Diabetes' Link Between Heart Attacks and Strokes

In America, there are almost 20 million adults living with diabetes, and most of them do not know that having diabetes also puts them at a higher risk for developing strokes and heart disease. Those who have diabetes are two to four times more likely than those who do not have diabetes to have a stroke or develop heart disease. That is a scary reality for those 20 million people.

There are steps those 20 million people with diabetes can take to lower their chances of developing a stroke or heart disease. Those steps include managing their diabetes by taking their medicines on time all the time. It is very important to maintain your glucose levels on a daily basis by eating correctly and checking your blood sugars.

The National Diabetes Education program has began a national program to education the care providers of those people who have diabetes. The program is called Control Your Diabetes. For Life. The goals of this program really stress the importance of controlling the diabetes to eliminate or lower the risks of heart disease and stroke. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cosponsor this program with the NDEP.

Many of those who have diabetes do not understand the link between the diseases and it is really in their best interest to educate themselves on those links in order to live a more productive and less risky life.

People with Diabetes must remember their ABC's to help prevent any complications from this disease. The ABC's are A1c test, blood pressure and Cholesterol.

The blood test measures the levels of glucose over a period of three months and averages it out. The blood pressure part refers to checking the blood pressure to see if there is a history of high blood pressure. High blood pressure makes the heart work faster, which can cause untold problems. The cholesterol part measures the levels of bad cholesterol as it can block the arteries within the heart.

That is the basis of the diabetes ABC's that they should watch, it is very important to watch the numbers and lower the risk of developing a stroke or heart attack. Ask your doctor what your numbers should be, where they are currently and how you can reach those numbers.

By managing diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol diabetics can control their life much better and keep up an active and healthy lifestyle.