Types | Self test | Diabetes statistics | Tools | Home test
What is Diabetes?
It is a condition wherein your body’s immune system attacks its cells causing damage to the cells, damaging their function. The damage brought about by the attack usually affects insulin production in the bloodstream.
When you have uncontrolled, fat-forming diabetes and do not manage to control the sugar levels in your blood, then you may become predisposed to cardiovascular diseases as well as certain types of cancer.
Aside from the many health problems that can be caused by uncontrolled diabetes, one of the major effects of having diabetes is on your sex life.
Women with diabetes usually experience irregular menstrual cycles and not enough periods. Also, they are more likely to experience painful intercourse.
As a result, they also tend to lose interest in sexual activity and have less pleasure during sexual encounters. Men, experience higher amounts of testosterone, thus leading to more aggressive and violent behavior.
Two types of diabetes
- Type 1 diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes affects millions of people in the United States and can be diagnosed in children as young as five years of age.
Type 1 diabetes means that your body does not producing enough insulin to function properly, so it overproduces insulin to help digest food.
This abundance of insulin causes your blood sugar levels to be higher than the normal range, which results in excessive thirst and urination, weakness, fatigue, and frequent heart problems.
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, it’s very important to know all of your options for treatment. It’s important to talk to your doctor about your type 1 diabetes, and if you’re still unsure, then be sure to ask about visiting a diabetes specialist to get more information.
Type 2 diabetes
There is currently no cure for type 2 diabetes; however, losing weight, watching your food intake, and exercising regularly can help to manage the disease.
If diet and exercise are not enough to control your high blood sugar, you might also need insulin therapy or diabetes medications.
Your physician will be able to tell you whether or not you need one of these, and which one is best for your type of diabetes.
If your doctor decides that insulin is necessary, he will probably prescribe it in addition to a more mainstream type of diabetes medication.
The goal of type 2 diabetes medication is to control your symptoms so you can eventually lead a healthy lifestyle.
Why You Should Test Yourself for Diabetes
Learning why you should test yourself for diabetes can help you get the information you need and take the steps to treat your diabetes.
If you or someone you love is showing symptoms of diabetes then you may want to consider a visit to a physician. During your first visit, the physician will do some simple blood work to determine if your diabetes is under control.
Then, they will discuss a treatment plan and possibly even medication. If you decide that you would like to undergo testing for diabetes, there are many reasons why you should do so. One reason that you should test yourself for diabetes regularly is to monitor your progress.
If you have been testing for diabetes on a regular basis then you should know how well your body is responding to the treatment and which type of medicine is working the best for you.
If you had a successful test then you can share your success with your doctor so he can also begin to treat you if he determines you should have a more extensive medical screening.
If you are able to successfully test yourself for diabetes then you will have a tool that will allow you to track your progress and see what works and what doesn’t.
Another reason why you should test yourself for diabetes is to help other sufferers in learning to cope with their condition. It is very easy to focus on your problems when you are living with diabetes.
The symptoms of diabetes can often be difficult to deal with and make you feel as though you are going crazy.
By testing yourself for diabetes on a regular basis you can learn to recognize the onset of symptoms so you can make changes in your lifestyle to help regulate your diabetes.
Many diabetics find that once they learn to cope with their disease, their quality of life has greatly improved. By learning to self-diagnosis diabetes, you can learn to control your disease so it no longer controls your life.
How Many People Have Diabetes Worldwide?
This is a question that has plagued researchers for years. It was believed for years that diabetes was caused primarily by a poor diet high in fat and low in exercise.
With the advent of newer technology and better understandings of the disease, this is no longer considered to be the case.
Diabetes has become an incurable disease, according to modern medical science, and those that suffer from it are in despair.
There is no official answer to this question, but a rough guesstimate would be anywhere from eighty to two hundred million people in the united states alone have diabetes, and that number is steadily growing.
The reason why there is such a great discrepancy between diabetes statistics and the disease itself is that there are not a lot of doctors who specifically deal with diabetes, so when patients see a physician they are generally sent there, only to find that they have one of a whole host of other problems.
As a result, there is not a consistent way to measure what percentage of patients have the disease, and since the symptoms of diabetes are pretty much the same across the board, diabetes statistics have to be based on other criteria than the disease itself.
How many times someone may be misdiagnosed with diabetes?
Because the disease is so easy to misdiagnose, it is also a common occurrence. Many doctors will overlook certain symptoms and will prescribe a generic medication instead of asking a patient if they have diabetes, which can lead to extremely bad results. If you or someone you know thinks they may have diabetes, it is best to go ahead and get that test before it is too late.
Tools Needed to Test Your Blood Sugar
Many diabetics find themselves in a frustrating position when it comes to testing their blood sugar levels. They have reached the point where taking their blood sugar level every morning is almost impossible, because of the rising sugar levels throughout the day.
This can lead to frustration and confusion, but if you are one of these people who finds yourself in this situation, there are resources available that will help you.
There are several diabetes test kits available for purchase over the counter at your pharmacy. The most popular type of diabetes test kit will typically contain a small lancet used to prick your finger, a test strip, and a meter used to read your test strip results.
Most kits come with multiple strips to be applied to a blood glucose meter. The meter is easy to use; simply place the meter next to your arm or place the lancet on your finger, and prick the strip to read your results.
Depending on the brand, test strips may need to be replaced regularly. If you are looking for an inexpensive kit to use in the home, you may want to consider checking out the online market.
When testing your blood sugar with a diabetes test kit, you can rest assured that the results are accurate and that your test will be sent to the laboratory for testing.
These blood sugar meter tests are quick and easy to complete. There are no worries about missing a beat when it comes to testing your blood sugar levels; results are received in as little as 10 minutes.
Because of their easy process and incredibly accurate results, testing with diabetes test kits is by far the most preferred way to test for glucose levels in your blood today.
How to Test for Diabetes at Home
If you are looking for the best way to test yourself for diabetes at home, then the glucose meter test kit is designed to do just this.
It will allow you to monitor your glucose levels and it is a very affordable option as well. Many different kinds of home testing kits are available and they vary in many different ways.
Some of these kits have more than one meter all ready to take readings. This can be a very helpful and convenient method when you have multiple family members who may have diabetes and want to monitor their glucose levels in a private home setting.
The kit works very simply, it has a finger-type probe that is placed on your finger and it measures your glucose level as soon as it is placed there.
You can use the blood glucose meter to test yourself at home and get results in about 5 minutes. You will find that the results are very easy to read and that the numbers and letters on the test strip are all fairly easy to read as well.
The kit comes with instructions and a small bottle as well, so you can test yourself right at home if you wish.
The glucose test strips are disposable and if you do not like the taste of the kit you can just buy another one or you can keep the one that you are used to using and using that whenever you feel like testing yourself.
When you have a home testing for diabetes, you have to understand that when you do have a glucose meter test kit you are going to have to do a little bit of exercise and of course eating healthy will go a long way for you to try to control your diabetes.
You want to make sure that you are exercising at least three times each week if you are going to be successful in keeping your diabetes under control.
Eating right is just as important as any other part of being healthy, you need to get plenty of fiber-rich foods as well as lots of green vegetables.
Remember that exercising regularly can help with the control of your diabetes, so you want to make sure that you are following a plan that you can stick with for the rest of your life.
