Diabetes does not go away like a cold or the flu. What's more a person with diabetes is more responsible than their doctor for treating it. Diabetes requires day-to-day treatment so a person with diabetes is wise to learn as much as they can about the disease.

At least one in sixteen people have diabetes so it is pretty common. Diabetes can be managed with proper meal planning, exercise and medication if necessary. Blood sugar levels should become more normal (improve) with treatment but there is no cure for diabetes at this time. Control depends on the individual who has diabetes. Diabetes may require medication and other treatment plan changes with your health care provider over time because it is progressive.

Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms and Facts

In its early stages, type 2 diabetes often has no symptoms. This sometimes slows diagnosis. When symptoms do occur they may come on gradually and be

wrongly attributed to something else. Those symptoms can be increased urination as a result of increased thirst, increased hunger and fatigue because the glucose or sugar in the blood isn't able to get into the cells where it can be

utilized, nerve damage resulting in numbness or tingling in hands or feet or problems with sexual function, frequent infections or blurred vision.

The best way to monitor blood sugar, to learn how to prevent low blood sugar or devastating high blood sugars which cause organ damage, is to use a

glucometer. Glucometers allow one to self monitor their blood glucose levels. Your health care provider can prescribe one for you. Your health care provider

can also refer you to a registered dietitian or other diabetes educator for training in the use of the glucometer and an individualized meal plan. As a

diabetic this meal plan can be quite flexible with the carb counting knowledge you will be taught to carry it out.

With diabetes a consistent carbohydrate diet is important as when a person eats carbohydrate food it is broken down into sugars, and eventually into glucose the main fuel of the body. Glucose then enters the bloodstream raising the level of glucose in the blood. The pancreas normally makes insulin. Insulin then lowers the level of blood sugar by acting like a key to unlock the body's cells, allowing sugar to pass from the bloodstream into the cells.

What happens when a person has diabetes is there is a shortage of insulin or the cells cannot effectively use the insulin the body does make. The result is that sugar stays in the blood and blood sugar levels rise. High blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels and, over a long period of time, serious long-term problems can result.

Diagnosis of the disease is paramount to treating diabetes and prevention of the symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or high blood sugar (hyperglycemia). The goal is blood sugar control. Blood sugar testing with a glucometer coupled with a consistent carbohydrate diet can be invaluable tools for self management of blood glucose levels and control of diabetes symptoms.