Type 2 diabetes follow-up care requires scheduling regular appointments with your primary health care provider at intervals he or she suggests. These appointments will give your doctor the opportunity to see how you are managing your diabetes and give you the opportunity to ask any questions or share any concerns.
Also, you will want to make sure you see an eye doctor every year, your dentist twice a year and any other specialists who can help you maintain your good health.
Self-monitoring blood glucose
A crucial part of diabetes self-management is glucose monitoring. When you meet with the certified diabetes educator at Lehigh Valley Health Network, you will learn how to do this frequent glucose checking and about the devices that make it simpler.
Careful monitoring is the only way to make sure the blood sugar level remains within target range. A range of 70-130 milligrams/deciliter before meals is suggested for most individuals with diabetes. Your doctor will tell you what your target range should be.
It’s also helpful to use a logbook to record your glucose test results, when medicine was taken and how much, as well as details like what you ate, how long you exercised and any significant events of the day such as high or low blood sugar levels and how the problem was treated.
Better equipment now available makes testing blood sugar levels less painful and less complicated. Medicare now pays for diabetic testing supplies, as do many private insurers and Medicaid.
There are more than 20 types of meters available on the market. Meters vary in size, weight, test time, blood sample requirements, memory capabilities and other special features. Most meters can measure blood glucose with only a one- or two-step process. Most also incorporate no-wipe technology, which means users do not have to wipe off excess blood after applying a blood drop to the reagent strip. In addition, many meters now require only a very small amount of blood, thus decreasing the problems with bleeding often seen in advanced diabetics and the elderly, and the fear and pain of wounds from the lancet.
In order to get an accurate blood glucose result, you need to make sure that the meter is clean, that your finger is clean and that an adequate-size drop of blood is being tested. Before pricking your finger, it is recommended by health care professionals to wash the hands with warm water, shake the hands below the waist and squeeze the finger a few times.. How do people know if they have diabetes?
People with diabetes frequently experience certain symptoms. These include:
In some cases, there are no symptoms — this happens at times with type 2 diabetes. In this case, people can live for months, even years without knowing they have the disease. This form of diabetes comes on so gradually that symptoms may not even be recognized.
Your healthcare team will encourage you to follow your meal plan and exercise program, use your medications and monitor your blood glucose regularly to keep your blood glucose in as normal a range as possible as much of the time as possible. Why is this so important? Because poorly managed diabetes can lead to a host of long-term complications — among these are heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure, and blood vessel disease that may require an amputation, nerve damage, and impotence in men.
But happily, a nationwide study completed over a 10-year period showed that if people keep their blood glucose as close to normal as possible, they can reduce their risk of developing some of these complications by 50 percent or more.
Maybe someday. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, yet we still do not understand it completely. Recent research does suggest, however, that there are some things one can do to prevent this form of diabetes. Studies show that lifestyle changes can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in those adults who are at high risk of getting the disease. Modest weight loss (5-10% of body weight) and modest physical activity (30 minutes a day) are recommended goals.