TAGS
When diagnosed with diabetes, you may feel overwhelmed by all the new information you have learned and will continue to learn about managing your diabetes. The Diabetes Education Center helps people with diabetes learn more about the disease, how to control it, and better yet, how to live with it while maintaining their high quality of life.
Working in conjunction with your physician, we can help you manage your diabetes and help you make the decisions needed to live a long, active life.
Most health insurances (including Medicare and Medical Assistance) pay for diabetes self-management education; however, you may want to contact your insurance company to confirm whether or not diabetes self-management education is a covered service.
Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. High blood glucose levels may lead to complications with your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles.
There are 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 17.9 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, unfortunately, 5.7 million people (or nearly one quarter) are unaware that they have the disease.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, previously known as juvenile diabetes, and usually diagnosed in children and young adults. People with Type 1 diabetes must take insulin to live. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have Type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In Type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the body does not use it properly. Whether or not you must take insulin depends on the stage of your diabetes and your body’s response to certain therapies.
Gestational diabetes starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels. This is called hyperglycemia. Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women.
LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults). Like type 2 diabetes patients, those with LADA have some remaining healthy beta cells — at least to begin with. That’s why initially they can keep their blood glucose under control with diet and oral medications. But within a few years, most lose the ability to produce insulin. LADA does not affect children.
A Registered Dietitian and a Registered Nurse, both Certified Diabetes Educators, teach self-care management techniques to achieve blood glucose control that may help to delay or prevent the onset of diabetes related complications.
Contact the Diabetes Education Center by calling (320) 484-4575 located at the Hutchinson Health Hospital.
.
