Manage Your Diabetes

Diabetes is a serious medical condition that affects approximately 18.2 million Americans, but nearly one-third of those affected by it are unaware that they have it. The highly skilled team of health care professionals at Butterfly Wellness Clinic in Houston, Texas has helped innumerable patients manage their diabetes with proper diagnosis and effective treatment plans. Call or book an appointment online today, and let Dr. Sabrina Sampson and her medical professionals shepherd you to good health.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a metabolic disease that impairs your body’s ability to regulate the amount of sugar in your bloodstream.

Much of what you eat or drink is converted by your body into a simple sugar called “glucose.” Glucose is the fuel that enables the functioning of the millions of cells that make up your body, and it’s delivered to your cells through your bloodstream.

The pancreas produces a hormone called “insulin” that’s constantly working to make sure that there’s an appropriate amount of sugar in your bloodstream. It does this by pushing any excess sugar into your cells, where it’s stored or used for energy.

Diabetes prevents the proper functioning of this process in one of two ways:

Type 1 diabetes

People who have Type 1 diabetes don’t produce insulin because their immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make it. Type 1 diabetes affects about 10 percent of the diabetic population. It’s unclear what causes Type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes

People who have Type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but their body is either resistant to it or their pancreas doesn’t produce enough, leaving the glucose in the bloodstream unable to get into the body’s cells. Type 2 diabetes is the result of a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors, such as being overweight.

What are the effects of diabetes?

If left untreated, diabetes can cause a number of severe health complications, including:

• stroke
• heart attack
• heart disease
• vision loss
• hearing loss
• nerve damage
• organ damage
• bacterial and fungal infections

What treatments are available for diabetes?

While there is no cure for diabetes, there are a number of methods that are effective in managing it. Type 1 diabetes is primarily treated with insulin injections. Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be treated with lifestyle adjustments, particularly diet and exercise, but there are also a number of medications that can rebalance the levels of glucose and insulin in your system.

Butterfly Wellness Clinic medical professionals are experienced with prescribing a wide array of successful treatment options for the management of diabetes. To learn more, book an appointment at Butterfly Wellness Clinic online or by phone.