Stress me out...Ouch! How Stress Affects Diabetes

I have been told recently to stop stressing out so much, whew that is a hard one for me.  I am a natural born worrier.  I really dont mean to be, but my nature as a female, mother, caregiver tells me otherwise.  I also am busy working on things that concern the country like cold cases all over the united states.  So like most people time management is important and being a sort of perfectionist when it comes to things can cause the utmost stresses for me.  I have had to learn to let some of that go.

Diabetes doesnt pick and chose one race over another, one sex over another or even what social status over another.  It is an equal opportunity disease.  How we manage it though is up to us and even though it is easier to manage if you have the means it is not necessarily that hard if you dont have the means it just means you have to be creative and use alot of free resources to help you maintain it even the stress management part.

Stress is many things it can be Physical, Mental, Emotional and Environment can play a huge part in all of these.  We may have every day stresses like work, home, family, economics, or we could have physical stresses such as Illness (Diabetes), and injuries to our bodies that can be stresses. 

I know when I first talked to a my doctor and she found I had a Kidney infection she said this is why your blood sugar is high, infections raise it because it puts stress on your body.  I was unaware of that now 4 years into the disease.  But it is true it can really stress the body.

When stress occurs, the body prepares to take action. This preparation is called the fight-or-flight response. In the fight-or-flight response, levels of many hormones shoot up. Their net effect is to make a lot of stored energy — glucose and fat — available to cells. These cells are then primed to help the body get away from danger. In people who have diabetes, the fight-or-flight response does not work well. Insulin is not always able to let the extra energy into the cells, so glucose piles up in the blood.  Diabetes affected by stress explained

I have found a few ways to deal with my stress now that I know how it affects my Diabetes that are free and enjoyable.  I use the internet alot for this either on my cell phone or on the computer itself.  I have found that Youtube is a great source for free videos on relaxation, meditation and excersize such as Yoga.  If you have a cell phone there are alot of free Apps that help with this and will give you the opportunity to get free excersize, meditation and even sleep programs to use. 

Taking time out for your needs are very important when you are dealing with a disease like Diabetes.  If it affects your whole body then you must take time to help your body stay healed. 

Remember to try and lower your blood sugar and stay healthy with excersize, eating right and sleeping well.  Remember not to get to stressed out.

Together we can do this as a community.  If you have a story or want to ask questions or share something contact me at diabetic.day2013@gmail.com

Eye See You or Not. Diabetes and Vision

So lately my eyes are having alot of issues.  They have begun to stay blurry a majority of the day.  I was a able to not where any glasses for a long time to see reuglar things just needing them to read with, but now its an all day thing.  I feel changes in them so I am about to take a trip to the eye doctor to see where we are going with them. 

I am wondering what could be going on.  As a diabetic I know that Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people ages 20 to 74. In this blog I would like to share information about eye health for Diabetics.

 High blood sugar in diabetes causes the lens of the eye to swell, which changes your ability to see. To correct this kind of eye problem, you need to get your blood sugar back into the target range (70-130 milligrams per deciliter or mg/dL before meals, and less than 180 mg/dL one to two hours after a meal). It may take as long as three months after your blood sugar is well controlled for your vision to fully get back to normal. Eye Problems Explained

We as Diabetics are at the most risk for Glaucoma, Cataracts, Retinopathy.  I will explain what each one of these is and why we need to care for our eyes as Diabetics. 

Glaucoma is when fluid inside the eye does not drain properly. That fluid leads to excessive pressure inside of the eye. The pressure inside the eye causes nerve damage to the eyes and blood vessels.  It is caused by Blood Pressure, Cholestrol, and Vascular Disease as well as High Blood Glucose.  There is more than one type of Glaucoma.  The most common type is open-angle Glaucoma.  Usually with this type of Glaucoma there are no symptoms until it has gotten to be much worse.  In the less common type of Glaucoma symptoms can include headaches, eye aches or pain, blurred vision, watering eyes, halos around lights, and loss of vision. Glaucoma Explained  Treatments can vary from eye drops to laser surgery.  Any changes in vision or having any unusual symptoms or pain contact your eye professional right away.
 
Diabetic Retinopathy is one of the vascular (blood-vessel related) complications related to diabetes. This diabetes eye problem is due to damage of small vessels and is called a "microvascular complication." Kidney disease and nerve damage due to diabetes are also microvascular complications. Large blood vessel damage (also called macrovascular complications) includes complications like heart disease and stroke. Diabetic Retinopathy Explained  There are three different types of Diabetic Retinopathy Background Retinopathy, Maculopathy, Proliferative Retinopathy

Cataracts  is a clouding or fogging of the normally clear lens of the eye. In Diabetics it usually happens early instead of later in life. If you have a cataract, there is a cloudy area in the lens of your eye that results in the inability to focus light, and your vision is impaired. Symptoms of this eye problem in diabetes include blurred or glared vision. The clouding is removed by surgery.  Cataracts explained

Please contact your eye doctor if any of these symptoms or other unusual symptoms occur:  Black Spots in your vision, Flashes of light, Holes in your vision, Blurred vision. 

As a Diabetic I worry about my eye health all of the time and when changes are happening to them I know it is time for a visit to the Eye Doctor.  My grandmother went blind at the age of 36.  I know all to well what Diabetes can do to your vision. 

There are things you can do to help improve your eye health and maintain vision, keeping your blood glucose levels at a moderate and acceptable level, excersize keep your heart and cardiovascular system healthy, lower your blood pressure and eat eye healthy foods while getting good sleep. 

Click here for more links for Diabetic Eye Information

Remember as a Diabetic we all have to work as a community to keep informed and to share what we know with each other.  We work together because we have a common factor living with Diabetes or caring for someone with Diabetes.  Check out the healthy recipes and soon to come natural health options to help manage and care for Diabetes.

If you have a story or a question and are interested in contacting me here is the contact information: diabetic.day2013@gmail.com Looking forward to hearing from you.