Diabetes

Your health care providers at Pacific Medical Group want to work with you to give the best medical care possible. We believe that the more you know about keeping in good health, and dealing with your conditions, the better we can work together. Please use the information and links below to help you get to know more about Diabetes. Let us know what questions you have, and how we can collaborate for change.

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a disease in which glucose (sugar) rises to high levels in the blood. Normally, insulin (a hormone made in the pancreas) helps bring glucose from the blood, into body cells to use for energy. With DM, there may be inadequate amount of insulin and/or the body cells may be resistant to insulin action. Glucose levels rise in the blood, and in time, lead to complications with damage to blood vessels and tissue in eyes, nerves, heart, kidney, and other areas.

Type 1 Diabetes is usually discovered in children and young adults. The body produces little or no insulin because the pancreas has been mistakenly damaged by the body’s immune system. Those with Type 1 Diabetes need regular insulin shots to control sugars and prevent complications.

Gestational Diabetes occurs with pregnancy in some women and can complicate the course of their pregnancy unless controlled. Most women with Gestational Diabetes will have sugars return to normal after delivery. These women are at higher risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes later in life.

Type 2 Diabetes (DM2), the most common type, occurs mostly in adults. Initially, insulin levels may be normal, but with resistance from cells in the body to the action of insulin, sugars rise. The pancreatic Beta cells try to compensate by making extra insulin. With time, these cells may wear out, insulin production drops, and sugars rise in the blood even further.

DM2 symptoms may include low energy, frequent urination, thirst, blurry vision, and poor wound healing. Or no symptoms at all, early on. Kidneys work to purify blood and ‘keep in the good, send out the bad’; when blood sugar is high enough, sugar spills over into the urine. This sugar pulls out extra water. The sugar energy lost may give fatigue and weight loss, the fluid lost may give dehydration.

Risks for developing Type 2 Diabetes include a Family History of diabetes and advancing age. Most DM2 patients are overweight, and many are under active. Some ethnicities are at higher risk for this as well.

Diabetes is a serious disorder with serious consequences – but it is manageable. With good control, people with Diabetes can have healthy lives for years.

What to do? Get to your ideal weight by keeping active and eating a healthy diet.
Learn how to check your sugars, and keep track regularly.
Stop using tobacco, smoking or chew.


When you decide with your Health Care Provider that Diabetes Medications are needed, take them regularly. Let your provider know if you have questions or concerns. Metformin is one commonly used medication for DM2. It works to decrease insulin resistance. Sulfonamides are another oral medication type often used (Glyburide or Glipizide are two types); these stimulate the body to make more insulin.

If medications by mouth are not enough, insulin injections can help fill the body’s need. Lantus is a 24 hr type of Insulin that many people start on; there are also very quick acting insulins to just cover the short time around meals, and more intermediate acting insulin formulations.

Have your eyes checked yearly to screen for Diabetic Retinopathy.
Diabetic Foot Care is important – check them daily.
Diabetics have greater risks for infection; immunizations can help prevent some of these. Be sure to get your Influenza shot yearly, and a Pneumonia shot as recommended by your Health Care Provider.