There are around two million people in South Africa living with diabetes, so if you or a family member are diabetic, you're not alone! Make no mistake, diabetes can be a fatal disease, however with the right treatment and lifestyle changes many diabetes go on living with diabetes for many years. Diabetes is a controllable disease, although it very rarely goes away completely. If you're living with diabetes there are certain permanent lifestyle changes that you'll need to make in order to improve your quality of life and your long term outlook.
With so many people living with diabetes it's highly likely that you know someone who is diabetic, and you might not even know! The long term prognosis for diabetics with good treatment and a healthy lifestyle is excellent, and many diabetics live normal lives. From having a family, going on vacation, to working, diabetics can do nearly anything. There is even special life insurance for diabetics, so you won't need to worry about your family's financial future. Living with diabetes may seem frightening at first, but rest assured that a normal life is perfectly possible.
Living with Diabetes: The Basics
Many of the lifestyle changes you'll need to make if you're living with diabetes are due to the nature of the disease. So before we get into details, let's take a quick look at what diabetes is. When you eat your body takes all the sugar found in your food and changes it into something called glucose (which is why diabetes is sometimes known as “sugar diabetes” or “sugar disease”). Your body needs glucose but in differing levels depending on what you're doing at any given time. In order to control the amount of glucose in your body you also produce a hormone called insulin, which will regulate glucose levels over time.
Diabetes happens when there's no insulin or not enough insulin to control that glucose. This results in either too much glucose in the body or low blood sugar, both of which are bad news. Your treatment plan and lifestyle changes are designed to help control the glucose levels in your body to keep everything balanced. People living with diabetes may have different diabetes symptoms. The most common symptoms of diabetes are frequent urination (peeing) and being very thirsty, though some people also have weight loss or digestive problems as well. Good treatment should mean that most of these symptoms disappear, leaving you to live your life as normal!
The 3 Steps to Living with Diabetes
If you're living with diabetes there are three main things that you're going to need to control. These are: treatment, diet and exercise. For most diabetics management of all three of these things is a balance, and once you get that balance right, you should be feeling healthy and able to do almost anything you like.
Living with Diabetes: Treatment
Not all diabetics require daily treatment, though many do and over time nearly everyone will have to take medication. The medicinal treatment for diabetes is an injection of the hormone insulin, which will help you to control glucose levels in the blood. You may be required to do blood tests at frequent intervals to check your blood sugar levels and determine how much insulin you need in your injection. If your doctor prescribes insulin to you it's very important that you follow the treatment protocol exactly. Follow your doctor's instructions and take your medication as directed and never miss a dose!
Some diabetics do not require insulin and can control their diabetes through diet, though in the long term these people are likely to need medication. If this is your case then you'll still need to make sure to keep regularly scheduled doctor's appointments to check on the progress of your diabetes.
Living with Diabetes: Diet
Nearly everyone living with diabetes is required to eat a special diabetes diet. This involves eating less sugar and watching the amount of carbohydrates that you eat (since carbohydrates turn to sugar in the body). Your doctor will give you the guidelines for what you can and can't eat, and in some hospitals there are nutritionists that help design meal plans for people living with diabetes. A diabetic diet does not have to be boring or tasteless, there are plenty of products on the market designed for diabetics to add to their diet, and plenty of recipes for diabetic versions of your favourite foods!
However, it is important that you control and monitor your diet carefully, since this is going to have a big effect on how you feel, and eating the wrong thing could make you very sick. It might seem like one piece of chocolate is okay, but that little square could end up making you feel terrible all day, or even putting you in a diabetic coma.
Living with Diabetes: Exercise
The third part of living with diabetes is to have a good exercise plan. Of course, exercise is good for everyone, and we should all do a little every day. But for diabetics exercise is particularly important for two reasons. Firstly, there is a strong link between obesity and diabetes type 2, the more overweight you are the more likely you are to develop diabetes and the worse your symptoms will be. Exercise will help you lose weight. Secondly, exercise will improve your circulation. Circulation issues can be side effects of diabetes which can end up in limbs being amputated, so it's in your best interest to keep your heart, veins and arteries strong.
Other Concerns for Diabetics
There are a few other things to consider if you or a loved one is living with diabetes. Some people have emotional problems, particularly after being first diagnosed. It's easy to feel overwhelmed or depressed with your diagnosis. This is completely normal, and your doctor can refer you to a psychologist who will help you deal with your feelings.
A good medical team that you like and trust is key when living with diabetes. You're going to be around these people for a long time, so it's worth making sure that the doctor you have chosen is right for you. Most medical insurance will cover several hospitals in an area, so you don't have to stick with the doctor who gave you your first diagnosis, feel free to “shop around” and find a hospital with staff that you like.
You may also want to consider wearing a special medical alert bracelet. You can easily find these online, and they state that you are diabetic and give important medical information. This way should you pass out from low blood sugar or even be in an accident, emergency medical staff will know that you're diabetic.
People living with diabetes should avoid smoking, since smoking will cause additional problems with the circulation which we talked about above. And since diabetics often have problems with their feet you should ensure that you get a thorough foot examination by a doctor at least once every three months. The sooner a problem is found the better the long term outlook is!
The Consequences of Not Following Medical Advice
We've talked about what you should do if you're living with diabetes, but what happens if you don't take your medication, eat properly and exercise? Unfortunately, the outlook for people with untreated or badly treated diabetes is not good. There are many serious side effects that come along with not properly managing your condition, including: blindness, amputation of toes/feet/legs, and death. People can and do die from diabetes, in fact, in South Africa around 50 people every day day from diabetes. Only following medical advice can prevent this. This means following exact instructions, missing one dose of your insulin, eating one bar of chocolate, grabbing a take out pizza, all these things can have a serious long term effect on your health and are risks really not worth taking.
Living with Diabetes: The Bottom Line
Talking about death is not a pleasant subject, but a question that many people living with diabetes have is how long they can expect to live with the disease. The good news here is that with advances in medical care and our knowledge about the disease, diabetics can live an almost normal life span. If the condition is found early and treated properly, most diabetics can live well into their 60s or even 70s! Living with diabetes might seem overwhelming or frightening at first, but the truth is that millions of people around the world live long, happy lives despite their illness. Follow medical advice, stay healthy, and you can be one of these millions!
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Main subject: Living with Diabetes
