Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Diabetes Leads to Complications And Death! Will This Be Your Fate?


Here are the facts…
1. 24 million Americans, some 8% of population, have diabetes.

2. 24% more of American population have diabetes and go undiagnosed. .Click Here!

3. The total annual economic cost of diabetes is 2007, the latest statistics available, was $174 billion.Click Here!

4. Diabetes contributed to 224,092 deaths in 2002, the latest available statistics. The number of deaths is believed to be much higher because deaths from diabetes is usually under reported, especially in older persons with multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

5. Diabetes is associated with an increased risk for a number of serious and often life-threatening complications.
Click Here!

Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of serious complications, which can have deadly results. Do you know what those complications are? Most people do not. Since the complications are so serious and affect so many Americans, it is extremely important you know what those complications are.

This is a list of the major ones…
1. Heart disease and stroke are the major killers.
2. Kidney disease or kidney failure also kills many diabetics.
3. Diabetic Retinopathy or eye disease can also cause blindness.
4. Diabetic neuropathy and nerve damage causes numbness and severe pain, usually in the legs and feet. There is no known cure.
5. Foot problems, including amputation is one of the major afflictions diabetics face.
6. Hypoglycemia or low blood glucose causes dizziness and disorientation.
7. Gastroparesis or Stomach Nerve damage can affect digestion.
8. Depression can be severe and long lasting.
9. Erectile Dysfunction happens quite often in diabetics.
10. Sexual and Urological problems is to be expected.

Each of these complications can greatly affect the quality of life for the diabetic. If your diabetes is out of control and your blood sugar levels stay high, then you are on a collision course with one or more of these complications. Click Here!

Do you have diabetes? Have you any of the symptoms or a family history of diabetes? Have you been tested to make sure if you are a diabetic or not? You have to know the answer to these questions before you can stop the progression of the complications of diabetes.

Once you are diagnosed with diabetes, you need to do everything to keep your blood sugar levels low. This can be done by eating healthy, more fruits and vegetables, less carbohydrates, more frequent smaller meals during the day and exercising regularly!

If the doctor prescribes medication as well, then you will need to take it as prescribed.

Diabetes can affect every organ of the body. If you do not want one or more of these complications to befall you, then keep your diabetes under control by making sure you maintain low blood sugar levels. Click Here!

You can have diabetes and avoid the complications of diabetes if you follow these guidelines. It will be well worth your doing this. It will help you live a longer better quality of life by doing so.

Until next time, take care.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Do You Have Questions About Diabetes? Email me. I Will Answer.

I have studied diabetes for over twenty (20) years. My husband, Bud, has had it for that long. He has gone from taking pills to help control his diabetes to taking insulin shots four times per day. It has been very difficult for him to control his blood sugar levels. It is constantly spiking!

Email me your questions at only1lucy@yahoo.com
I will answer them!

Of course my husband does not want to change his diet! My husband had a heart attack a few years ago and that prevents his doing exercise. He wants to eat what he wants to eat and he is not going to change! I have made all the changes in his diet I can make behind the scenes. If you have to deal with someone who constantly bucks on changing what he eats, then you can do what I did.

My mom became a diabetic a few years later. She did exactly the opposite of what my husband does. She went without eating! She would go all day and eat one (1) soda cracker! I took her to nutritionists and she still ate a cracker a day and little else. She lost 50 pounds and is even thinner today. She developed clogged arteries, had a triple bypass, and lost a leg to diabetes. Her refusal to eat correctly contributed to complications of diabetes. Click Here!

To fight diabetes you must eat, eat small, healthy meals. The meals must be mostly vegetables and fruits. Carbohydrates must be limited and spread equally over the small meals throughout the course of the day.

Email me your questions at only1lucy@yahoo.com
I will answer!

Diabetes is a horrible disease that lasts a lifetime! Click Here!

If you have specific questions, please email me the question and I will find the answer for you, if there is an answer to be found!

Email me your questions.

My name is Lucy Peacock

My email address is only1lucy@yahoo.com

Here is to your good health. God bless.

Until next time…

Monday, July 27, 2009

What Can Cure Diabetes?

Diabetes runs in my family. My mother's father, my grandfather, had it. Then later my Mother got it. She has been living with diabetes for 20 years and has lost a leg to poor circulation caused by diabetes. Click Here!

I have always been told there is no warning when diabetes begins to ravage your body. However, I have lately learned there are warning signs but they are not specific to diabetes. Therefore, most people ignore the symptoms thinking it is not important. Click Here!

