Posted on May 19, 2024 by Liz Ladd
Diabetes can have many complications on the body. One of the greatest is its impact on your cardiovascular system. Heart disease is a very broad term. It can mean many different things, but basically, it means the heart is diseased somehow. Many conditions fall under the umbrella of “heart disease.” Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is where the arteries in the heart become blocked with plaque. This plaque can continue to build up and cause an occlusion of a vessel or it can break off and cause a stroke. As plaque builds in the vessel, it can decrease blood flow. This
Posted on April 15, 2024 by Liz Ladd
Diabetes is a lifelong diagnosis, no matter what someone says. It Is manageable with diet, exercise, and medications. But when you get told that you are diabetic, it is terrifying. I am a nurse and knew that I had a very strong family history of it and it scared the crap out of me. I know what the complications are. I see them every day working on a cardiac unit. I have been a nurse for 13 years and I know what the effects of high blood sugar have on the body. Getting this diagnosis can take an emotional
Posted on April 4, 2024 by Liz Ladd
So, before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I went to my primary care doctor and asked her for a prescription for Ozempic to help me lose weight. When she tried to get it approved through my insurance, they wouldn’t approve it because I wasn’t officially diabetic. So when she did diagnose me, she said, “Well, you can be approved for Ozempic now.” I was excited to get started on it. She started me on 0.25mg each week. After a month I still couldn’t tell a difference so she increased it to 0.50mg. This is when the fun started. I
Posted on March 25, 2024 by Liz Ladd
When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I immediately went to my primary care doctor and told her I wanted a Dexcom. A Dexcom is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It’s applied to either the back of your arm, your stomach, or your thigh. There are 2 models, the G6 and the G7. I have the G6, the older model. It consists of a sensor that has to be changed every 10 days and a transmitter that lasts 3 months. It connects to either a receiver or an app on your phone. I use the app on my phone so I
Posted on March 25, 2024 by Liz Ladd
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), diabetes is a “chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.” Essentially what this means is that your body doesn’t adequately turn sugar into energy and the sugar stays in your bloodstream. When this happens, your blood glucose level aka blood sugar is high. When this happens long-term, you become diabetic. There are 3 types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational. Prediabetes isn’t considered diabetes, but it is when your blood sugar is starting to be slightly elevated regularly. It signals that your body is not processing
Posted on March 21, 2024 by Liz Ladd
It was a normal day. I had been to work and was chilling on the couch. I had been to the gynecologist that day and she had run some labs on me. I told her that I was feeling tired a lot and that I thought I was going through “the change.” She said she was going to run a Complete Blood Count, a Basic Metabolic Panel, and a Hemoglobin A1C. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s a 3 month average of your blood sugar. I had a feeling I knew what was coming. Diabetes
