 milligrams (per deciliter) before meals and less than 189 milligrams after.

Checkups

As a control measure, a doctor will order an additional test called a hemoglobin A1C in his office from time to time.  This test measures the average blood sugar over the previous two or three month period.  This helps avoid a patient behaving well (i.e. eating properly) just before a doctor visit, thinking he will be able to hide the fact that his glucose has been too high.  A1C levels should be lower than 7%, and you can count on a grilling by your doctor is your glucose level is good but your A1C level is high.

Diet

But one of the most important and permeating factors in a diabetics life is his diet.  Adult onset diabetes (unlike juvenile diabetes, which is congenital) is caused by obesity and poor diet: too much sugar, or foods that break down quickly into sugar.  Diabetes are advised to eat less refined foods, which have a lower glycemic index and are therefore slower to raise blood sugar than refined products.  Diabetics should avoid sweets and processed starches such as soda, cakes, bagels, pasta, etc.  These items should be replaced in the diet with fruits, fresh vegetables, and whole grain products, all of which require processing by the body and therefore break down more slowly into glucose.

Diabetes cannot be cured; it can only be controlled.  To avoid some of the tragic consequences of diabetes, such as gangrenous limbs, blindness, stroke and death, it is imperative that the diabetic take his treatment very seriously and take every necessary step to monitor and control it.  If you don’t have diabetes, you can help to avoid it by avoiding too many sweets and refined carbohydrates, and getting plenty of exercise and maintaining a healthy weight.

If diabetes is left untreated, it can become even more serious in the elderly resulting in the need for a home health care worker. Even though most people in the medical profession are trustworthy, you may want to do a background check, just to be sure.