5 Encouraging Facts About Type 2 Diabetes

Insulin is a hormone that allows your body to use blood sugar, or glucose, as energy. When you have Type 2 diabetes, your cells don’t properly react to insulin. Known as insulin resistance, this scenario leads to increased blood sugar. 

While a fasting blood sugar level lands at 99 mg/dL or lower on a glucose test, 126 mg/dL or higher indicates diabetes. Over time, high blood sugar can damage your body and overall health, especially if it goes unaddressed.

At his office in Midtown East, Manhattan, in New York City, Jeffery Tun, MD takes a modern approach to diagnosing and treating diabetes.

If you’ve been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, read on for some encouraging facts. 

1. You’re not alone

While many people having a disease isn’t good news, it can be relieving to know that you’re far from alone in your diabetes challenges. Roughly one in 10 Americans lives with diabetes, and 90-95% of cases are Type 2. 

Given how common Type 2 diabetes is, plentiful resources and support groups exist to help you better navigate life with the illness. And research has linked participating in online diabetes support groups with improved motivation, which may minimize feelings of isolation while improving your self-esteem. 

2. Type 2 diabetes is treatable

While there’s no known cure for Type 2 diabetes, appropriate treatment can help manage your symptoms and prevent complications. A customized treatment plan can help reduce symptoms of diabetes like exhaustion, vision problems, and slow-to-heal ulcers. 

Effective treatment also makes you less prone to long-term complications, such as blindness and nerve damage. For these reasons, people with diabetes today live longer and with fewer complications compared to decades ago.

3. Lifestyle changes can go far

Lifestyle measures can be at least as important as insulin or other medication when you have Type 2 diabetes. Changes Dr. Tun may recommend as part of your treatment plan include:

• Eating a balanced, nutritious diet
• Increasing your physical activity
• Improving your sleep habits
• Managing stress

All of these steps can make way for healthy weight control, too, making way for more benefits. If you’re obese, for example, losing 7-10% of your weight can reduce insulin resistance associated with diabetes. Quitting smoking can also improve your blood sugar control.

Paired with any needed medical treatment, diabetes-friendly lifestyle changes may even lead to partial or complete remission, in which your blood sugar levels return to a healthy range. 

Regardless, healthy lifestyle changes you make to manage diabetes can simultaneously lower your risk for additional conditions, like heart disease and stroke, which might just elongate your life.

To learn more about Type 2 diabetes or to get the care and support you need, call one of our offices or request an appointment through our website today.