What causes Diabetes?

Diabetes is a dreaded disease to be watched out for. The onset of this illness will most likely trigger some complications if not detected and treated early. We have to maintain our blood sugar level at its normal range. This situation starts when the body fails to produce or there is no proper usage of insulin. The cause of this illness is still unknown to medical experts even if they trace it to both genetics and factors such as obesity and lack of exercise.

Millions of children and adults in 2009 have been reported to have been diagnosed with diabetes. One out of four are not aware that they have been inflicted with the disease. An increased knowledge of the disease could be life saving.

If you are diagnosed of diabetes mellitus and advised by the doctor to conduct regular tests of your blood glucose and blood ketone level, do so as instructed. Blood glucose monitoring will keep you aware of your physical body condition and help you do the necessary action to combat the disease. Blood glucose monitoring is a means of checking the level of concentration of glucose in the blood. There are methods of testing the blood sugar level by utilizing the visually test strip and blood glucose meters.

There are ways to test; it could be done by using two different test strips. Get hold of reliable glucose test products like Abbott Glucose Strips that has been in the market for considerable time and proven to show accuracy of result. Glucose test strips are available in packages containing 50 test strips intended for self-testing. It is done by pricking the skin, usually on the finger tip in order to get a pea size blood sample to be placed on a disposable strip. The result will show a change in color or electrical characteristic measured by an electronic meter. Piercing the body is to draw blood sample is painful. The personal checking of plasma glucose level for patients who are newly diagnosed of the type 2 disease must integrate the process of a structured self-management.

Patients with type 2 diabetes normally test the glucose in the whole blood at least once a day preferably before breakfast. It would be helpful to find out the effectiveness of the patient’s diet, exercise, and medication being administered. For type 1 diabetes, they use insulin, so they are required to test their blood sugar about three to ten times a day. It is conducted to ensure the efficiency of the previous insulin intake and to help determine the next dosage of insulin. The frequency could be annoying, so, there is a fast five-second test available. It could be taken from different alternative sites in the finger, palm, forearm, upper arm, thigh, and calf. When you are testing for hypoglycemia or if you have unawareness of hypoglycemia, it is highly recommended to test using your finger only. It is good that the fast technological advancement has changed the standard care for all diabetics. Frequent monitoring of the sugar level in the blood is essential in the proper care of patients.

Tags: blood glucose, Blood Sugar, Diabetes, glucose monitoring, glucose strips