Q.
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Why should I care about this whole diabetes
thing? |
A.
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Diabetes won't kill you. The complications
of diabetes will do that, if you don't take it seriously. Diabetics have
higher risks of heart attack and stroke, blindness, kidney failure,
amputation, and sexual dysfunction. The good news is that, if you do
take it seriously, you can skew those odds back to almost normal. |
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Q.
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What is the most important thing to do
first? |
A.
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Get a blood glucose meter and use it
religiously. This will tell you how you are doing, so you can make
necessary changes. |
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Q.
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What should my blood glucose targets be? |
A.
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Since we all have different overall medical
conditions, this should be worked out with your doc, but the usual
answer is 70-120 mg/dL or 4.0-7.0 mmol/L. |
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Q.
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But what can I eat? |
A.
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There is no one-size-fits-all diet for
diabetics or anyone else. In general, you will have to eat fewer
carbohydrates, as they will impact your blood glucose readings the most,
causing a "spike". Rather than using names like Low Carb or Low Fat,
diabetics should employ a Low Spike Diet which contains all the
components necessary for adequate nutrition. Be sure to read our
Nutrition
Section, as well as Jennifer's Advice
to the Newly Diagnosed. |
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Q.
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I have Type-2 diabetes. What
kinds of drugs will my doctor prescribe? |
A.
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There are 6 main classes of
diabetic medications. An overview is to be found in our
Medications page |
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Q.
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I have high blood pressure. What kinds of
meds should be used for diabetics? |
A.
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The preferred order of drug class for
diabetics is: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors,
Angiotensin-2 Receptor Blockers (ARB), Calcium Channel Blockers (CCB),
Beta-Blockers (BB), Alpha-Blockers (AB). Your doctor may have reasons
other than diabetes for his selection. |
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Q.
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I have some other conditions that I take
drugs for. I swear they raise my blood glucose. Can this be? |
A.
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To review a list of meds
known to raise blood glucose, look at our
Medications page. |
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Q.
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I see very strange blood glucose readings
listed when reading the diabetes newsgroups. How do I convert them to
the readings I am used to? |
A.
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The US and most other countries use a BG
scale based on mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter). Other countries use
mmol/L (millimoles per litre). The conversion factor is 18.02.
(Using 18 is close enough) This factor works only for glucose. So a measurement like 90mg/dl divided by 18 =
5.0 mmol/L. Likewise, 6.0 mmol/L times 18 = 108 mg/dL. |
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Q.
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While we are on the subject, how do I
convert between the different lipid reporting numbers I see? |
A.
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Converting cholesterol numbers between mmol/L
and mg/dL works the same way. The factor for cholesterol, HDL and LDL is
38.67 and the factor for triglycerides is 88.54. |
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Q.
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I find that my BG mysteriously goes up
overnight. I haven't eaten anything. What is going on? |
A.
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Sounds like Dawn Phenomenon or Somogyi
Effect. Learn more on our Dawn
Phenomenon page. |
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Q.
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I took a long walk and instead of making my
BG go down, it actually went up! What caused that? |
A.
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It is possible that your walk
made your BG go too low, and your liver dumped glucose to keep you
going. This is explained in our Dawn Phenomenon
page. Slightly more complex in cause is the known fact that exercise
while experiencing high BG ( over 250/14.0 ) can cause it to rise even
higher. |
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Q.
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I have had the flu for the past couple of
days and my BG is unusually high. Why? |
A.
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The body will increase insulin resistance
and create glucose to fight stress of any kind, emotional or physical.
This is normal, and provides extra energy to fight infection.
Make
sure you have discussed a "Sick Day Regimen" with your doctor. |
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Q.
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The newsgroups and chatroom are full of
strange abbreviations, like FPG, YMMV, and TChol. What do these mean? |
A.
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Check out our
Glossary page. |
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Q.
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What kind of meter should I get? |
A.
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The best answer is to get a meter for which your insurance company will provide strips. There
are references to meter comparisons on our Resources page. Consumer's Reports recently rated blood glucose
meters and rated the Lifescan OneTouch Ultra and Roche Accu-check
Complete as top scorers. If you do not have insurance, the Relion brand
from Wal-mart is the cheapest. |
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Q.
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My toes tingle and have shooting pains in
my calves and legs sometimes. Is
this due to diabetes? |
A.
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It could be Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. Visit
our DPN Page to learn about DPN and our DPN
Cocktail.
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