AAFP and Their Professional Website – Part 3

Part 3 of 3 parts

Some information that can prevent problems is found in the supplies area of this part. It is good to have a few alcohol pads around but not for what they describe doing with them. Using alcohol pad to clean the finger area for testing is not advisable. In the colder areas, this will dry out your fingers and lead to cracking of the skin. If you want very painful pricking of your fingers for testing, go ahead and use the alcohol pads. If you have been handling several fruits, alcohol will not remove the fruit sugar from your fingers, so washing your hands with soap and warm water is the recommended treatment. Use the alcohol pads in emergencies when you cannot get to a bathroom or other hand washing area. Also use the alcohol pads to clean the lancet device when testing on other people. Change the lancets and clean the area around the hole to remove blood from the lancet device.

You are welcome to use their (AAFP) unscientific food plan. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has changed their advice and you may read about it here (go to section E (MNT)) or my blog here. I do encourage you to read and learn about food plans, as there is not a specific diabetes diet or food plan. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) does recommend a high carbohydrate – low fat food plan. This may work for some individuals, but for a majority of people with type 2 diabetes, forget this and consider other food plans. I personally follow a low to mid carbohydrate – high fat food plan. Many people with type 2 diabetes follow a low carbohydrate, moderate fat, moderate protein food plan. Others follow a paleolithic food plan, still others use South Beach or Atkins diet plans. You will need to use your meter to determine what works for you by testing postprandial to see how high the blood glucose level has spiked. A good reference is this site.

They almost blew this section on oral medications, but they did list them in the first paragraph, but then only discussed three of the six classes or oral medications. There is a seventh, but this is a mixed class of the other six oral medications. Read my blog here and follow the links or go directly to the main page for a discussion of diabetes medications here (inserts D through K).

If you are interested in the different classes of insulin not discussed in the insulin section on the AAFP site, go to insert C in the link above.

There are other items that may be missing or have errors, but in my opinion, I could not consider them now.

This concludes my discussion of the AAFP website. I am very disappointed in the site and especially the discussion of diabetes. Until they correct their critical errors and update the information annually, I cannot recommend the site for people serious in learning about diabetes.