Diabetic Supplies - What You Should Know...
Diabetes is the body's inability to produce the hormone insulin, OR the body's inability to react to the insulin produced. When you have diabetes, the food you eat cannot be used for energy because your body is not making enough insulin, OR the insulin you have is not working the way it should. Insulin is made in the pancreas, an organ that lies behind the stomach.
Normally, most food is broken down into a form of sugar called glucose. Sugar is the body's main source of energy. As sugar enters the bloodstream, the amount of sugar in the blood rises. Normally the body reacts to the rise in blood sugar by signaling the pancreas to send insulin into the bloodstream.
Insulin helps sugar leave the bloodstream and enter the cells. To understand how insulin works, think of a cell as a house with many locked doors. Insulin is the key that unlocks the doors and lets sugar leave the bloodstream and enter the cells.
Your pancreas makes little or no insulin OR the insulin you have is not working the way it should. Either way, sugar cannot get into your body's cells. Instead of entering the cells, it stays trapped in the bloodstream, raising the amount of sugar in your blood to abnormally high levels.
Your kidneys get rid of some of the extra sugar by filtering it from your blood and removing it from your body through your urine. But your blood sugar is still too high.
According to the American Diabetes Association, a normal fasting blood sugar range for a person who does not have diabetes is less than 100 mg/dL.
A target blood sugar range is a range that most people with diabetes should try to achieve. When blood sugar is less than 70 mg/dL, most people feel the symptoms of low blood sugar. Research shows that when blood sugars are greater than 150 mg/dL, the risk for complications increases.
According to the American Diabetes Association, the target blood sugar for most people with diabetes is 90 to 130 mg/dL before meals. This target range may be different for: people who do not feel the symptoms of low blood sugar; people with serious medical problems; elderly people or very young people (under the age of puberty); women who are pregnant. Your health care team will determine your target blood sugar range. You may be asked to test your blood sugar before you eat meals and/or two hours after you eat a meal. Testing at different times of the day helps your health care team determine if you need medications for diabetes or if you have the right medication.
There are many products available to persons with diabetes which help control the disease and help offset its side effects. Talk to your healthcare professional about products for you and stop by One Senior Place for additional information about diabetes.