Heart Health :: Diabetes Self-Management

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People with diabetes are at increased risk for cardiovascular, or heart and blood vessel, disease—in fact, their risk is double that of people who don’t have diabetes. Diabetes contributes to atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries. This narrowing can restrict or stop blood flow to the heart, brain, and other parts of the body, causing heart attack or stroke. To prevent heart and blood vessel problems, it’s important to keep your blood glucose, blood pressure, and levels of artery-clogging blood lipids, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, in check. Read the articles below to learn about the cardiovascular complications of diabetes and their treatment and prevention.

Heart Attack by Wayne L. Clark

When a heart attack strikes, time is of the essence. Intuitively, we all know it: The faster we get help, the better the outcome. Doctors say that “time is muscle,” because the longer a heart attack goes untreated, the more heart muscle…

Lifestyle Habits for Lipid Management by Heidi Mochari, MPH, RD

It is no secret that abnormal levels of fats and cholesterol in the blood are associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. These fats and cholesterol are called blood lipids, and the good news is that there are effective ways to manage them. In fact, dramatic improvements in lipid levels can be achieved through simple lifestyle changes…

Living Well With Heart Failure by Joy Pape, RN, BSN, CDE, WOCN, CFCN

Normally, the heart pumps oxygen-depleted blood to the lungs and oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. A diagnosis of heart failure (also called congestive heart failure) means that the heart is not pumping blood as effectively as it once was. As a result, the organs and other body parts aren’t getting as much oxygen and other nutrients as they did previously. In addition, some of the fluid that would normally circulate through the blood vessels is “backing up,” causing swelling and edema…

Also inside: The Heart

Lower Cholesterol to Lower Heart Risk by Wayne L. Clark

The news out of the United Kingdom in June 2003 was a call to action for people with diabetes and their physicians. Investigators in the Heart Protection Study had reported a year earlier that the drug simvastatin had lowered cholesterol levels in study…

Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Physical Activity by Richard M. Weil, M.Ed., C.D.E.

It’s no coincidence that the rate of Type 2 diabetes is
rising as rapidly as the rate of obesity in the United States. The two
are strongly related: The heavier people are, the more likely they are
to develop diabetes. So…

Preventing Coronary Heart Disease by Heidi Mochari, M.P.H., R.D.

Coronary heart disease is the single leading killer of women in the United States, and women with diabetes are at particularly high risk. High blood glucose itself is believed to contribute to this increased risk, but diabetes is also associated with…

The Pressure Is On by Craig G. Hurwitz, MD

If your doctor has told you that you have high blood pressure, or hypertension, you may well have groaned at the thought of more dietary restrictions and/or another pill to take. Or maybe you just tuned him out. After all, you have enough to do with caring for your diabetes, and how serious could high blood pressure be, anyway, since it has no symptoms?

In fact, high blood pressure is very serious. But paying attention to it now can save you a lot of grief down the road…

Update On Heart Disease by Wayne L. Clark

We all know that a lower cholesterol level is better, especially if you have diabetes. The most recent American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines recommend that people with diabetes maintain a low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad”) cholesterol level…

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1. Insulin
2. Blood Glucose Monitoring
3. High Blood Glucose
4. Nutrition & Meal Planning
5. Diabetic Complications