Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes

About 7 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with Diabetes. A slew of health problems followed. It's been a tough couple of years but she has managed. My mother is my best friend and this is why I'm blogging about this today. My mom has Type II diabetes. Every morning I go to her house to drop of my kiddos so that she can take them to school with my dad and every morning she cooks us breakfast. It never fails. And every morning we see her inject herself with her insulin and check her glucose levels. It doesn't get easier seeing my mom suffer from this, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia and the neuropathy. I'm asking you to all join a team, step out, and walk to stop diabetes.  If you'd like to donate, please click here.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes.

In type 2 diabetes, your body does not use insulin properly. This is called insulin resistance. At first, the pancreas makes extra insulin to make up for it. But, over time your pancreas isn’t able to keep up and can’t make enough insulin to keep your blood glucose levels normal. Type 2 is treated it with lifestyle changes, oral medications (pills), and insulin.

When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause two problems:

• Right away, your cells may be starved for energy.
• Over time, high blood glucose levels may hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart.

Some people with type 2 can control their blood glucose with healthy eating and being active. But, your doctor may need to also prescribe oral medications or insulin to help you meet your target blood glucose levels. Type 2 usually gets worse over time – even if you don’t need medications at first, you may need to later on.

Some groups have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes than others. Type 2 diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, as well as the aged population.

See more at: www.diabetes.org