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Controlling Your Diabetes: It's More Than Just Feeling Better
By: John Punderson, M.D. - Gorman Clinic
When you were first diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes you may have been extremely thirsty and urinating all the time, you could have had blurred vision, or maybe you just felt extremly fatigued.
Initial treatment with proper diet or medication probably alleviated these symptoms to a great degree and allowed you to get back to feeling normal.
Unfortunately adult-onset diabetes is not just a disease that causes high blood sugar with its related symptoms; it's a systemic disease that makes the blood vessels throughout the body susceptible to disease as well with increased risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and blindness.
Research has shown that controlling five factors can significantly reduce this risk:
- Average blood sugar control over a 3-month period can be measured by a blood test called Glycosylated Hemoglobin A1C; keeping this number under 7.0 is best.
- Blood pressure should be kept below 130/80.
- LDL ("bad") cholesterol should be reduced below 100.
- A low does aspirin (81mg.) daily reduces risk of small blood clots which can cause a heart attack.
- Finally, if you smoke, quit! The blood vessel damage caused by smoking is accentuated in diabetics; ask your doctor for help quiting if necessary.
Your doctor will review each of these five items at every diabetic check to help you reach your goals of both feeling better and reducing long-term complications.
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