Diabetes Care: Managing Diabetes Complications Today

Diabetes is a complex disease that requires daily self-management—making healthy food choices, staying physically active, monitoring your blood sugar and taking medications as prescribed by your doctor.

Successful self-management will help you feel better and can reduce your chance of developing complications including heart disease, eye disorders, kidney disease, and nerve damage.

Diabetes is a very personal disease. When diagnosed, it's not uncommon to feel a certain amount of fear - fear of the unknown... fear about how your lifestyle may change... fear that you will experience life-threatening complications.

The American Association of Diabetes Educators has developed this website to help you know that:

  • You can learn how to successfully manage your diabetes and try to avoid or delay complications. There are seven self-care behaviors that can help you manage your diabetes. Working with your diabetes care team will help you determine how to fit them into your life.
  • You're not alone in your diabetes self-care. You have a diabetes care team, consisting of your primary care physician, diabetes educator, other health care professionals as needed, and your family and friends. This team can offer you support and guidance.
About Diabetes

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What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin or can't use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood.