Burning, tingling or numbness in your hands or feet coupled with muscle weakness and discomfort are often signs of peripheral neuropathy, a condition that affects over 30 million Americans, typically those over 45.1 Peripheral neuropathy is caused by damage to nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. Diabetes is the most common culprit, but other… Read more »
Thirty four million Americans, about 10% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. Diabetics are at risk for a number of complications from the disease including neuropathy (nerve damage) which affects approximately 60% of diabetics, nephropathy (kidney damage) affecting 50%, retinopathy (eye damage) impacting 26% and cardiovascular disease which affects 11% of people with diabetes. Blood… Read more »
Maintaining your oral health is essential to your overall wellbeing and can help prevent pain and infections in the mouth. However, did you know that people with diabetes are at a higher risk for both early-stage gum disease (gingivitis) and advanced gum disease (periodontitis)? Diabetes affects the body’s overall ability to process sugar. In type… Read more »
The date fruit is one of the oldest cultivated tree crops and has been grown for thousands of years, yet they are often misunderstood. When most people think of dates, they think of a sweet, sugary fruit that should be avoided, especially for those with diabetes. However, this is a proven misnomer. While not a… Read more »
Let’s get the depressing part over with…then we’ll get to the hopeful stuff! When it comes to diabetes, we know the stats; they aren’t great. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 34.2 million people in the United States have diabetes, and one in five don’t know they have it. Over… Read more »
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT-A) is a new non-invasive approach to visualizing retinal vasculature and is changing the way physicians see the retinal and choroid (layer below the retina) vasculature. The technology uses light waves to take cross-sectional images of the retina and is similar to ultrasound imaging, except that it uses light instead of… Read more »
Diabetes is a huge health concern in our country. More than 29 million Americans have Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM); another 86 million adults age 20 and over have pre-diabetes. A smaller, but significant number of Americans – 1.25 million – have Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). Although T1DM typically occurs in children or adolescents,… Read more »
For many affected by high glucose levels, the A1C is a familiar blood test that measures the amount of glucose that attaches to or binds with hemoglobin found in red blood cells. High glucose levels in the blood stream are often indicators of pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes (T2D) and greatly impact a person’s overall… Read more »
Author Jason Fung, MD, of the University of Toronto has taken “Ockham’s razor” to simplify the management of type 2 diabetes. William of Ockham (1287-1347) was an English friar and philosopher famous for postulating that with complex problems, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions is usually correct. In his book The Obesity Code (2016), Dr.… Read more »
It would be too easy to simmer the development of Alzheimer’s and other dementias down to a single etiology. Rarely are things so simple. Still the connection between dementia and diabetes has been acknowledged for many years now. Many have gone so far as to use the term “type-3 diabetes” in reference to Alzheimer’s and… Read more »
A recent article published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology1 helped highlight the difference in eye disease based on whether a diabetic patient is on insulin or not. The study involved over 15,000 patients followed for 9 years. What is interesting is that outcomes were differentiated by any eye disease, sight-threatening eye disease, and something… Read more »
Diabetes mellitus is a group of diseases that have in common an elevated blood sugar. They are disorders of carbohydrate metabolism. The frequency of diabetes has increased exponentially since 1980 along with the increase in overweight and obesity, and emerging scientific evidence points to malnutrition (not the starvation type, but rather eating the wrong foods)… Read more »
Gluten often takes the blame when it comes to health concerns these days. Unfortunately, gluten isn’t the only problem with your whole-wheat bread. Americans essentially traded fat for wheat when we started the low fat craze. This diet change, not so coincidentally, marked the beginning of our obesity and diabetes epidemic, both of which are… Read more »
Desert Regional Medical Center has opened the Advanced Wound Healing Center, with locations in Palm Springs and La Quinta, to provide sophisticated medical solutions for patients with difficult-to-heal wounds, including individuals with diabetes and other chronic conditions. If a wound has not healed within a month, it is considered a chronic condition that requires medical… Read more »
An estimated 25.8 million men, women and children in the United States have diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Untreated diabetes affects the whole body and can lead to… Read more »
If you’ve just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you may need some help adjusting your grocery list. By working with a dietitian, you can find foods that are healthy for you and taste good, too. However, to get you started on the right nutritional path, here are some points to keep in mind the… Read more »
As a certified telemedicine diabetic reader, I participate in a program that is run through UC Berkeley called Eyepacs, a web-based non-proprietary application for exchanging eye-related clinical information. The bulk of Eyepacs communications involves bringing diabetic retinal assessments into the primary care physicians’ offices. The program works without regard to physical location, is validated, and… Read more »
For any person with diabetes or pre-diabetes, the holidays can be a trying time. The season presents many opportunities to eat outside of a typical low-glycemic diet plan, and blood sugar levels can soar. However, there are ways to enjoy your holiday celebrations while maintaining your health, weight, and blood sugar levels. Dietary Choices The… Read more »
When you are first diagnosed with diabetes, it is often overwhelming. There is so much you need to know and do. Often, the pills or insulin the doctor prescribes are the easiest part of the “self-management” regimen. The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has condensed all the things someone with diabetes needs to do… Read more »
What is type 2 diabetes? Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body fails to properly use and store glucose. Formerly called ‘adult-onset’ or ‘non insulin-dependent’, Type 2 diabetes results when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin and/or is unable to use insulin properly (insulin resistance). This form of diabetes usually occurs… Read more »
