Having Type 2 diabetes can be a debilitating disease. It can interfere with your activities of daily living, the things you love to do for fun, and it will certainly impact your diet. Sometimes the symptoms can be worse than others.
Those symptoms, however, can be managed. The system for doing so can be spelled out by the simple acronym, MMED.
Medication
One of the first and most important ways to manage the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes is prescription medications. There are several effective ones that will help keep you feeling well. These medications can be very expensive, but if you look for coupons, prescription assistance programs, and even shop online for the best Januvia price, you can help mitigate these costs.
One key is to take your medication as directed by your doctor, not just when you feel you need it. You may not know when symptoms are flaring up, or not taking your medication can cause them to get worse and make them even harder to reduce in the future.
The point is that while medication is not the entire answer, it is certainly part of the solution to manage the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes.
Monitoring
If you have Type 2 diabetes, you need to monitor your symptoms, more than just your blood sugar levels. Not only do you need to write down these readings, but you also need to record how you feel, and how you are doing in certain key areas. It is especially important for you to record if you are experiencing any of the symptoms below in any combination.
- Excessive Thirst: feeling thirsty all the time no matter how much water you have consumed.
- Excessive Hunger: Feeling hungry right after a large meal or even after you snack in between.
- Increased Urination: having to go frequently even when it feels like you emptied your bladder.
- Sores Slow to Heal: even a small sore takes a lot longer to heal than it should
- frequent infections: this applies to illnesses, but also to infected cuts and sores as well.
- Fatigue: waking up tired, and even naps not seeming to satisfy your body or provide you with energy.
- Blurry Vision: even with corrective lenses, things are often still blurry and hard to see
- areas of darkened skin: dark patches on your skin that you can’t really explain
What these symptoms might mean is that your disease is not well managed and under control, and you may need to look at trying a different therapy or treatment regimen.
Exercise
While it seems like a common answer when talking about how to deal with a number of issues, that is because exercise helps. Just sitting around is not good for your body or your mind when you are ill.
For a diabetic, exercise can help burn off control blood sugar and lower your weight. Here are some tips:
- Quick workouts often work best. As long as they total 30 minutes a day, several short workouts add up and still have the desired effect.
- Focus on your overall activity, not being a gym rat. You may never bench 400, but you can be active all the time.
- Get a Pedometer or Smart Watch and track your steps.
- Workout with a partner.
- Set specific goals and reward yourself.
- Use visual cues to remind you to exercise, like notes around the house or events on your calendar.
- Write it all down or record your activity in an online journal.
Exercise can be one of the keys to looking and feeling better, but also to managing your symptoms regularly.
Diet
There are a lot of things out there about the kind of diet you should eat when you have diabetes. Unfortunately, most of them focus on the things you should not eat. Here are some foods you should eat to help keep blood sugar levels stable, lose weight or maintain a healthy one, and prevent complications like heart disease and high blood pressure.
- Plenty of Veggies
- Whole Grains rather than processed ones
- Organic fruits, ones not spoiled by pesticides or preservatives
- Low fat or fat free dairy products
- Lean protein like chicken, fish, and lean beef.
Sticking to the right diet not just by avoiding certain foods, but by eating the right ones is a big step toward managing your symptoms.
There are many ways to manage the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, but they can be best summed up by the acronym MMED: medication, monitoring, exercise, and diet will all aid you in keeping yourself healthy. Of course, as with any management plan, be sure to consult your physician about any changes you intend to make.
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