When diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, most people feel shocked and scared. Having proper knowledge about diabetes and ways to deal with it can help you to control its symptoms and manage it in an efficient manner. Here are a few important points on how to go about managing type 2 diabetes.
Prescribed medications play a very crucial role in helping you control diabetes. Therefore, it is important to have proper knowledge about what medicines work for you and what don’t. All medications don’t have same effects on every individual. Never buy a medicine for diabetes just because it worked for someone else. Always consult your doctor before taking any medicine so as to make sure that you don’t experience any harmful side effects that can make the condition worse. Contact your doctor immediately if you ever start to experience undesired changes after taking certain diabetes medication.
Medicines for diabetes come with a risk of hypoglycemic episodes. A quick and sudden drop in the levels of blood sugar can be very dangerous. Hypoglycemia caused by drugs is the main disadvantage of oral medications as well as insulin. Diabetics who take more than one diabetes medication, have kidney, heart or stomach issues, skip meals and exercise furiously are at a greater risk of experiencing this problem. Before you take any medications, ask your doctor to instruct you about the dosage and any precautionary measures that you might need to take.
Another thing that matters a lot to type 2 diabetics is exercise. Your doctor is the best person to advice you on when it is the right time for you to start off with an exercise routine. Even when your doctor gives you his approval, make sure that you begin slowly and then gradually work your way up. Also, make it a point to start off with a low impact exercise such as yoga, aerobics, etc. These exercises burn calories without taking off too much energy from your body. Once you see an improvement in your overall health, you can start with other forms of exercise on your doctor’s approval.
Foot exam is another thing that type 2 diabetics should take into consideration. People who suffer from type 2 diabetes have two main concerns regarding their feet: poor circulation and neuropathy. When there is poor circulation in your feet, any infections that you might have will take a lot of time to heal, making you prone to more complications. You could be having circulation problems if your hands and feet are constantly cold. Diabetic neuropathy is a condition that affects your nerves and leads to loss of sensation in your feet. It is recommended to do a daily inspection of your feet from top to bottom and between your toes and look for sore, blisters, or redness in the skin.
Diabetes can also cause complications with your eyesight. To maintain a proper vision, it is also important for diabetics to have a routine dilated eye examination as it will help to determine if diabetes is causing any harm to your eyesight.
Make sure you regularly get your heart, kidneys and blood pressure checked. Diabetes can cause serious damage to each of these areas. If not addressed on time, these medical conditions caused by diabetes can prove to be fatal.
Always remember that you can take control over your diabetes and it is not something that you have to live with. Being self-disciplined and taking healthy measures mentioned above will help you to live a normal life.