You have many options to manage
diabetes. Diet, exercise, and medication work together to bring your
blood glucose under control. Your doctor may help you figure out if
you need to take medicine, which kind is right for you, and how often
you should take it.
Over your lifetime, you'll probably
handle your disease in different ways. Sometimes medications stop
working, and you'll have to switch. You'll need to adjust to changes
in your body as you age. In addition, researchers are looking for
new diabetes medicines and ways to treat it.
Check Your Blood Sugar Your
blood glucose number tells you how well your treatment is working.
Your doctor should let you know how many times a day you need to
check it. It will depend on what diabetes medications you're taking.
Many doctors follow ADA and won't tell
you to test your blood glucose unless you are using insulin.
Diet and Exercise There's no
one-size-fits-all diabetes diet. You'll need to pay attention to
carbs, fiber, fat, and salt to manage your blood glucose and avoid
the complications of diabetes. How much and when you eat are
important, too. Talk to your diabetes team or a registered dietitian
to help you plan your meals and snacks. Registered dietitians may be
of minor help as they promote high carbohydrate low fat, which will
cause you to gain weight.
Physical activity -- from working out
to doing chores -- lowers your blood glucose levels. It helps your
cells use insulin. It also helps your muscles use glucose. Make sure
you check your blood glucose before and after exercise.
Eating right and being active will help
you lose extra pounds and stay at a healthy weight. That will also
help control your blood sugar.
Pills Oral
medications are often the first kind of medicine people with type 2
diabetes try when diet and exercise alone aren't enough to keep their
blood sugar in a healthy range. There are many of them, and they
work in different ways.
A drug doctors often prescribe tells
your liver to hang on to some of the glucose it makes. The generic
name is metformin.
Some medications tell your pancreas to
make more insulin. These are meglitinides and sulfonylureas.
One kind keeps your body from breaking
down hormones that give your pancreas the "go" signal for
insulin. This means they work longer when you need to lower your
blood sugar after a meal. They're known as DPP-4 inhibitors.
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