Diabetes

Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus) is a complicated condition and there are many different types of diabetes. 

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a serious condition where your blood glucose level is too high. It can happen when your body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the insulin it produces isn’t effective. Or, when your body can’t produce any insulin at all.

Types of diabetes

There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. 

When you’ve got type 1 diabetes, you can’t make any insulin at all. If you’ve got type 2 diabetes, it’s a bit different. The insulin you make either can’t work effectively, or you can’t produce enough of it. They’re different conditions, but they’re both serious. 

Other types of diabetes include gestational diabetes, which some women may go on to develop during pregnancy. And there are many other rarer types of diabetes such as type 3c and Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) too. 

In all types of diabetes, glucose can’t get into your cells properly, so it begins to build up in your blood. And too much glucose in your blood causes a lot of different problems. To begin with, it leads to diabetes symptoms. 

Source: What is diabetes? | Getting to know the basics | Diabetes UK

How can we help you?

It is important that you are seen at least once a year if you have a diagnosis of pre-diabetes (non-diabetic hyperglycaemia) or type one/two diabetes. 

If you are pre-diabetic, we will call you annually for a blood test to ensure your hba1c levels remain at an appropriate level. We can refer you onto other services if you would like additional support in weight management or healthy eating. 

 

If you have a type one/two diagnosis of diabetes, then we will contact you annually to book you in for a thorough review. This will include a blood test, urine sample, blood pressure, feet and weight check with a follow up appointment around a week later to discuss the results. These tests and reviews are performed by our nursing team. It is incredibly important that you attend for these reviews to ensure that you are being treated appropriately and that your medication does not need to be altered. Delay in reviews can in-turn cause delays to your medication be processed as it will need to be reviewed by a GP each time and order is placed.

I think I may have diabetes

Symptoms of diabetes may include the following:

  • Going to the toilet a lot, especially at night
  • Being really thirsty
  • Feeling more tired than usual
  • Losing weight without trying to
  • Genital itching or thrush
  • Cuts and wounds take longer to heal
  • Blurred vision

More information can be found here about the signs and symptoms of diabetes. 

If you feel very unwell or your symptoms have come on quickly, please contact us to arrange a GP call back. If we are closed, call NHS 111. If you have diabetes symptoms, please contact us on either 01822 613517 or by completing an online form. 

Source: Diabetes UK – Know diabetes. Fight diabetes. | Diabetes UK