nobimbo

Patients To Test Blood Sugar More Often

POSTED: 2:20 PM EST January 29, 2004

CLEVELAND -- For the nearly 13 million people diagnosed with diabetes, frequent self blood-sugar testing is key to staying healthy and avoiding serious long-term complications.

Surprisingly, there has been no clear self-testing guidance for these patients -- until now.

Millions of these patients with Type 2 diabetes have dangerously high blood sugar, NewsChannel5 reported.

Keeping blood-sugar levels in a safe range has been shown to reduce the risk of developing serious diabetes-related complications such as blindness, kidney disease and amputation.

Most patients with Type 2 diabetes are treated with pills, not insulin. There has been no clear guidance for these patients regarding the frequency of self blood-sugar testing.

The American Academy of Family Physicians has just issued a new physician guide for blood-sugar testing.


"Today, most people with Type 2 diabetes test about once a day, yet nearly two-thirds of patients with Type 2 diabetes have blood sugar levels out of control," Dr. Steven Edelman said.

The new guide calls for people with diabetes who take pills and whose blood-sugar levels are not in control to test their blood sugar two to four times a day.

In addition, all diabetes patients should test more frequently than normal under certain conditions, such as illness, major stress or changes in diet, exercise or medication.

"By testing more frequently and at the right times they will be better able to see what's happening with their blood sugars throughout the day, and make the necessary changes to stay healthy," Edelman said.

The guide is being mailed to more than 94,000 family doctors. It's important because nearly 80 percent of the people with diabetes rely on primary care doctors to help them manage their disease.

You can find the new guide on the American Academy of Family Physicians' Web site.

link to new advice: http://www.familydoctor.org/x6528.xml

Source: http://www.newsnet5.com/health/2803503/detail.html

Linda

__________________
dx pcos 1984, type II diabetes 2001, also hypertension
Met 2000mg since 2001, started Glucophage XR 4/22/04, then switched to Met ER 6/04; also: multi, Vit. C, Vit. E, B12/folic acid combo, fish oil & borage oil combo, garlic capsules, cinnamon, Vitex, calcium with magnesium/zinc, biotin, CoQ10, selenium,iron
Other meds: Verapamil and Altace(for blood pressure)
Started laser hair removal 7/29/03, completed 3/04 (it works!)
UAE for fibroid 3/24/03 and 3/16/04

cystermoon

Thanks for this post!!! This is a very important reminder to all of us and I need to take the advice as well as stress the point to others. I admit, I get lazy when my blood sugar readings are looking good, but anything can upset the balance so we really need to remember--me included--to test everyday more than just once a day!