Diabetes 101 (47)
Diabetes overview explaining Type 1, Type 2, causes of diabetes, insulin resistance, insulin deficiency, blood sugar, blood glucose levels, and oral medications for control.

Managing Your Diabetes (28)
Diabetes is a complicated disease. It can affect many areas of your body as well as many areas of your life. What you eat, when you eat, treatments and medications, testing your blood glucose, exercising... all these play a role in successful management of diabetes. Your goal is to live a happy, healthy life with diabetes. My goal is to give you the resources to achieve your goal.

Symptoms/Diagnosis (14)
The symptoms of diabetes vary from type to type in some ways and are similar in others. Gestational diabetes and pre-diabetes differ from Type 1 and Type 2. Diagnosis is not always straightforward. What are the right tests that your primary care physician should be doing? What should you be looking for?

Pre-Diabetes (13)
Pre-diabetes is a condition where the body's cells begin to show resistance to insulin. Glucose circulates in the blood instead of being used by the cells for energy. Blood sugar levels become elevated. Increased weight, unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle can lead to pre-diabetes.

Complications of Diabetes (25)
Short term complications can happen quickly such as hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, ketoacidosis, and hyper-hosmolar syndrome. Patients need to be aware of their signs and symptoms and what to do to reverse them. Long term complications such as heart disease, kidney disease, neuropathy, diseases of the eyes, peripheral vascular disease and more can seriously compromise the diabetic patient.

Nutrition and Diabetes (42)
Nutrition is very important in managing diabetes. Not only what you eat, but how much you eat and when you eat influences your blood sugar. Meals should be at regular times with planned snacks. They should be low fat, high fiber foods with a limited amount of simple carbohydrates. Here are meal plans, recipes and advice on managing nutrition.

Benefits of Exercise (22)
Exercise is an important way to manage diabetes. Not only can exercise help you achieve beneficial weight loss, but every time you exercise, it helps to lower your blood sugar and helps your cells accept insulin more efficiently. Diabetic neuropathy can make exercise painful, with burning, tingling, and numbness in the extremities, especially the feet.

Seniors with Diabetes (8)
When diabetes presents in the older population, there can be different criteria for diagnoses and treatment. There are many special considerations to take into account when caring for the senior with diabetes. Management of the disease can sometimes be challenging.

Children and Diabetes (38)
Finding out that your child has been diagnosed with diabetes can be very frightening and overwhelming. Children and their families have to go through a tremendous learning experience to help the child manage his or her diabetes. But kids are adaptable and kids with diabetes can have very normal childhoods with preparation and understanding.

Pregnancy and Diabetes (9)
Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy are at risk for serious complications. Gestational diabetes appears in women with no previous history of diabetes, usually during the last half of pregnancy. The cause is unknown, but hormones, genetics and obesity all play a role. Good prenatal care is essential for a safe, healthy delivery.

Medications and Equipment (36)
Diabetes is managed mainly through medications, either oral or injectable. As research forges ahead, there are many new medications and methods of administration out there. Self-monitoring is also a huge component for the person with diabetes. Equipment such as blood glucose monitors, insulin pumps and other new ways to administer insulin are all examples of these.

Diabetes Research (35)
Diabetes research is an ever expanding field. New medications and new methods of administering some tried and true medications makes this a time of hope for people with diabetes. Genetics, stem cell research, and possible transplants are all fields which are growing by leaps and bounds towards a cure.

Support and Resources (34)
What can family members to do help the person diagnosed with diabetes? How does a good support system ease the burden of diabetes management? Where can families go to learn about diabetes care? How do family members cope with the feelings that come with the diagnosis of their loved one?