Being active most days is a pro move for managing diabetes. You don’t get really good at dealing with diabetes overnight. But over time, you’ll figure out how to go from getting it done to taking it in stride. See if any of these tips are familiar (or worth trying!). Remember when you first found out you had diabetes and learned the basics of taking care of yourself?
Make and eat healthy food. Be active most days. Test your blood sugar often. Take medicines as prescribed, even if you feel good. Learn ways to manage stress. Cope with the emotional side of diabetes. Go to checkups.
One way or another, you’ve had to try to make it all fit with family, work, school, holidays, and everything else in your life. Here’s our short list of tips to help – you’re probably familiar with many, but some may be new (feel free to use!).
Is it hard living with type 2 diabetes?
Obstacles – Endocrinologist,, with Meritas Health Endocrinology There is no denying it is hard to live with diabetes. The obstacles can seem overwhelming. After all, people with diabetes need to change their lifestyles with healthy eating, exercise and limited alcohol consumption to help keep blood sugar levels in check.
- It doesn’t end there though.
- Smoking is risky for people with diabetes.
- They should quit because smoking increases the risk of stroke and blood vessel, eye, kidney and heart disease.
- Add on how patients must regularly monitor their blood sugar levels and take multiple medications, and all of this can affect one’s mental health.
Our comprehensive program is a two-day class, accredited by the American Diabetes Association, that offers educational sessions led by certified diabetes educators on topics including blood glucose monitoring, medication, diet and nutritional planning, physical activity, coping strategies and more.
Can I control my diabetes without medication?
Although there’s no cure for type 2 diabetes, studies show it’s possible for some people to reverse it. Through diet changes and weight loss, you may be able to reach and hold normal blood sugar levels without medication, This doesn’t mean you’re completely cured.
Type 2 diabetes is an ongoing disease. Even if you’re in remission, which means you aren’t taking medication and your blood sugar levels stay in a healthy range, there’s always a chance that symptoms will return. But it’s possible for some people to go years without trouble controlling their glucose and the health concerns that come with diabetes.
So how can you reverse diabetes ? The key seems to be weight loss. Not only can shedding pounds help you manage your diabetes, sometimes losing enough weight could help you live diabetes-free – especially if you’ve only had the disease for a few years and haven’t needed insulin.
How does type 2 diabetes get worse?
How does type 2 diabetes progress over time? Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition, meaning that the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar decreases with time. Eventually, the body’s cells become less responsive to insulin (called increased insulin resistance), and cells in the pancreas produce less insulin.
Can you stop diabetes from progressing?
Slowing the progression – Research continues to explore how to slow or even stop type 2 progression. There’s a lot of evidence that it may be reversible. But studies have shown that this usually isn’t permanent. Many times, after blood sugar is managed without lifestyle or medication, blood glucose elevates again.
- Until researchers unravel the mystery of diabetes progression, doctors recommend the proven approach of exercise, an eating plan, and weight loss (if needed).
- This manages blood sugar levels and may help delay progression of type 2 diabetes.
- Learn more about types of insulin and other diabetes medications,
If you or a loved one needs help paying for insulin, we have the resources to help,
Can you lead a normal life with diabetes?
18-year-old Sophie looks back on life with Type 1 and her diagnosis when she was aged four. Hear about how she copes with diabetes as a teenager and why she thinks diabetes isn’t all bad. – My name is Sophie, I’m 18 years old. I go to college and study Art and Design.
- On 7th August 2001, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of four.
- As I was quite young when it happened, I can’t really remember being diagnosed or in the hospital, but one thing I do remember is constantly feeling thirsty and needing the toilet.
- A few weeks before I was diagnosed I was really thin and ill-looking.
I was always running to the toilet and looking for a drink. I had a few ‘accidents’ when I was out playing with friends or during the night. My mum thought I was just drinking too much late at night, so after six o’clock I wasn’t allowed any juice or water. Sophie, left, with her younger sister Lucy.”The way I look at is that doing injections isn’t the best thing in the world, but there are much worst illnesses and diseases than diabetes.” March of that year, my little sister Lucy was born.As a new baby in the house my mum and dad thought it was attention I was looking, until one night we were over at a family friends house and I was constantly asking for a drink and then two seconds asking for another one. 
Sophie at the aged of four when she was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He smelt my breath and I took a key tone test, which checks your blood sugars by your urine. Straight away, he said it could be diabetes and we should go to the hospital to just make sure.We went home, got my jammies and headed to the hospital.
- At the hospital, the doctor did more test including a blood test known as a finger prick.
- My blood sugars were 40.0.They are meant to between 4 and 10, so they were very high.
- That’s when they diagnosed me with diabetes Type 1.
- I spent a week in the children’s diabetic ward.
- My parents and I learnt about living and managing diabetes.
My parents were really scared as diabetes was something that they haven’t heard of until now. Sometimes diabetes is passed down through generations but as far as we are aware we didn’t have diabetes in our family. I remember the nurses in the ward they were always so kind and gentle.
Every three to four months you have a checkup where the nurses check your blood, height, weight, sugars ectSometimes I had to get blood taken and no child likes having blood taken, so they used to used to gave me the ‘magic cream’. This was a cream that they put on before taking blood to numb your arm or hand.
After spending a week with constant needles, blood tests and doctors I was glad to get out. My mum and dad took responsibly as I was only four years old. I had to take two injections a day and finger pricks regularly. As I was young my body could only take two to three units of insulin.
- Over the years, my insulin dosage has increased, I now take four injections and 13-15 units of insulin each time.
- It wasn’t long after being diagnosed when I started primary school.
- My mum went along to the school with a diabetic nurse to speak to my teachers, So they would know what to do if I felt low or high.
When I got to about seven, I was testing my own blood and learning more about injections. I started injecting in oranges before doing it properly, this taught me how to use injections. By the age of eight, I was injecting in myself without my mum and dad.This gave me a lot of freedom.
- As I could stay at friends for dinner or sleepovers.
- I also understood about feeling low.
- Feeling low is a very wired feeling, you feel so weak and your legs feel like jelly.
- Sometimes I feel so low, I can hardly speak.
- I also go very pale.
- Some people can go moody or cross when they are low.
- As I have got older, diabetes has got easier.
I have did some charity work raising money for Diabetes Uk and have raised just over £100. I am definitely going to do more in the future to support diabetes. People ask me, whats it like to be diabetic? Can you not eat sugar? But I can, just not in big amounts.
Can type 2 diabetes be permanent?
Here’s how healthier habits may help some people reverse or better manage the disease. – Diabetes is a very common but serious medical condition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 34 million Americans have it, with about 90-95% of them having type 2 diabetes. About 88 million people have prediabetes, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
There is no cure for type 2 diabetes. But it may be possible to reverse the condition to a point where you do not need medication to manage it and your body does not suffer ill effects from having blood sugar levels that are too high. Making positive lifestyle changes such as eating a well-balanced diet, exercising regularly and getting down to a healthy weight (and maintaining it) are the key to possibly reversing or managing type 2 diabetes.
Other lifestyle changes may also help, including not smoking, getting enough sleep, limiting alcohol and managing stress. However, for some people this is still not enough and medication is needed to manage the condition.
Can you have diabetes and live a normal life?
4. Ignoring It Won’t Make It Disappear – You can’t feel diabetes when it is out of control, so you may think you don’t need to worry about it. But diabetes ignored and left unmanaged can cause damage to your body. Yes, odds are good that you can live a long, healthy life with diabetes, but only if you are working to control it now, not sometime later.