You are not a Diabetic

The first thing to understand is that you are not a Diabetic. Your name is Amy or George , Kim or fill in your name here. Your name is not Diabetes. You may have a problem called Diabetes that you have to manage, but Diabetes is not WHO YOU ARE. Just like having a tough job, an unreliable car or flat feet, you have to do things to manage the problem of Diabetes. It is true that, unlike the tough job, you can’t quit Diabetes. However, you can have good blood sugars. Everyone can manage their own Diabetes, they just need the right tools.

What Is It?

Ok, so what is this thing called Diabetes (technically Diabetes Mellitus)?. Everyone has sugar (glucose) in their blood. We all need it for energy. Your body makes a chemical called insulin to help push the sugar into your muscles and organs where it can be used. As Diabetes develops (usually over years), the body slowly requires more and more insulin work properly. When your body can’t make enough insulin to keep up, the sugar in your blood starts going up.

Why Do I Care?

The Problem Now

  • Tiredness: If you can’t get sugar to your muscles, you will not have energy
  • Too much time in the bathroom: Your body will try to get rid of extra sugar in the blood by peeing more. This may wake you up several times at night and make tiredness worse.
  • Thirst: Due to urinating too much
  • Blurred vision: Diabetes can cause eye damage, but early on, the blurred vision gets better when blood sugars come down. (don’t get new glasses until your blood sugars get better)

The Problems in the Future

The real problem with ignoring Diabetes is the damage it can do over time. Letting your blood sugars be high all the time is like having a bad noise in your car and ignoring it until something breaks.

Amoung other things uncontrolled Diabetes can:

  • Damage the back of your eye (called the retina)
  • Damage your kidneys can stop filtering properly leading to dialysis,
  • your nerves can get damage and give you pain in the feet
  • Nerve damage can lead to foot damage and eventually even amputations due to infections.

However, good blood sugars can delay and even prevent all this from happening.

What Can I Do?

Glad you asked! We have created information pages for a variety of things to help put you in charge and keep Diabetes from taking over your life. Click on one of them to get started:
Nutrition and Diabetes: Eating Your Way to Good Blood Sugars
Activity and Diabetes: Moving Your Body to Good Blood Sugars
Drugs and Diabetes: Medicating Your Way to Good Blood Sugars
Insulin and Diabetes: The Most Powerful Tool for Good Blood Sugars
Monitoring and Diabetes: Checking Up on Your Good Blood Sugars
Hypoglycemia: Can Blood Sugars Be Too Low?