Ways to Treat Diabetes

Diabetes is a group of diseases that can affect your body's ability to process glucose and insulin. Glucose, also known as blood sugar, is an important part of your body's ability to gain energy through cellular respiration. During diabetes, the body is unable to keep the proper levels of insulin needed to process glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells of the body. This causes blood sugar levels to get too high in the bloodstream, which can cause serious bodily damage. Luckily, there are a host of different treatment options available for this disorder.

Diet

• Diet is one of the easiest, and most important ways to treat diabetes. According to the Mayo Clinic, there is no real diet for diabetics. The best course of option is to limit intake of animal fats and processed sugars, and increase the amount natural fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Consistency is also important. Diabetics need to be concerned with the levels of different food groups in their body during the day. Eating the same proportions and types of foods at the same time each day will insure that you body stays at regular healthy levels, and will stave off emergency situations.

Monitoring

• Consistently monitoring your blood sugar levels is another way to treat diabetes. After meeting with your doctor, he will give you a target level at which your blood sugar should consistently be. Depending on the severity of your diabetes, you may be required to check your blood sugar levels a few times a week up to a few time each day. Monitoring is usually done with a hand held testing meter, and specialized testing strips. A quick blood sample allows the reader to estimate your blood sugar levels and keep track throughout the week. Monitoring can alert you to a potentially dangerous situation before it happens, helping you keep your diabetes under control.

Exercise

• Exercise is another way to treat diabetes. Problems with diabetes occur when levels of glucose in the bloodstream become too high. Exercise helps to remedy this situation by helping draw out the excess glucose from the blood stream. When you exercise, the cells of your muscles need additional energy to perform and heal after you are finished working out. To do this, the cells of the muscle draw additional glucose out of the bloodstream and into themselves to create more energy.

Insulin

• Insulin is another important aspect of treatment for diabetics, especially for those suffering from type 1 diabetes. Insulin comes in either pump form or an injection. An injection allows a diabetic person to carry around an insulin shot in case of emergency. For those with sever forms of type 1 diabetes, an insulin pump is also a treatment option. The insulin pump is connected by a tube to a catheter inserted into your body. This allows the quick release of insulin directly into the bloodstream when needed.

Medications

• Medications may also be used in the treatment of diabetes. The most common form of diabetes medications are sulfonylureas and meglitinides. Both of these drugs work by stimulating the beta cells of the pancreas to release insulin. The extra insulin aids in the absorption of glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells. Biguanides and thiazolidinediones are also common diabetes medications, and work by decreasing the overall amount of glucose the liver produces. This decreases the levels of glucose circulating in the bloodstream.

Transplant

• In extreme cases, when all other options have failed, a pancreas transplant may help treat diabetes. Since it is the duty of the pancreas to secrete insulin into the bloodstream, replacing a damaged or faulty pancreas with a healthy one may help rebalance the proportions of glucose to insulin in the body.