Diabetes
An Introduction

Most people with diabetes have Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is caused by a combination of the body's resistance to the effects of insulin and the slow decrease over time of insulin production from the pancreas.

Diabetes is not caused by lack of exercise or weight gain or by eating too many sweets. But these can increase your risk of eventually developing it. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that has its roots in genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices.

Controlling your diabetes always starts with those two scary words - diet and exercise. Call it that or smart food choices and increased activity level, these are the cornerstones of diabetes care.

Along with diet and exercise, another part of good diabetes care is home blood sugar testing also called self blood glucose monitoring (SBGM). Self-monitoring lets you know how different behaviors affect your blood sugar and, in turn, how you can better control your diabetes.

There are many different choices in meters to test your blood sugar. Meters take strips that are only useable on that model of meter and use different methods of applying the blood sample. Meters have different ranges of memory and some show 14 or 30 day averages.

There are many different features to learn about on different meters. Your best source for information is your diabetes educator, if you are currently going through a class, or a pharmacy with someone knowledgeable about the meters and diabetes.

I hope to receive your questions on diabetes and diabetes care for upcoming columns, so until next time - sweet dreams.

David L. Isaacs RPh.