DIABETES: How to Care for a Patient with Diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in the United States. Diabetes is a disease that affects the way the body handles blood sugar, and approximately 24 million Americans have this disease. There is no cure for diabetes. However, it is a disease that can be controlled with proper care. But without good management, diabetes can cause devastating and irreversible complications. Diabetes can be either Type I or Type II (more about these classifications later), and Type II diabetes is much more common. In both types of the disease, the body has a deficiency or a lack of a hormone called insulin. Insulin helps move glucose often called blood sugar into the cells where it can be burned for energy. (The terms glucose and blood sugar are often used interchangeably). Because people with diabetes do not produce enough insulin, do not utilize the insulin that is produced, or do not make insulin at all, the blood sugar level of a person with either Type I or type II diabetes can become very elevated. If the blood glucose is not controlled, serious short-term and long-term complications are possible. In order to maintain normal blood sugar levels, diabetic patients must follow a special diet, watch their weight, and try and stay active. For almost all people with diabetes these measures aren’t enough and they need to take oral or injectable medications. People with Type I diabetes must take daily injections of insulin.