Diabetes management 101 - By: Stuart Barron

Once you find out that you are suffering from diabetes, or when a family member is diagnosed with it, here are some things you should learn to do:

Self-testing
This is usually done before meals and at bedtime to monitor how well your combination of diet, exercise and medication are working. You would need to self-test more frequently when you are sick or stressed.

The diabetes supplies you should have for this are the glucometer, lancets and test strips which make blood reading possible. There are different kinds of glucometers. But usually you will have to prick your finger with a small needle, lancet, which gives you a tiny drop of blood. You put the blood on a test strip and the strip to the glucometer. You can expect a result in 30 to 45 seconds.

Diet and weight control
You need the help of your health care provider to design meal plans with healthy foods, on eating the right amount and eating meals at the right time. Know how much fat, protein, and carbohydrates you need in your diet. You can also tailor your meals plans according to your food habits and preferences.

Regular physical activity
This is important for everyone but more so to people with diabetes. This controls the amount of glucose in the blood and burns excess calories and fat to manage weight.
You can start an exercise routing with your health care provider. Consider different enjoyable activities to motivate you.

Medication
Some doctors would prescribe medication when diet and exercise are not enough. Most people with type 2 diabetes will have more medications eventually to maintain good sugar control.

Medications can either be taken by mouth or injected. The latter would require special diabetes supplies like syringes. Also, there are medications that you might need to take with insulin. Insulin preparations can vary depending on how fast they start to work or how long they will last. You can expect your health care provider to teach you how to take in insulin injections using specific diabetes supplies

Foot care
Finally, there are also available diabetes supplies for your foot care since people with diabetes are more likely to develop foot problems. The sickness can damage nerves, which means that they may not feel an injury to the foot until a large sore or infection develops. Diabetes can also affect the immune system causing the body’s ability to fight infection to drop. Small infections can grow very quickly, get worse and be fatal to the skin and other tissues. For more information visit to our site at https://www.edgepark.com

About the Author

We are a family owned company in business since 1928. Edgepark Medical Supplies offers Medicare and HMO billing plus over 1,000 private plans.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Stuart-Barron/67354

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