Why is it important to treat diabetes?
While diabetes is a serious condition there are a lot of things you can do to manage your diabetes and ensure you live an active, healthy life.
Managing your diabetes means keeping your blood glucose (blood sugar) levels in the desired range. Too much glucose (hyperglycaemia) or too little glucose (hypoglycaemia) can lead you to feeling unwell, and more health problems later in life. Managing your diabetes is a three way balancing act.
Medications - Food - Exercise
You can best manage your diabetes if:
- You take diabetes medicines as directed
- You follow your meal plan. Eating too much or not enough food without adjusting diabetes medicines will throw things out
- You get regular exercise
- You check your blood glucose levels regularly
What happens if your diabetes is not well managed?
Out of range blood glucose levels can lead to short-term problems like hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. In the long run, not managing diabetes effectively can also damage the vessels that supply blood to important organs, like the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. This means that heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, vision problems, and nerve problems can happen to people with diabetes.
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes and are taking medications, being aware of your blood sugar is an important part of your diabetes self-management plan. Regular monitoring of your blood sugar will indicate how your body is responding to medications, changes in diet and exercise. This can help you and your health care professional to more precisely manage your diabetes.
The trends from the regular monitoring of blood glucose can help to:
- Recognise factors that may result in low or high glucose level
- Show the effect of medications, diet and exercise on your blood glucose levels
- Change the treatment plan, if required
For effective monitoring of blood glucose levels:
- With the help of your health care professional, find your blood glucose targets and testing schedule
- Accurately follow the procedure while checking blood glucose
- Record your test results in a logbook or download our diabetes management software, SmartLog
- Identify the patterns and factors that cause change in blood glucose levels
- Discuss with your health care professional before making any changes to your treatment plan