What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.
Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar (also called glucose) and released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy.
If you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use the insulin it makes as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
There isn’t a cure yet for diabetes, but losing weight, eating healthy food, and being active can really help. Taking medicine as needed, getting diabetes self-management education and support, and keeping health care appointments can also reduce the impact of diabetes on your life.
Possible Symptoms of Diabetes
Angina (chest pain caused by heart disease), high blood pressure, stroke, and other circulatory ailments. Other symptoms:
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Blurred vision
- Tingling hands and feet
- Red, swollen, tender gums
- Excessive thirst and increased urination
- Slow-healing sores or frequent infections
More serious complications of High Blood Sugar
If you notice the following signs and symptoms, make an appointment to see your doctor:
- Increased thirst and urination
- Fatigue
- Blurred vision
- Unexpected weight loss
- Increased hunger
- Slow-healing sores and frequent infections
- Red, swollen gums
- Tingling or numbness in your hands or feet
Lifestyle changes to improve Diabetic Complications
Careful diabetes care can reduce your risk of serious — even life-threatening — complications.
- Make a commitment to managing your diabetes
- Quit Smoking
- Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol under control
- Schedule regular physicals and eye exams
- Keep your vaccines up to date
- Pay attention to your feet
- Take care of your teeth
- 1 daily dose of aspirin
- Avoid alcoholic drinks, or reduce to minimum if possible
- Take stress seriously
Types of Insulins (Injectables)
- Rapid Acting Insulins begins to work about 15 minutes after injection, peaks in about 1 hour, and continues to work for 2 to 4 hours
- Regular or short-acting insulin usually reaches the bloodstream within 30 minutes after injection, peaks anywhere from 2 to 3 hours after injection, and is effective for approximately 3 to 6 hours
- Intermediate-acting insulin generally reaches the bloodstream about 2 to 4 hours after injection, peaks 4 to 12 hours later, and is effective for about 12 to 18 hours
- Long-acting insulin reaches the bloodstream several hours after injection and tends to lower glucose levels fairly evenly over a 24-hour period
How Are Doses Scheduled?
- Rapid acting insulins: About 15 minutes before mealtime
- Short-acting insulins: 30 to 60 minutes before a meal
- Intermediate-acting insulins: Up to 1 hour prior to a meal
- Pre-mixed insulins: Depending on the product, between 10 minutes or 30 to 45 minutes before mealtime
Common Medications used in Diabetes Control
- Alogliptin (Nesina)
- Albiglutide (Tanzeum)
- Canagliflozin (Invokana)
- Colesevelam (Welchol)
- Dapagliflozin (Farxiga)
- Empagliflozin (Jardiance)
- Dulaglutide (Trulicity)
- Exenatide (Byetta)
- Exenatide extended release (Bydureon)
- Glipizide (Glucotrol)
- Glimepiride (Amaryl)
- Glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase)
- Linagliptin (Tradjenta)
- Liraglutide (Saxenda, Victoza)
- Lixisenatide (Adlyxin)
- Metformin (Glumetza, Riomet, Fortamet)
- Miglitol (Glyset)
- Nateglinide
- Pioglitazone (Actos)
- Rosiglitazone (Avandia)
- Pramlintide (Symlin)
- Repaglinide
- Semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus)
- Saxagliptin (Onglyza)
- Sitagliptin (Januvia)
Our Location
A & P Pharmacy,
2329 N Riverside Dr. Fort Worth TX 76111
Connect with US
Phone: (817) 838-2319
Fax: (817) 935-8966
Store Hours
Mon-Fri: 09:00 AM – 06.00 PM
Sat: 09:00 AM – 02.00 PM
Sunday: Closed