Diabetes Health Center
Type 1 Diabetes: Living With the Disease - Treatment Overview
The goal of treatment for type 1 diabetes is to keep your blood sugar levels within a normal or near-normal range and to reduce the risk for complications. Daily diabetes care and regular medical checkups will help you stay healthy.
Keeping your blood sugar at a normal or near-normal level-which is called tight control-is the best way to reduce your chance of diabetes complications.
A normal to near-normal blood sugar level is 70 mg/dL to 130 mg/dL before eating or less than 180 mg/dL 1 to 2 hours after eating. It also may be measured as a hemoglobin A1c of 6% or less (normal) to 7% (near normal). This is a test of your blood sugar control for the past 2 to 3 months.
Daily care
Your daily care includes:
-
Giving yourself insulin shots or using
an
insulin pump. -
Checking your blood sugar.
-
Dealing with low blood sugar from insulin.
-
Preventing high blood sugar emergencies.
-
Counting carbohydrate grams or
using a food guide for diabetes.
-
Taking care of your feet.
-
Coping with your feelings about your diet.
You will also need to:
- Try to do at least 2½ hours a week of
moderate exercise. Take steps to
exercise safely. Drink plenty of water before, during,
and after you are active. This is very important when it’s hot out and when you
do intense exercise. It may help to keep track of your exercise on an
activity log
(What is a PDF document?).
- Take an aspirin daily. If you are age 40 or older, talk to your doctor about taking a low-dose aspirin daily to help prevent heart attack, stroke, or other large blood vessel disease. People with diabetes are 2 to 4 times more likely than people who don't have diabetes to die from heart and blood vessel diseases.6
- Control your blood pressure. Blood pressure should be less than 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in people with diabetes. Moderate exercise, such as 30 minutes of brisk walking most days of the week, can help lower blood pressure. But you may need to take one or more medicines-such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs)-to achieve your goal.7
- Control your cholesterol. A low-fat diet, exercise, and weight loss can lower your cholesterol. Your body needs insulin to process fats, as it does with carbohydrate. If your diabetes is poorly controlled, the fats in your blood (especially triglycerides) can rise a lot. You should strive for a goal of less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or aim for keeping it at 70 mg/dL, for low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. HDL should be more than 40 mg/dL for men and more than 50 mg/dL for women. Triglycerides should be less than 150 mg/dL. You may need to take lipid-lowering medicines, such as statins, to reach your goals.8
- Not smoke. Or, if you have a teen with diabetes, encourage him or her not to smoke.
- Take precautions when you are driving and not drive if your blood sugar is below 70 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).
- Take care of your skin and your teeth and gums.
- Know what to do when you are sick.
- Learn how to prevent problems while traveling.
- Grieve the things you feel that you have lost because you have diabetes.
- Limit your alcohol intake to no more than one drink a day for women (none, if you are pregnant) and two drinks a day for men.
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
Type 1 Diabetes: Living With the Disease Topics
Indication
Uroxatral® (alfuzosin HCl 10 mg extended-release tablets) is an alpha1-blocker for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of BPH.
Important Safety Information
Do not take UROXATRAL if you have liver problems or if you are taking antifungal drugs like ketoconazole or itraconazole, or HIV drugs like ritonavir.
UROXATRAL can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, especially when starting treatment. This may lead to fainting, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Do not drive, operate machinery, or do any dangerous activity until you know how UROXATRAL will affect you. This is especially important if you already have a problem with low blood pressure or take medicines to treat high blood pressure. There may be an increased risk of low blood pressure and fainting when taking UROXATRAL in combination with blood pressure medication or nitrates, or erectile dysfunction medication.
If considering cataract surgery (clouding of the eyes), tell your eye surgeon that you are currently taking UROXATRAL or have previously been treated with an alpha-blocker.
Before taking UROXATRAL, tell your doctor if you have kidney problems.
Also, tell your doctor if you or any family member(s) have or take medications for a rare heart condition known as congenital prolongation of the QT interval.
BPH and prostate cancer can cause the same symptoms. However, UROXATRAL is not a treatment for prostate cancer.
The most common side effects with UROXATRAL are dizziness, upper respiratory tract infection, headache, and tiredness.
Please see UROXATRAL full prescribing information.
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