On diagnosis that you have diabetes,
the immediate concern should be to control your blood sugar safely and keep it
within the normal or near to normal range. This is necessary to protect you
from the long-term organ damage and organ failure due to diabetes. Your doctor
will set your treatment goals and devise a plan according to your individual
needs and conditions. You should remain under ongoing professional care. A
treatment plan for diabetes has certain components such as outlined below.
SETTING the BLOOD SUGAR TARGET.
The first step in starting your plan is to assess your condition and set a blood sugar target to be achieved. Your blood sugar target will be set according to treatment goals individualized for you. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends specific targets of blood sugar for people with and without diabetes (see table III.1). Blood sugar goals for pregnant women are different as identified in "Prevent, Treat and Self-Manage Diabetes and it's related Complications".
METHODS OF TREATMENT.
After setting the blood sugar target, the next step is to choose a treatment method or methods to control your diabetes.
Treatment methods include:
Healthy Lifestyle.
A healthy lifestyle consisting of healthy weight, regular exercise, stop smoking if you currently smoke, and managing your stress are essential elements in every prevention and treatment plan of diabetes. These are essential components of healthy living also.
Healthy Eating.
In any diabetes treatment plan, healthy eating has a key role. The new food pyramid, the food exchange lists, the carbohydrate counting, and the consistent carbohydrate meal planning presented in this Part are useful tools for healthy meal planning. These are helpful tools for choosing healthy foods, and to use nutrition as a therapy to control blood sugar, and prevent and manage diabetes related complications.
Medication.
When healthy eating and healthy lifestyle measures together fail to control blood sugar, drug treatment is added. The medical treatment of diabetes may consist of using diabetes pills, or administration of insulin, or both. Insulin can be administered through insulin injections or continuous infusion of insulin through an insulin pump. At present, insulin injections are the most common form of insulin delivery.
Pancreas Transplantation.
In an extreme form of uncontrolled diabetes that does not respond even to intensive insulin treatment, pancreas or islet cell transplantation may be considered for people with type 1 diabetes.
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