Diabetes and other Blood Sugar Disorders

Continuous glucose monitoring has been a huge advancement in diabetes management over the past 10 years and can eliminate fingersticks for some people. Small sensors are placed on the arm or stomach every 10-14 days, along with a small catheter that measures the sugar of fluid under the skin. You can see what your sugars are at any time and set alerts to help avoid both low and high sugars. Your numbers can be transmitted to your provider to make adjustments to your medications when necessary.

Insulin delivery devices have changed significantly in the past 10-15 years. Instead of vials and syringes, you can carry a prefilled pen small enough to fit in your pocket or use a continuous monitoring device placed on the skin which administers insulin 24/7. The newest insulin pumps “talk” to the continuous glucose monitors and adjust your insulin levels automatically to avoid high and low sugars.

Increased body weight and diabetes tend to go hand in hand. It is difficult to work on these separately (let alone together), although over time the worsening of one can lead to worsening of the other. For the the best possible outcomes, we often need to address both at the same time. This usually involves developing a plan that combines diet adjustments, structured exercise programs and some of the newer diabetes medications.

EVMS Medical Group patients can sign up for group, individual and virtual classes that cover how nutrition and dietary adjustments can improve your health.

We work closely with the cardiologists, diabetes educators and cardiothoracic surgery groups in our integrated Sentara-EVMS Cardiovascular Diabetes program. Being in the hospital for a cardiac procedure can be overwhelming, especially if your medications are added or changed. We help monitor your blood sugars around the time of the hospitalization, keep them in a good range to allow for healing, and help arrange long term care after discharge to prevent future heart problems.

Many of the newer medications can help to decrease risk of heart attack, stroke and death. We can discuss the different options and help to figure out which ones can make up the best course of treatment for you.