If you have questions email me at only1lucy@yahoo.com
I will answer!

But please pay attention to this. The earliest sign of diabetes is unexplained fatigue. When you are so tired you can hardly move or when you go to bed tired and wake up tired and you have no reason for this excessive fatigue, you need to let your physician check you for diabetes. What Do Diabetics Eat

High blood sugar levels indicate your body is either not producing enough insulin or not properly using the insulin it is producing. This means your cells are not correctly absorbing the glucose and producing the energy your body needs. Thus, you feel tired when you get up and when you go to bed. Click Here!

Usually, this extreme fatigue is explained away and never related to diabetes. You simply think it is because you are getting older or you are working too hard! Diabetes never enters your mind. Therefore, most people live with diabetes for years without even knowing it. These years of untreated diabetes takes its toll on your body and leaves you wide open to becoming a victim of the complications of diabetes. What Do Diabetics Eat

Here are the symptoms: extreme fatigue, frequent urination, thirsty, blurred vision, frequent infections that are slow to heal, tingling or numbness in hands or feet, and weight gain. If you have any or all of these symptoms, please visit your doctor and check it out. Click Here!

So you have extreme fatigue and you have been more thirsty than usual and you go to the doctor to check it out. The doctor runs some tests and determines you have diabetes. The nurse explains how to take your medications if medications are prescribed and shows you how to check your blood sugar levels. You will be checking your blood sugar levels before each meal and keeping a chart to show the readings.What Do Diabetics Eat

Diabetes is a complex disease. Everything you eat and drink affects your blood sugar levels. You will be tied to a blood glucose meter, needles, and a chart for the rest of your life! Don't forget the medications either! If the doctor prescribes medicine, you will be taking pills for the rest of your life also! Click Here!

My husband is also a diabetic. He has been for 20 years and he takes 4 insulin shots per day every day, day in and day out. He has had to keep blood level charts showing his blood sugar levels and he has had to keep charts showing everything he eats every day, day in and day out. Sometimes he rebels and does not check anything. He gets tired of all the dos and don'ts. He even eats what he wants and will not listen to reason. What Do Diabetics Eat

All these dos and don'ts can be forgotten. You can stop diabetes. It is up to you. What is the first thing the doctor tells you after he informs you that you have diabetes? He says you have to watch your diet and you have to exercise. These are the two (2) most important factors that affect your blood sugar levels. Click Here!

All you have to do to stop diabetes is to eat the right kind of food and exercise. No one wants to believe it, because it requires a lot of effort on their part to diet and exercise. They rather take a pill. The doctor rather have you take pills. The pharmaceutical companies rather you take pills. If you do not take pills, they do not make money. Earliest Sign of Diabetes

Let me tell you! There is not a pill that will reverse the effects of diabetes. You are what you eat. Stop eating processed foods, diet food, diet drinks, and any food that is processed or is made from chemicals, such as sweet n low. What Do Diabetics Eat

One more thing! Our bodies deteriorate from lack of exercise. We have become a lazy society! We want fast food and a fast way to get it. We are too lazy to walk there and to spend time preparing good healthy foods to eat.Click Here!

I believe you can reverse diabetes if you eat the right foods and exercise! Exercise lowers your blood sugar levels and is good for your heart. Get up! Start moving! Eat more fruits and vegetables! Stop diabetes! Do not give up a leg or a foot to this disease! Earliest Sign of Diabetes

It is all up to you. You can take the pills and keep the charts or you can eat right and exercise and stop this disease! Click Here!

I know you are probably thinking it cannot be this simple. But what if it is? Isn't it worth a try? What Do Diabetics Eat

Take care until next time.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Diabetic Neuropathy- More Than You Want to Know!


Diabetic Neuropathy is damage to nerves caused by diabetes. These are the nerves that allow you to feel pain. The damage can occur in several ways, but all of them are related to the fact that your blood sugar levels stay too high for a long period of time. Nerve damage can be painful and in some cases it can be severe. Controlling blood sugar levels controls the pain. Click Here!

There are four (4) major kinds of neuropathy, and all others are grouped as "Other nerve damage." Click Here!

(1) Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
This type usually affects the feet and legs, resulting in loss of sensation in the feet and leads to foot problems. Injuries to the feet are hard to detect due to loss of sensation in the feet.

