First Steps After a Diabetes Diagnosis

Overwhelmed by your diabetes diagnosis? Don't be.

Trouble viewing this email? View as a Webpage Navigating Type 2 Diabetes   First Steps After a Diagnosis Issue 1 of a 15 Part Series Welcome to the Navigating Type 2 Diabetes Newsletter from WebMD. You've taken the first step on the road to managing this lifelong condition. Receiving a diabetes diagnosis can feel like being thrown into the deep end of the pool. You have so many questions: What is this disease? How will my life change? Will I have to take insulin for the rest of my life? That's where we come in. Over the next five weeks, we'll provide you with the information you need to understand and control your type 2 diabetes. Each installment in this series will cover an essential component of your diabetes journey, including how your diet, exercise, and daily habits can help keep your blood sugar under control. We'll talk about blood sugar, carbohydrates, and the ways uncontrolled diabetes can affect your body and your health.. And we'll point you toward valuable resources to help you stay positive and find support. WHAT DIABETES IS – AND ISN'T When your doctor diagnosed your type 2 diabetes, he or she probably told you the basics—that it's a lifelong disease that affects the way your body handles glucose in your blood, and that left untreated, it can lead to a series of serious health problems. But it may be just as important to understand what it isn't, writes Brunilda Nazario, MD, our lead medical director and a board-certified internist and endocrinologist. Having diabetes isn't your fault or a personal failure. Dr. Brunilda Nazario OVERWHELMED? DON'T BE The thought of regular exercise, of monitoring what you eat and tracking your blood sugar—it can seem too much. "I'll never be able to enjoy dessert again," you might think. The truth is, you can still live a long and healthy life – and have the occasional dessert. While you may need to make some changes, diabetes doesn't have to stop you from doing things you like to do. Before long, you'll come to accept diabetes not as something that's taken over your life, but as something that's just a part of it—one that can be navigated, and (with a few adjustments) controlled.