The treatment based on lizard spit is exenatide (Byetta®), which is a synthetic version of a compound found in the saliva of a specific type of poisonous lizard that inhabits the southwestern United States and...
Is there a preferred order in which to try them and can they all be combined? The various types of medications for diabetes are illustrated in Table 4 (Question 41). While there is no right...
Yes, there are a number of medications used to treat other conditions that can affect your blood sugar control. Most of these effects are small, but can be quite dramatic, such as the effect of...
If so, which ones do you recommend? There are a number of nonprescription remedies that are known to be effective at lowering blood sugar. In fact, one of the most frequently used and established treatments...
I am on insulin for my diabetes and I am overweight. If I lose weight, will I be able to stop the insulin shots? Encouragingly, the answer is yes. It is often a pleasant surprise...
I am afraid that I might forget I have taken my insulin and take it twice, or mistakenly take my long-acting dose for my short-acting and vice versa. What should I do if this happens?...
I am afraid that my diabetes treatment will cause me to gain weight. How can I prevent this? Some types of medication for diabetes do tend to lead to weight gain. This is especially true...
Basal insulin refers to the insulin required to control your blood sugar in the absence of food intake. A certain amount of insulin is always necessary to keep the blood sugar in the normal range,...
It is very important for people to control their blood pressure and cholesterol because of the increased risk of vascular disease carried by people with diabetes . High blood pressure and abnormal levels of cholesterol...
There are several ways in which the expense of your diabetes medications can be reduced. Many of them apply to medications in general. Whenever possible, you should try to use the medications that are on...
If I do, will I ever get off it? People with type 1 diabetes usually cannot discontinue insulin use once they have started. This is because of the very severe deficiency of insulin in this...
Presently, it is necessary for all patients with type 1 diabetes to take insulin by injection or pump. This is because they are profoundly deficient in insulin, which is essential for life. No other therapies...
There is really no best or safest pill for treatment of diabetes, because certain pills (usually called oral antidiabetic drugs or OADs) are appropriate for certain patients but not for others. Therefore, it is important...
It depends. Nutrient needs are based on a number of different factors. Weight and coexisting conditions like high cholesterol and high blood pressure are important in determining an appropriate meal plan. Most people with type...
Diet and exercise are in fact the most effective treatments of all for most forms of type 2 diabetes, but are not primary measures for management of type 1 diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, profound...
I hear a lot about footwear and foot care for diabetes. Why is this so important? Proper care and protection of the feet are extremely important for people with diabetes. This is due to the...
Could I be right? You may well be right. Studies have shown that memory, and other higher brain functions, can be negatively affected by diabetes. This pertains to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes...
If so, how and what can I do about it? Diabetes can have a profound effect upon a person’s sexual drive, functioning, and satisfaction. This is especially apparent in men, although there is some evidence...
There are several reasons why the risk of vascular diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, and diseases of the vessels in the limbs (peripheral vascular disease), is increased in both types of diabetes. The weight...
Diabetic nephropathy is the term used to describe kidney damage that occurs in diabetes, usually of long-standing. The damage to the kidney in diabetes can result from the high blood sugar itself, which leads to...
Diabetic retinopathy is damage to the eye that results from chronically untreated or inadequately treated high blood sugar. In its more advanced form, it can result in severe visual loss or blindness if untreated, and...
Diabetic neuropathy is the term used to describe the usually chronic damage to nerves that occurs as a result of untreated, or inadequately treated, high blood sugar. It results from a complex sequence of events...
Diabetic coma is loss of consciousness occurring as a result of very high blood sugar. Its causes are similar in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but with the important difference that other abnormalities...
Aside from the direct consequences of high blood sugar itself, people with diabetes are at risk of suffering from other associated diseases. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the dis-eases either result from the...
Uncontrolled diabetes, which generally refers to glucose levels that are higher rather than lower than the target range, can lead to immediate short-term and longer-term consequences. The short-term consequences result from the very high blood...