Since you might not notice any symptoms at the beginning of many diabetic complications, seeing your doctor regularly is important both to avoid complications and also to detect them early.
Keeping your blood sugar levels as near to normal as you safely can is hands down the easiest method to reduce your risk of diabetic complications. Yet, it isn't a guarantee. For some people, even wellcontrolled diabetes may result in some complications, and people with type 1 diabetes are susceptible to complications because of the length of time they have diabetes and also the impossibility of keeping blood sugars perfectly controlled all the time.
With all this, however, and also the fact that many complications start with no noticeable symptoms, you need to see your doctor regularly and get screened for complications at least annually.
Hypertension (high blood pressure) is referred to as the "silent killer" since you aren't prone to know you have it without a blood pressure check. There aren't any noticeable symptoms for high cholesterol levels or high triglycerides. Nor will you feel anything at the early stages of kidney disease.
You may notice no change in your vision even if you have early stages of diabetic retinopathy, or you may hear, as I did 5 years ago from my ophthalmologist, that you have a slow-growing cataract. Catching my cataract early and having my ophthalmologist keep an eye onto it (no pun intended), will enable us to take care of it as being soon as necessary and avoid a serious problem.
Peripheral neuropathy, harm to the nerves, causes lots of people to lose sensation in their feet. They are able to get cuts, burns, skin cracks, or blisters, as well as step on a nail, and not realize it! If these conditions isn't treated early, the tissue and bones from the feet can get infected and cause a foot ulcer, an incredibly serious condition. Foot ulcers often precede a lower-extremity amputation.
Still in his forties, Bob got diabetes 5 years ago and wasn't taking care of it. When Bob was first diagnosed, his doctor put him with an oral medication, so when the prescription ran out Bob never refilled it.
He hadn't seen his doctor since. Luckily for Bob, his wife finally got him to a doctor, who told him he saw some early harm to his eyes. Bob realized that time for fooling around was over and made appointments with an ophthalmologist and cardiologist for an additional week. He's now back on his medication.
If you take medications or are managing your diabetes with dieting and exercise alone, you need to see your doctor every four to six months. If you take insulin, the overall recommendation is to see your doctor every 3 to 4 months. Obviously, this schedule also depends on your individual needs - more frequent visits may be necessary if your blood sugar isn't well controlled, if you feel unwell, or if you have complications that are becoming worse.
The significance of regular visits to the doctor, foot and eye examinations, and blood and urine tests can't be overstated: Diabetes affects all your vital organs as well as your micro- and macrovascular systems, including your brain, heart, kidney, eyes, and feet, and your gastric, nerve, and circulatory systems.
Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Webworldarticles.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.
This article was sent to us by:
Gladys D. Scott at
02082011
1. Eat cabbage family vegetables several times a week
All articles in this directory are property of their respective authors. Additionally, read our Privacy Policy
© 2010 WebWorldarticles.com - All Rights Reserved. Partners: Gunblade Saga