Symptoms include tingling, numbness, burning or pain in the feet or legs or both. Sometimes medications are required to help control the pain. Prevention includes controlling blood sugar levels, checking feet and legs daily, applying lotion if feet and legs are dry, caring for your nails regularly, and wearing proper fitting shoes at all times. Click Here!

(2) Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy Click Here!
This type affects the digestive system, especially the stomach, blood vessels and urinary system. Prevention goes hand in hand with controlling your blood sugar levels.

Symptoms include bloating, diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, nausea and vomiting. Symptoms vary depending upon whether you have neuropathy of the digestive system, blood vessels, sex organs, or the urinary system. Treatment also depends on the type of neuropathy you have, but it can include eating smaller meals and taking medications. Click Here!

(3) Diabetic Proximal Neuropathy
This type causes pain, usually on one side, in the hips, thighs or buttocks. Treatment for weakness is usually required and includes medication and sometimes physical therapy. Controlling blood sugar levels is vital to controlling this type of neuropathy. Click Here!

4) Diabetic Focal Neuropathy
This kind appears suddenly and can affect specific nerves, especially in the head, torso, or leg, causing muscle weakness or pain. Symptoms may include: double vision, eye pain, paralysis on one side of the face, severe lower back pain, and chest or abdominal pain. It is painful and unpredictable, but usually improves by itself over time.Click Here!

(5) Other Types of Diabetic Neuropathy
People with diabetes can develop other types of neuropathy like nerve compressions. Carpal tunnel is a form of nerve compression. It causes tingling, numbness of the hand and sometimes muscle weakness. Click Here!

The key to preventing all types of Diabetic Neuropathy is to control your blood sugar levels. So be ever mindful of your blood sugar levels. It is far easier to never develop diabetes than it is to fight the disease once you have it!

Eat healthy and stay healthy! Click Here!

Until next time…

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Diabetes By Any Other Name Still Has the Same Consequences. How Is Your Blood Sugar?

I have lived for 26 years with my husband and for 20 years of that time he has fought diabetes. We have simply said that he has diabetes. We did not specify the type or anything more. To us diabetes is diabetes. Click Here!

Now every time I open a health magazine these days, I see the term diabetes mellitus. Have you heard that term? If not, you probably will be seeing it very soon. Diabetes mellitus has become known as (DM). It is the fancy name for diabetes.

Actually diabetes mellitus has become the universal language for high blood sugar. Millions of people have been diagnosed with this disease and this number increases daily. Because the number is so alarming, diabetes mellitus is getting a lot of attention from health experts worldwide. Click Here!

A rose by any other name is still a rose. Simply put, diabetes mellitus is diabetes. It still has three (3) types: (1) type 1 or juvenile diabetes is insulin dependent, (2) type 2 diabetes or adult onset diabetes is non-insulin dependent, and (3) gestational diabetes which occurs during pregnancy. Click Here!

My husband has type 2 diabetes and has been treating it for years with diet, exercise and medications. He has not been able to stabilize his blood sugar levels to the degree the doctor wants it and as a result he is now taking insulin daily. Click Here!

My husband loves sweets! He does not stick to his diet like he should. He buys sweets by the dozen and wants to eat all of them immediately. This results in mood swings and blood sugar levels that are out of control. The mood swings will drive you crazy. He gets agitated easily and is very difficult to get along with. Click Here!

These are a few of the signs of diabetes. There are more. If you have any doubt about whether or not someone you know has either type 1 or type 2 diabetes then watch for these signs:
* agitation
* frequent urination
* increased thirst
* weight loss
* blurred vision
* nausea
* fatigue

These signs can be symptoms of several things, but if you observe them in someone, it would be a good idea to get them to the doctor so they can be tested for diabetes mellitus or diabetes or whatever name you call it. The sooner it is diagnosed the sooner it can be treated and the patient can begin a plan to prevent the spread of the disease and its deadly complications! Click Here!

Gestational diabetes is more difficult to prove because the signs can be mistaken as pregnancy-related instead of diabetic related. Of course, one thing is for certain, the person must be pregnant to have gestational diabetes. In addition, if that person displays any of the above symptoms it is best for them to see the doctor and take an oral glucose tolerance test. The doctor can use this test to determine gestational diabetes and is usually conducted during the fifth month of pregnancy. Click Here!

Of course, I could tell by looking that my husband did not have gestational diabetes! Click Here!

Treatment for diabetes mellitus includes a healthy diet, regular exercise and medications, if necessary. Just be sure to work closely with your doctor to determine diet, exercise program and the need for medications. Any or all of these can control blood sugar levels and help stop the progression of the disease and its complications. Click Here!

