Your Home Health Care

Well, well, well. I do believe we finally have a winner: free therapy for the growing number of those with diabetes. It turns out there are few excuses for diabetics — or any of us, for that matter — not to exercise. According to recent reports, nearly any form of exercise benefits the long-term control of blood sugar levels, be it aerobic, weight/resistance training, or both. Both forms in conjunction worked better than either one alone. This is great news for Texas, with more than 1.8 million estimated diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetics.



There were doubts about the safety and efficacy of weight training for those with diabetes until Dr. Ronald Sigal of the University of Calgary and his colleagues from the University of Ottawa decided to question that assumption. Together, they studied 251 individuals with type-2 diabetes ages thirty-nine to seventy, none of whom exercised regularly. Subjects were broken down into four groups: the first group participated in aerobic training three times a week; the second group did resistance training three times a week; the third upped their heart rates by doing both aerobic and resistance training, for a total of one and a half hours, three times a week; and the fourth group participated in no extra exercise whatsoever.



Participants used treadmills, stationary bikes, and/or weight machines at health clubs, exercised consistently, and were given a diet designed to prevent undo weight loss. Their blood sugar and cholesterol levels were monitored, as were other vital statistics. By the study’s end, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, participants’ blood sugar levels had dropped, and — more importantly — so had their A1c levels, hemoglobin that indicates average blood sugar over the past six months.



For those who participated in one form of exercise, their A1c dropped by half a point on average. For those who did both aerobic and resistance training, the average A1c drop was a full point.



A diabetic’s A1c level is of vital importance because it helps measure his or her long-term control of blood sugar. A normal A1c level is between four and six; patients in Sigal’s study began at a concerning 6.6 to 9.9. A one-point drop in this hemoglobin is associated with a fifteen to twenty percent decrease in major cardiovascular events, like heart attacks and strokes, and a thirty-seven percent decrease in complications like kidney, eye, and limb damage.



According to Sigal, there were some who brought their A1c into the normal range — a feat for nearly anyone with this condition. Some participants were even able to reduce their medications, and many lost weight and body fat.



Such studies are pertinent to Texas, which has a diabetic population higher than the national average, and one-quarter of its population going without health insurance. According to 2006 statistics from the Texas Diabetes Council, 1.3 million men and women eighteen and older in the state have the disease, as compared with 15.3 million in the entire country. Another estimated 400,000 in Texas are left undiagnosed.



More Texan men than women have it, and, while non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics are only a little more likely to be afflicted with the condition than whites, their death rates due to the disease are more than double than that of their white counterparts. In fact, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in Texas, and it’s believed the condition is actually underreported on death certificates as both a cause and a condition.



What is, perhaps, even more concerning is that recent studies in Dallas, Houston, and Austin reveal that certain risk factors for the disease, such as obesity, are increasing among children. One in every 400 to 600 children in Texas have type-1 diabetes, a much more serious, autoimmune disorder than its more prevalent counterpart, type-2.



Type-1 diabetes is a condition in which the body essentially attacks its own immune system, destroying insulin-producing cells and requiring patients to administer multiple insulin shots a day, or a pump.



Type-2, on the other hand, is often caused by a combination of poor diet, lack of exercise, and genetic characteristics. Data needed to monitor diabetes trends by type in youth is not yet available, but if incidences of those with risk factors, like obesity, keep increasing, cases of type-2 (if not also type-1) are also expected to rise.



Many in Texas also lack health insurance, a factor recent reports by the Commonwealth Fund reveal to contribute to less access to quality care. Twenty-five percent of the Texas population is currently without health coverage — the worst rate in the nation — and, unless something is done, that number is not expected to improve. High premium costs of most health insurance companies and the debate over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in Congress add to the strain. Without proper diagnosis and care, diabetes can easily lead to other, sometimes fatal conditions. Any activity a diabetic can do on one’s own that decreases the chances of complications is worth it.



“Imagine an inexpensive pill that could decrease the hemoglobin A1c value by one percentage point, reduce cardio death by twenty-five percent, and substantially improve the functional capacity [strength, endurance and bone density]” wrote Dr. William Kraus of Duke Medical School and Dr. Benjamin Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. They continued by saying all able-bodied diabetics should be prescribed exercise regimens.



Imagine that: something we can all actually do for ourselves — no doctor’s visits, no prescriptions, no therapy appointments, time out of the work day, or exorbitant amounts of cash out of our pockets. Just a matter of getting up off of our couches. Well, well, well.

The term injection drives shivers up and down a person’s body as a mental picture of elongated razor-sharp needles dance within the minds- eye. Nevertheless, it can turn out to not be as terrifying and a great deal more comfortable the more practiced you turn out to be with how to properly inject insulin.

The most universal way to inject insulin is with a syringe and needle (although there is an insulin pen out on the market now). You draw insulin out of a bottle and into a syringe; then inject the medication beneath your skin where it’s absorbed into your bloodstream.

Insulin may be introduced into quite a lot of areas of your body where there is a build-up of fatty tissue available and where large blood vessels, nerves, muscles and bones are not too close to the exterior.

Insulin is best introduced into the tummy owing to hurried and dependable absorption. Steer clear of the two inch band around the navel, which will not absorb as well. Alternate each shot as depicted in the diagram. Your doctor may propose various areas for shots, like the back of your upper arms, thighs or buttocks.

Several of the sterile practices that health care professionals used to recommend for insulin injections have been effectively proven as needless. Diabetics have been observed for a long time injecting their insulin through their clothes. A study was developed to establish the safety and professed benefits of giving insulin injections in this manner. The participants injected through a single layer of fabric, which varied from nylon to denim. None of the subjects experienced erythema, induration, or abscess at injection locations. Neither the glycated hemoglobin levels nor the leukocyte counts varied between the conventional and experimental programs. In the injection-through-clothing phase of the study, only trivial problems, such as blood stains on clothing and bruising, possibly due to the slight extra force needed to get the needle through the layer of cloth, were documented. The test subjects stated that injection through their clothing offered benefits such as ease and saving time. It was concluded that it is safe to inject insulin through ones clothing.

The term given to injecting insulin through inserting syringe into the skin is known as ‘insulin injection technique’. This is done in order to inject a proper dose of insulin into the patients’ body. For the purpose of making insulin injection treatment a success for yourself, your physician or a member of their team can assist you in learning this technique.

Injecting at the accurate deepness is a very important part of a good injection technique. The majority of doctors will advise that insulin be introduced in the subcutaneous fat, (the deposit of fat just underneath the skin).

Instead, injecting insulin too deep may also be harmful as it can then enter the muscles where it gets absorbed more quickly. However, insulin in muscles may not remain in the body for a long time as injecting insulin in the muscle will also hurt. The insulin just enters the skin when it is not injected too deep. All this affects the time period for which insulin is present in the body.

To get the proper depth most people will pinch up a fold of skin and insert the needle at a 90 angle to the skin fold. If you are injecting into an area that does not contain a lot of fat tissue, you may need to adjust the angle to 45 for comfort.

Follow your doctor’s recommendation for taking insulin. Injecting insulin yourself does not have to be tough. Get in touch with your physician, their aide or nurse, if you are unsure concerning your insulin treatment program. Becoming comfortable with giving yourself shots and staying away from commonplace troubles, insulin injections will become part of your routine that aids you in keeping on top of things concerning your diabetes.