Diabetic Treatments Have Come a Long Way
A day in the life of a person with Type 1 diabetes includes finger pokes to check blood sugar levels, counting carbs, and insulin injections. However, managing this disease hasn’t always been so easy.
Here is how far we’ve come in the treatment of diabetes and how our assisted living community in Pitman, NJ can help you. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or have been living with diabetes for a while, our full-service community is well equipped to help you manage your diabetes.
What is diabetes exactly?
Before we jump into treatments, it helps to really understand what diabetes is. In the simplest terms, diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. To expand on this, the food we eat is broken down into sugar and released into your bloodstream. When blood sugar levels go up, the pancreas releases insulin to turn the sugar in your blood into energy. If you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin effectively. Without insulin to regulate sugar in the blood, more serious health issues can develop over time, such as loss of limbs, heart disease, kidney disease, and vision loss.
The history of diabetes and the treatments available today
Did you know that insulin wasn’t discovered until the 1920s? I bet you’re wondering how people with diabetes coped before then? Unfortunately, the answer is not very well. Children rarely lived more than a year after diagnosis and adults sometimes lived 10 years with the disease and had many complications, such as loss of limbs. It wasn’t until the 1970s, until we made breakthroughs in treatment. Here are some of the ways to manage chronic diabetes.
- Home testing kits so people can check their blood sugar levels
- Insulin “pen” delivery system, so people can perform their own insulin injections at home
- Seeing an endocrinologist (a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of hormone-related diseases like diabetes) frequently
- Maintaining a healthy diet and keeping active
Today, people who practice good home care and see medical professionals on a frequent basis rarely develop the more serious complications associated with diabetes. This is because diabetes is a manageable disease when treated effectively.
Treating Diabetes at UMC at Pitman
Although there is no cure, this chronic disease is very easy to manage with the right treatment. Here at Pitman, we provide care for residents with diverse medical conditions. We can help residents living with diabetes to lose excess weight, maintain a healthier diet and keep active. By incorporating all the methods mentioned above, residents can live their most abundant life with diabetes.
If you’d like to see if we’re the right assisted living option in Gloucester County, New Jersey, or if you’d like more information about our long-term care options, please contact us today.