Managing diabetes mellitus is extremely important in order to prevent complications of the disease which includes heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, kidney failure, eye disease, and death. Click Here!

Stop the progression of the disease! Living with diabetes is a challenge but is definitely better than the alternative! Just do it! Click Here!

Until next time…

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Kick, Scratch and Claw! Do Whatever You Have to do to Prevent Getting Diabetes!

I am going to make this short and sweet! If there is anything at all you can do to prevent getting diabetes, then do it! Just Do It! Click Here!

Diabetes is a deadly disease and you do not want it! Click Here!

The complications of diabetes are stroke, heart disease, peripheral artery disease, eye disease, including blindness, kidney disease, amputation, and death. These are complications you do not want to suffer! Do whatever you can to keep from getting diabetes and all the risks that go with it! Click Here!

So let me get to the point. There are things you can do to slash your risk of developing predicaments, which can develop into full blown diabetes. This is one way women can lower their risk. Click Here!

For years researchers believed if you had a BMI (Body Mass Index) under 25 (meaning if you weigh less than 145 pounds and are 5 feet 4 inches tall, for example) you were safe from the ravages of obesity. However, Mayo Clinic recently completed a study that showed there are many women who are dangerously fat even though they are skinny. Click Here!

The study of 1,101 women with a BMI under 25 showed that more than half these women had more than 30% body fat, meaning they were of normal weight but obese. Since fat cells emit damaging hormones, these women were 4 times more likely to get prediabetes than women who had less body fat. Click Here!

You cannot look in the mirror and determine if you are skinny obese. Get your percentage of body fat checked. Probably the best place to get this done is at a spa or health club. You can also buy a scale which not only measures weight but also measures percent of body fat. If you are more than 30% body fat then you need to exercise. Check online for places you can get your BMI checked or where you can buy a scale that checks BMI! Click Here!

Dieting alone cannot lower you percent of body fat. When you diet you lose lean as well as fat tissue. Exercise is the key! Do strength training and cardio exercises to reduce your percent of body fat!

This is one way to lower your risk of developing prediabetes! I will cover another aid to lowering your risk for this disease on my next blog. Click Here!

In the meantime start exercising with emphasis on strength training and cardio exercises.

Happy exercising!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Is It Possible You Could Be Living With a Diabetic and Do Not Know It?

Could it be? Your husband is a diabetic? Could that be true? How do you know? How can it be? What can you do? How will you live with it? How can you take care of him and help him get the most out of life? How can anyone live with diabetes? Click Here!

Would you know if your husband had diabetes? Do you know the signs? There are thousands of Americans living with diabetes today and they don't even know it! If that many people are living with it unbeknownst to them, isn't it possible your husband is also living with it?

Some of the most common signs of the disease are constant thirst, frequent urination, and being extremely tired! As you probably know, if you have been reading my blogs, is there are two kinds of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Click Here!

Type 1 diabetes is the kind where the body does not product insulin at all. Type 2 is the most common and with type 2 the body does not produce enough insulin or the body does not use it correctly.

If you have not been tested for diabetes, you may have no idea you have the disease. Thus, your husband could be living with the disease without even knowing it. If your husband has any risk factors such as a family history of the disease, above the age of 60 or is in one of the ethnic groups who are prone to develop the disease, then please have him tested for diabetes. Click Here!

The sooner you know he has the disease, the sooner he can begin treatment for it. The treatment involves controlling blood sugar levels, eating healthy, low fat meals, and taking medication as prescribed. All of this is most important for him to stay on top of the disease and live a long life.

The main things that diabetes can cause are heart failure, kidney failure, blindness, and amputation. These are the worst case scenario and by controlling his blood sugar levels, he can prevent complications such as these. Click Here!

The worst things a diabetic can do are smoke, drink alcohol, not follow his diet, and not exercise. Your husband is in control of all of this. You cannot make him do any of these things. He is an adult and can make his own decisions. If you spend time nagging him for not adhering to the rules, it will no good. It will only cause a rift in your relationship!

So not gripe at him for eating things he should not eat! It will do no good. You can suggest he follows the doctor's or the dietician's orders, but nagging at him could cause him to blow up at you.
Click Here!

Be supportive of your husband without being bossy, or demanding. Playing the mother will only make him mad at you and he may eat what he should not eat just to spite you! The days will be better if you leave him in control of his diet and his destiny!

Life will be happier that way!