Nearly 21 million people in the United States have diabetes, with about 90 to 95 percent having type 2 diabetes, states the American Diabetes Association. There are some herbal alternative healing treatments that are being explored for type 2 diabetes. If you are interested in trying a natural treatment in addition to standard treatment, be sure do so only under the close supervision of a qualified health professional. If diabetes is not properly controlled, the consequences can be life-threatening.
Often times, people think about diabetes, and focus on the ramifications of kidney disease, blindness, or limb loss. These can be problems caused by damage to small blood vessels. But in reality, there is a much bigger problem caused by diabetes, and that is heart disease. We now know that a strong connection exists between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which affects the heart and cardiovascular system (blood vessels). Type 1 and type 2 diabetes, particularly uncontrolled diabetes, bring a very high risk for strokes, heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and more.
Many people don’t realize is that heart disease will often precede type 2 diabetes. Your blood vessels are damaged from inactivity, weight gain and inflammation, and all of this begins to happen many years before blood glucose levels start rising noticeably.
The good news is that there are a number of things that you can do before it’s too late. A recent article in Diabetic Living magazine, and Chris Tobin, R.N. CDE, president of the Health Care and Education for the American Diabetes Association (ADA) suggests herbal alternative healing, as well as the following:
- Simply lose weight.
- Try hard to eat healthfully and exercise.
- Keep your blood glucose/cholesterol/blood pressure targets.
- Don’t forget to take your medicine if prescribed.
- Remember to take an aspirin a day.
- Don’t smoke.
- Be sure to get your testing as needed.
Read the following to see if you might be at risk for pre-diabetes: overweight or obese; a non-Caucasian ancestry; a family history of diabetes; increased levels of triglycerides (LDL), and/or low levels of good cholesterol (HDL); impaired glucose levels or metabolic syndrome; hypertension; high blood pressure; or cardiovascular disease.
Understand what might happen to you if you are not treated for pre-diabetes. You could develop diabetes, heart disease, stroke and blood vessel disease, and other complications such as eye or kidney disease, and nerve damage.
You might also want to do some research about the preventative aspects of herbal alternative healing such as Pancreton for pre-diabetics, which will not lower the blood glucose level directly. The benefits are totally different than other supplements or diabetic medications because it’s an herbal supplement designed to support pancreatic function and glucose metabolism.
This article was added on Sunday 18 July, 2010.
