Here are two questions I addressed during our diabetes self management skills program this week. Although they are about different issues, the questions were asked by patients who have diabetes. You may have personally experienced these problems. Please feel free to write to ADW Diabetes if you have other questions you would like answered.
Emotions play a critical part in caring for your diabetes since anxiety, depression, anger, frustration, guilt, fear and shame may increase your immediate blood sugars and affect your overall glucose control. Patients may frequently experience these feelings since diabetes never takes a break and requires their constant attention. They often do not know how to incorporate […]
The leading cause of death in the United States for men and women is still heart disease. This includes heart attack, stroke and heart failure. 67 million Americans have hypertension, which is a major risk factor in heart disease, along with diabetes. According to the CDC, “1 in 3 adults in the United States suffer from […]
According to the latest research from the CDC published in August 2014, “40% of Americans will develop diabetes in their life times, with minority groups being affected the most. Up to 50% of black women will develop diabetes and 50% of Hispanics, both men and women, will also have diabetes”. It is stated that the risk […]
As we discussed in Part 1 of Gestational diabetes, it is usually detected in the 2 nd or 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Unless you are considered high risk your physician will screen you between weeks 24-28. It may seem overwhelming at diagnosis but when you learn about what you need to do to protect yourself and […]
Gestational diabetes is a common complication of pregnancy that affects around 200,000 women in the United States a year which translates into 4-10% of pregnancies. According to the most recent research “5 in 100 women will come back with a positive test for gestational diabetes”. Most women have little or no symptoms although some may […]
Originally it was thought that type 2 diabetes can increase heart attacks by up to 2-3 times in men and women. The most recent research in Diabetes Care (March 2014) states that “women may be as much as 50% more at risk for fatal heart events than men, and that diabetes is more of a potential […]
Each assessment done for our diabetes self management skills program requires a complete food history – including the speed of one’s eating: “Do you eat quickly/fast, normal speed or slowly?” I have asked this question to approximately 2,000 patients in the last three years. Since we are preparing for program re-accreditation, I found that approximately 70% […]
I just returned from a high school reunion and I will say it has been more than 40 years since I have seen most of these people. As with the general population, there were people who gained weight, grew beards, went bald, wear glasses and developed chronic illnesses over the years including diabetes. Being a nurse/diabetes […]
According to The American Podiatric Medical Association, “more than 65,000 lower limbs are amputated yearly from diabetes complications. Including a podiatrist in your diabetes care plan can reduce the risk of lower limb amputation up to 85% and lower the risk of hospitalization for foot problems up to 24%”.