Diabetes Mellitus

Tests for Diabetes

Cardiovascular Assesment

Treatment of Diabetes

  • Control of the symptoms of diabetes 
  • Achieve and maintain a desirable weight 
  • Achieve and maintain a healthy level of physical activity 
  • Achieve and maintain a near-normal blood glucose level (between 70 mg/dl and140 mg/dl) 
  • Achieve a feeling of well-being and control over diabetes. 
  • Cardiac Rehabiliation

Treatment of type 1 diabetes requires adherence to a strict diabetes diet and regular doses of insulin. Deviation from either will result in an imbalance that may lead to a potentially serious outcome.

Patient education is now the cornerstone of good diabetes management. Tight control of blood glucose can DECREASE the progression of diabetic complications.

Treatment must start in childhood, moreover, the patient must learn how to check their own blood and urine glucose. Close medical follow-up is important in order to monitor any ensuing complications. New technology is now available in the form of ambulatory glucose monitors that will automatically give you the appropriate dose of insulin required, based on your blood sugar level at the time of the reading.

Your physician will discuss all the options of diabetes management with you. Type 2 diabetes often can be controlled with weight reduction and regulation of the diet. Avoidance of heavily sugared foods (sweets) is often all that is necessary for adequate blood sugar control. In some cases, oral hypoglycaemic agents may be used to regulate blood sugar. These medications are taken on a fixed daily schedule in tandem with a consistent diabetes diet (in total calories).

An Internist or Endocrinologist are the experts in the management of this problem. There are several medications that can interfere with the regulation of diabetes. Steroid medications (i.e. Prednisone and Medrone) can increase blood sugar levels, making it very difficult to control blood sugar in the  diabetic patient. Those patients who are “borderline” diabetics have great difficulty taking these medications. Beta-blocker antihypertensive medications can also cause serious complications for the diabetic patient and should be avoided.