Options for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

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 »

Diabetes and Your Oral Health

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 »

Doing Diabetes Differently

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 »

Eye Disease in Diabetic Patients

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 »

Eliminating Diabetes – Diseases of Mal-nutrition

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 »

Diabetic Wound Care a Priority

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 »

Eye Disease: The Most Common Diabetic Complication

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 »

Managing Diabetes During Holidays

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 »

Living with Diabetes

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 »