Diabetes Treatment Tips

The treatment for type 1 and type 2 diabetes is different.

Type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin, as in type 1 diabetes, there is a lack of insulin being produced because of autoimmune or other causes of damage to the pancreas.

Type 2 diabetes is treated with diet, exercise and medications if needed. The medications are usually oral medicines, but in some cases insulin is also needed.

In this article, let's go through the treatment for diabetes type 1 and 2.

Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

In type 1 diabetes, insulin is needed for treatment. In fact, if a type 1 diabetic goes without insulin treatment, the blood glucose levels rise to very high levels, leading to loss of consciousness and coma.

So the treatment overall includes:

1. Insulin treatment

2. A healthy diet

3. Careful monitoring of blood glucose levels at home with blood glucose meters, to ensure that the sugar levels don't go too high or too low.

Certian situations such as during exercise, travel or skipped meals need to be discussed with your doctor.

4. Monitoring with the doctor or endocrinologist to ensure that the blood sugar levels are adequately controlled, with blood tests, eg the HbA1C.

5. Monitoring with specific specialists to look for end organ damage, eg kidney problems via urine and blood tests, ophthalmologist or eye specialist reviews to look for damage to the retina and eyes, or a podiatrist to help with care of the feet.

Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes

In non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or type 2 diabetes, the treatment involves:

1. A healthy diet

2. Exercise, assuming that you've been given the all clear to exercise by your doctor

3. Medications with oral anti diabetic medications, if needed.

4. Seeing your doctor to monitor the effectiveness of treatment with blood tests.

5. Monitoring of blood glucose levels at home. This is usually not as intense as in type 1 diabetes.

6. Looking for long term complications of diabetes, eg kidney damage, eye problems, foot problems.

7. Treating other medical conditions that may be associated with diabetes such as high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, obesity, etc.

So there you have an overview of what diabetes treatment involves, for both type 1 diabetics as well as type 2 diabetics.

In fact, for type 1 diabetes, who present very suddenly and very unwell, the treatment is often started in hospital, and then after a few days and after some diabetic education with the endocrinologist and diabetes nurse educators, the insulin treatment and monitoring with blood glucose meters is done at home.

So if you have diabetes, keep up with a good treatment regime and keep healthy.

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