This National Diabetes Week, 14-21 July, Bass Coast Health’s (BCH) Diabetes Education team is joining the national focus on raising awareness of technology in managing diabetes.
BCH’s Diabetes Educators can help people with diabetes use glucose monitoring devices that link to their smartphones and the BCH team to enable easier monitoring and control of glucose levels.
Glucose monitoring is an important aspect of managing diabetes, which is a chronic condition in which blood glucose level, often referred to as blood sugar level, is sometimes too high.
Glucose is our body’s main source of energy and comes primarily from the carbohydrate foods we eat: cereals, bread, pasta, rice, pulses, milk, fruit, starchy vegies, baked goods made from flour, most dairy products, fruit, cane sugar and honey.
Insulin, a hormone made by our pancreas, is needed to take the glucose from the bloodstream into our cells or muscles, to be used for energy.
If the body doesn’t make enough insulin, or doesn’t use insulin well, glucose accumulates in the bloodstream and doesn’t reach your muscles. This is the reason why with high blood glucose levels, you can feel low energy levels.
Consistently high levels of glucose in your bloodstream can damage the blood vessels and, ultimately, cause complications to the eyes, the kidneys and the feet, and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
BCH’s Diabetes Educators help patients manage their diabetes through lifestyle changes, glucose monitoring and medications, and also advise about using insulin pumps and new monitoring technologies.
Patient Teresa Piasente has been using BCH’s diabetes service for 25 years and has taken advantage of new technology.
“I’ve got a monitor that is linked to my phone and the staff have access to information such as continuous glucose monitoring,” she said.
“It’s been an absolutely fantastic service. They’re always on hand if you need them and they get back to you. The educators have helped me to manage my diabetes quite well.”
BCH Diabetes Educator Claire Gatto said the BCH team is aware of the latest in technology used in the treatment and management of diabetes, and can help patients to use this so they can live their lives to the fullest.
“We’re here to help people living with diabetes in the Bass Coast to access support and information to ensure they’re as comfortable as can be in living with diabetes,” she said.
According to Diabetes Australia, almost 1.9 million Australians have diabetes and diabetes is now the seventh most common cause of death by disease in Australia.
The Australian Diabetes Map indicates that Bass Coast Shire, like most of Gippsland, has a higher proportion of people living with diabetes than the national average - 6.2% against 5.2%.
There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational diabetes.
Type 1 affects approximately 10% of people diagnosed with diabetes in Australia. While there is a genetic predisposition, the onset of type 1 diabetes is often triggered by environmental factors. Type 1 diabetes can be managed well with the support of a diabetes healthcare team.
Type 2 diabetes is a progressive condition that requires regular monitoring, but some people can achieve remission through intensive lifestyle modifications and weight loss. Type 2 diabetes runs in families so has a strong genetic link. In addition to the non-modifiable risk factors of genes, ethnicity and advancing age, there are modifiable lifestyle factors such as increased weight or waist measurement, eating a diet higher in processed foods, inactivity, and emotional or medical stress, which can all contribute to the development of Type 2 diabetes.
In most cases, gestational diabetes ‘disappears’ after the birth of the baby. However, there is a 50% likelihood that the mother can develop Type 2 diabetes later in life. The child also has a higher risk of developing diabetes later in life.
“People can manage diabetes by making lifestyle changes such as diet, increasing physical activity, managing their emotional and physical health, losing weight if they need to, taking their medication and quitting smoking,” another of BCH’s Diabetes Educators, Vivienne Prestidge, said.
Roger Lindenmayer, also a BCH Diabetes Educator, urged people with diabetes to have regular health appointments.
“See your GP, Endocrinologist, Diabetes Educator, Dietitian, Exercise Physiologist, Optometrist, Podiatrist and Dentist to prevent or limit the complications of diabetes,” he said.
Diabetes may show no symptoms yet cause significant damage to your health, and people over the age of 40 should be screened for diabetes by their GP at least every 3 years, or more often if they have additional risk factors. Symptoms may include increased thirst and hunger, passing urine more often, blurred vision or recurrent or persistent infections. Such symptoms should be discussed with your GP.
A Diabetes Educator can help you improve your diabetes care through diet and lifestyle changes and use of medications and glucose monitoring, to meet your own health goals and prevent diabetes complications.
Appointments to any of the diabetes services with Bass Coast Health can be made after receipt of a referral from your GP to BCH Access Intake via fax to 9102 5307 or email access@basscoasthealth.org.au