Become your own medic !

Although diabetes is a very serious and chronic disease, unlike so many other chronic diseases, we can become our own medics. With our BG meters we can monitor the all important blood glucose control. Our weighing scales and tape measure give us all we need to know about our weight control. A blood pressure meter is a useful tool for a diabetic, especially if you suffer from the so called white coat syndrome. If you are on a keto diet, Ketostix are cheap and give you a fair indication on how things are going. Courtesy of Tommothebear at the forum of flog, I learnt about Albustix's today. I have seen my Diabetic Nurse use these on urine tests for protein, but it has never occurred to use them myself, as Thommo says they are cheap (shop around prices vary) and I reckon worth adding to my armoury for self monitoring. Especially if you are going a whole year before your next blood tests etc.


So, what else can we do to keep complications away. One of the most important things we can do is take very special care of our feet. Protect them at all times, buy the best cotton or wool socks you can afford. Spend serious money on well fitting and comfortable shoes. Ladies go for safety and comfort over fashion. Check your feet out every day carefully, a small injury can sometimes lead to very serious consequences much quicker that you would ever believe. If you have any small injuries or any doubt whatsoever, get straight to a Doctor.


After a while all this stuff becomes second nature as does the correct diet to stay safe. Nothing annoys me more than when I hear diabetics moaning about so called restrictive diets etc. or they don't like eating vegetables, or low carb fruits. Moaning they have had to give up foods they like and talking about "eating blocks of lard" Ask yourself this, how many other chronic diseases can people control themselves, and controlled properly, live a long, active and pain free life ? Not many I can think of.


Have a good weekend.


Eddie

"Albustix Reagent Strips for urinalysis provide a fast, convenient way of testing urine for the presence of protein. Albustix is a firm plastic strip with a test area made of special chemicals which can be used to test for protein in urine. Test results may provide information on kidney function. The reagent test area on Albustix is ready to use upon removal from the bottle and the entire reagent strip is disposable. No additional laboratory equipment is necessary for testing. The directions must be followed exactly. The reagent strips must be kept in the bottle with the cap tightly closed to maintain reagent reactivity."