Reduce Diabetes Damage

Mandrell, AKA Mr. Diabetes, tried to walk across the nation for diabetes but dropped Saturday morning in Columbia. He said there's no cure for diabetes and that it's a 24-7 life sentence. He was first diagnosed with diabetes when he was forty years old in 1985.

He was in denial so he did not watch his condition carefully and so it got worse. He had to walk with a cane because his feet and legs were numb. Then he had eye surgery because he was going blind. That's why he chose to walk to raise awareness.

He wanted people to take responsibilities for themselves and not wait for cure. He wanted them to know that three things could reduce the damage diabetes can do. What are they? See a doctor regularly, eat healthy and be physically active.

That said, let's see what one of the authorities has to say. From the American Diabetes Association we get the most common treatments for diabetes. What are they? They're not too far away from what Mr. Diabetes recommended. They are:

• Healthy meals to manage blood glucose and blood lipid levels, maintain weight and reduce the need for additional medications.
  


• Exercise to lower blood glucose and blood levels, be physically fit, raise one's sensitivity to medications and maintain healthy weight with the help of the meal plans.
  


• Diabetes medications taken orally to lower blood glucose levels by decreasing resistance to insulin, reducing blood glucose levels and improving the release of insulin.
  


• Injection of insulin to reduce the blood glucose levels and to make-up for the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin.
  

There you are. If we follow those common treatments, we should be able to avoid the complications. We have to be consistent though, to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. It is very important that we take care of ourselves instead of just waiting for a cure.