Learning All You Can About Diabetes
Learning All You Can About DiabetesEvery day doctors and researchers are learning more and more about Type 2 Diabetes and how it affects your body.And they all agree – diabetes is complicated. It can affect your entire body, and touch almost every part of your life.As an active self-manager, you do not have to learn everything a doctor or researcher knows about diabetes. But it ishelpful to learn as much as possible so you can understand how it affects your body, to better control your healthday to day and prevent or delay serious long-term complications.Learning all you can about diabetes can help you to better understand each part of your management plan: healthyfood choices, physical activity, medications and monitoring; and help you understand how they all work together.A great place to start learning about diabetes is with your diabetes care team. Your diabetes care team is there tohelp and will move you along your path to better diabetes self-management. Some people on your care team maybe Certified Diabetes Educators, or CDE’s. They have gone through extra training to help people specifically withthe challenges of diabetes.Members of your care team can help you: make healthy food choices to control your blood glucose; add exercise toyour daily routine safely; take your medications as directed; and read and share the results on your meter; so youcan begin to make adjustments to your lifestyle that lead to healthy blood glucose results.When you have learned enough to feel comfortable with the day to day management of diabetes, your care teamcan continue to help you learn by problem solving. Being able to problem solve on your own will make you astronger self-care manager, able to take charge of your diabetes in most situations.And your diabetes care team can also help you learn to manage any complications you may have, and help youdevelop the skills needed to take action to reduce the long-term effects of those complications.To help you learn the most from your diabetes care team visits, keep a notebook for questions or concerns that arisebetween visits, so you don’t forget to discuss them. Use this same notebook during your visit to write down hard toremember information.Also remember to bring a current list of your medications and up to date blood glucose records to each of yourappointments.Sometimes you can find answers to your diabetes questions through other educational resources.Join a support group, or start one of your own.“Even though you are walking to burn calories and lose weight you want to give your body something toburn…”- Kelly O'Connor; RD, LDN, CDEPage 1 of 2This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.HCDB1000795 EN LearningAllYouCanAboutDiabetes.pdf© The Wellness NetworkLearning All You Can About Diabetes“Finding out what they did and what I didn’t do it helped me tremendously.” - Sam, PatientSearch the internet for diabetes websites. Just be careful though, because some contain incorrect or out of dateinformation. Ask your diabetes care team for a list of reliable websites you can go to. And remember, theinternet cannot take the place of regular diabetes health care visits.You can also check out helpful information from your local library or get a subscription to a diabetes magazine.To find sources of diabetes support in your area, including accredited education programs, visit The AmericanDiabetes Association at www.Diabetes.org.Page 2 of 2This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.HCDB1000795 EN LearningAllYouCanAboutDiabetes.pdf© The Wellness Network
© The Wellness Network