How Is Double Diabetes Managed?
People with poorly controlled diabetes – either type 1, type 2 or double diabetes – are at risk for all of the complications associated with diabetes that involve the eye, the kidney, the nerves, the heart and the blood vessels of the brain and other parts of the body. It is imperative to manage all types of diabetes and control the blood sugar levels to prevent or lessen the severity of these complications.
Double diabetes must be managed by very careful attention to glucose control and maintaining proper weight. Controlling glucose requires a few key steps:
- Taking both insulin and medicines by mouth to control blood glucose levels (these are the medicines used to treat type 2 diabetes),
- Staying physically active
- Eating the right amounts of healthy foods
For a person with type 1 diabetes that shows signs of double diabetes, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight may resolve their body's problem with insulin resistance (the basic feature of type 2 diabetes and obesity). And, as weight decreases, the amount of insulin required to control glucose levels decreases, and blood pressure and lipid levels also return to more normal (or optimal) levels. In women and girls, the polycystic ovary syndrome may also improve.
This site is published by Children With Diabetes, Inc, which is responsible for its contents.