Healthier Life by Addressing Hyperlipidemia

08/01/07 Treatment Options, General, Living Well, Type II Diabetes, Diabetes Medications

Lipids are fats that exist in the blood. We all have them, and it is unhealthy to live with elevated levels of certain lipids, including triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. Physicians perform blood tests to measure lipid levels—that's the easy part. For patients who learn they have elevated lipid levels, or hyperlipidemia, the hard part is doing what is required to bring them down.

Your doctors will consider many treatments to help you reduce the unhealthy levels of fat in your blood. One effective treatment with low risk of side effects is changing a patient's lifestyle. Altering diets and increasing exercise and activity levels can often produce amazing results and eliminate hyperlipidemia. It also makes you feel great.

A second treatment option are statins. Statins are lipid lowering drugs that have proven effective for decades now. However, they have their risks and side effects. We recommend a patient use statins in conjunction with proper diet and exercise. The combined effect is powerful, and can reverse diabetes and heart disease in many patients. Your physician can help you know if a statin could be an effective treatment for you.

If your physician diagnoses you with hyperlipidemia, you will need to set some goals for yourself. You want to do the work required to return to the physician a few months later for impoved bloodwork results. Your targets are:

• A total cholesterol level of less than 200 mg per dL
• Triglyceride levels less than 150 mg per dL
• LDL (bad cholesterol) levels less than 100 mg per dL

Once you have achieved those goals, we hope exercise and your new diet help you continue maintaining healthy lipid levels.

Sources:
American Academy of Family Practice
National Institutes of Health
Cleveland Clinic

Finding The Right Time to Start Insulin

08/01/07 Diabetes Medications, Type II Diabetes, Treatment Options, General

There are a number of opinions about when to start insulin therapy. Certainly you will make your decision based on your situation. If you are a type 1 diabetic, you probably started insulin therapy minutes after your diagnosis. If you are a type 2 diabetic with tightly managed blood sugar, you may not need insulin for decades. Regardless of your circumstances, insulin may be the second-best blood sugar management tool. (Lifestyle management is the best.)

When to begin using insulin is a tough decision for people living with type 2 diabetes. Many members of the medical community are conservative about prescribing medications. There are some physicians who wait to introduce insulin until their patients get to a place in their life where ketoacidosis could be a risk. On the other hand, introducing insulin when blood sugar levels are on the low end of the diabetic spectrum can be dangerous. Insulin can contribute to hypoglycemia by removing sugar too aggressively from the bloodstream, thereby starving muscles, brain cells, and other vital body tissues.

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Standards of Medical Care, a person who cannot maintain their A1C level below 7 percent should initiate insulin therapy. Your physician may try a number of medications before trying insulin, but it is not likely he or she will allow you to maintain high blood sugar levels over a long period of time. High blood sugar indicates your pancreas cannot keep up with your insulin demands, and you need to supplement. The ADA also points out that in extreme circumstances, patients may start insulin early on in the disease process. In its document Standards of Medical Care it states:

Early initiation of insulin would be a safer approach for individuals presenting with weight loss, more severe symptoms, and glucose values of 250-300 mg/dL.

When you give yourself an insulin shot you are actually substituting for your pancreas. When medications and lifestyle can no longer control your blood sugar, it's time to let insulin therapy substitute for your pancreas. Insulin may help you live and feel better.

I'm Concerned About the Weight I'll Probably Gain with Insulin

Many people using insulin gain weight. We at My Diabetes Information are pro-insulin. We suspect a lot of people start it too late. Nevertheless, the weight gain is a concern because more weight increases the odds of a number of heart-related health risks—risks already associated with diabetes. Furthermore, extra weight causes angst because of the way it makes us look and feel. Those concerns are legitimate.

Medical professionals are also concerned about the health risks associated with additional pounds. Nevertheless, high blood sugar is usually a more serious health risk than extra weight. You should almost always prefer to use insulin—when the time is right—instead of staying thinner. Of course you should discuss this balancing act with your doctor.