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Managing Diabetes Complications

As you may already know, controlling your blood sugar is important for avoiding hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia—blood sugar lows and highs.

By keeping your blood sugar in your target range, you may delay or prevent long-term complications. High blood sugar can damage many parts of your body, including your eyes, heart and toes. The good news is that you, along with your healthcare professional, may be able to lessen or even prevent the impact of diabetes complications on your life.

These pages list some of the more common diabetes-related complications, their symptoms and treatments, and some steps your healthcare professional may recommend to help reduce your risk.

 

High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when the force of blood flow inside blood vessels is too high. The heart has to work harder to pump blood through the body, which can contribute to serious health problems.

People with diabetes and high blood pressure have nearly twice the risk of heart disease as people who have only high blood pressure. Studies also show an increased risk of kidney damage, diabetic eye disease and stroke when hypertension is a factor.1

Causes of High Blood Pressure

According to the American Diabetes Association, about 73% of adults with diabetes also have high blood pressure or use prescription medications to treat high blood pressure.2 The causes of hypertension are unknown, but several factors may play a role in its development:

  • Heredity
  • Race
  • Age
  • Inactive lifestyle
  • Heavy alcohol consumption
  • Salt sensitivity
  • Being overweight
  • Stress

Identifying High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure has no signs or symptoms. The only way to identify it is by having your blood pressure checked at every physician visit. This is a quick and easy procedure and is something you have probably done many times before.

If you have a high blood pressure reading, your healthcare professional may recommend a series of additional blood pressure tests.

Preventing and Treating High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure cannot be cured, but it can usually be controlled. You can reduce your chances of developing high blood pressure by the following:3

  • Maintaining a healthy weight
  • Staying physically active
  • Eating a healthy diet that includes daily servings of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods
  • Choosing foods lower in salt and fat
  • Choosing lean meats
  • Drinking alcohol in moderation only
  • Quitting smoking

Your healthcare professional may also prescribe medication to control high blood pressure. The type and amount of medication will depend on your specific situation.

1 American Diabetes Association, American College of Cardiology. Hypertension in diabetes. Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Review. 2002;2:1-4. Available at: http://www.diabetes.org/uedocuments/ADACardioReview_2.pdf. Accessed October 16, 2008.
2 American Diabetes Association. Complications of diabetes in the United States. Available at: http://diabetes.org/diabetes-statistics/complications.jsp. Accessed October 16, 2008.
3 World Hypertension League, Nonpharmacologic Therapy For High Blood Presure (Hypertension). Available at http://www.worldhypertensionleague.org/Pages/NonpharmacologicTherapyForHighBloodPressure.aspx. Accessed November 17, 2008.

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My active meal planner and My active recipe box

To achieve better blood glucose results, one of the things you need to do is plan your meals accordingly. Click here to find out how My active meal planner and My active recipe box can help you. To use the tools, please be prepared to enter your Accu-Chek Active serial number.

VegetablesFasting

During fasting people with diabetes need to take special precautions to manage blood glucose levels and aim at avoiding hypoglycemia during the day and hyperglycemia at night. Find useful information with regards to this topic in the fasting section.

Accu-Chek Smart PixAccu-Chek Smart Pix

The Accu-Chek Smart Pix is a plug-and-play device which can be used to analyse blood glucose levels and therapy data from your Accu-Chek meter. The analyses are displayed on a computer in the form of various, specifiable reports.

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