Diabetes and Insulin

All Ways Health offers services for diabetics, those at risk for diabetes, and for individuals using insulin:

• Diagnosing of pre-diabetes and diabetes - all types - all ages.
• Ongoing primary care for diabetics.
• Education and counseling on diets and nutrition for diabetics of all types and ages.
• Management of medications for type 2 diabetics.
• Vitamin B-12 injections for individuals using metformin.
• Education on the use of insulin and how to use it effectively - both measured injections and pumps.
• Blood sugar monitoring, lab tests, and insulin dosage adjustments.
• Education and support tailored specifically for children and adolescents using insulin.

Diabetes has become a household word in recent decades. 

But what exactly is diabetes?  The term diabetes just means excessive urination (peeing), usually caused by unbalanced hormones.  By far the most common form of diabetes is diabetes mellitus (often just called "DM") which is the body's inability to produce effective levels of insulin and thus control blood sugar (glucose) levels.  (Glucose is the food or fuel all of the cells of our body consume.)

The body's ability to regulate the amount of sugar in our blood is vital to our health.  Too little sugar in our blood means that the cells in our body shut down due to a lack of food / fuel.  People with "low blood sugar" often feel faint or become disorientated, unconscious, or even slip into a coma.  Too much sugar in the blood causes damage to the body's organs, the eyes being particularly sensitive to this damage.

There are actually 4 different medical conditions all called diabetes mellitus, each with a different cause, and each requiring a different therapy to treat.  Before a physician can prescribe an effective therapy for the diabetes, they have to know which type of diabetes a person has.

DM Type 1:  This is an autoimmune disease.  Basically a person's own immune system attacks and kills the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.  The person can no longer make insulin and in order to survive they have to inject themselves with manufactured insulin - in just the right amounts - at just the right times.  This type of diabetes is common in children.

DM Type 2 (also known as insulin resistance):  This form of diabetes happens when the pancreatic cells that make insulin wear out over time due to over-use.  Generally these cells slowly wear out over time and people gradually become diabetic in the process.  This type of diabetes is common in adults but can occur at any age.

Gestational Diabetes:  Any woman who has ever been pregnant will tell you that all of their hormones get affected during pregnancy and insulin is certainly no exception.  Women who become diabetic while pregnant are considered to have gestational diabetes.  Usually these women are no longer diabetic after childbirth.

DM Type 1.5 (also known as Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults - LADA):  This is like Type 1 but occurs in adults.  It is often misdiagnosed as Type 2 diabetes.

Note:  Names like "juvenile" and "adult onset" are no longer used because they do not accurately describe the types of diabetes.

Type 2 diabetics can sometimes extend the life of their insulin producing pancreatic cells by controlling their diets and/or using various pharmaceuticals like metformin.  But drugs like metformin come with hidden side-effects that need to be monitored by a physician at the same time that dosages are adjusted.

If you or a family member is diabetic or is concerned that you may become diabetic, consider discussing your concerns with us at All Ways Health:  928-779-1100.  We're here to listen.

FYI:  Flagstaff has a diabetes support group that meets monthly.  Everyone is welcome and the meetings are always FREE.