Health Care 4All

I have been hearing about diabetic testing and diabetes monitoring for many years since both my parents have the disease to some extent. At the moment they have it under control with medicine and thankfully do not have to have the injections yet which some people have to have.

Since I am in the high risk group of getting the disease, being overweight and having a family history of diabetes, I decided to take a diabetes blood test using a diabetes monitor but I am glad to say that I do not have diabetes at this time. I do need to start taking better care of myself and to start losing some weight so that I can try to avoid problems in the future.

I have seen other people having to restrict their diets and even to use diabetic products which I have tasted and to be honest they were not too bad. Some of the things such as the biscuits were quite nice and although you cannot match real chocolate, the diabetic alternative was edible. There are three types of diabetes, type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes which occurs during pregnancy and usually stops after the delivery. Type 1 diabetes is nowhere near as common as type 2 diabetes and only approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.

Overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk. Being overweight/obese causes the body to release chemicals that can destabilize the body's cardiovascular and metabolic systems.

Some people may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. However, type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease and the patient will probably end up have to take insulin, usually in tablet form, but sometimes in the form of regular injections.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is also greater as we get older. Experts are not completely sure why, but say that as we age we tend to put on weight and become less physically active. Those with a close relative who have/had type 2 diabetes, people of Middle Eastern, African, or South Asian descent also have a higher risk of developing the disease. This does not mean that they will definitely get it, but just that they need to take a little more care.

For those who do have diabetes it is essential that regular diabetes monitoring is carried out using a diabetes meter. For some people this can mean daily checks but for others a weekly check is fine unless they are feeling under the weather. Since there is no cure as such, it is important to know when your sugar level is too high so that you can make adjustments in your diet or medication.