Being newly diagnosed with diabetes can be confusing and overwhelming with all the new things you have to learn and understand. This page provides a synopsis of the most important information and answers to commonly asked questions.
What is Diabetes?
Find out about diabetes: the terminology, symptoms, diagnosis and goals of treatment. Learn how the body keeps the blood sugar in balance.
Types of Diabetes
There are many type of diabetes. Learn more about your type of diabetes or look at the classification table to see a comprehensive list.
Causes of Diabetes
Read more about how different types of diabetes develop: what are the risk factors, what is the process that leads to diabetes.
Treatment for type 1 diabetes
Insulin given by injection is the central treatment for type 1 diabetes. There are fast acting and long acting insulin formulations. It is important to understand when to use these different formulations and the concepts behind choosing the right insulin dose. There is one other injected medication for type 1 diabetes, Symlin, that may be given in addition to insulin.
- Insulin
- Other non-insulin medication
Treatment for type 2 diabetes
The treatment for type 2 diabetes may be a simple as lifestyle changes (diet, exercise and weight management) with one or two pills to many different pills and/or insulin or other injected medications. Your medical team will help you decide the best choices for you.
Find out if the treatment is working
Blood sugar monitoring lets you know if the treatment plan is working and you are achieving the goals of therapy. And keeping a logbook helps everyone review and assess the results.
Changing the diet
Eating a healthy and balanced diet is another important part of living with diabetes. The first think you need to understand is which foods have sugar and starch (carbohydrates).
When the blood sugar is uncontrolled
When your blood sugar is too high or too low, you need to understand the symptoms and what to do. Some situations require urgent medical attention.
When your blood sugar is not controlled…
Read about common reasons for your blood sugar to be out of balance.
Practical part of having diabetes
Every day tips for how to live safely with diabetes.
Diabetes FAQs
Everyone who has just been diagnosed with diabetes has some questions.