Teaching Your Patient to Administer Eyedrops-Diabetes
By: David Jones
For your patient with diabetic retinopathy, a physician may prescribe eyedrops to lubricate the eyes, control postoperative pain, or fight infection. To make sure the patient administers the drops correctly, give her these instructions:
Wash your hands. Then check the drops for discoloration or sediment. If you see either, return the eyedrops to the pharmacy for a replacement.
Warm the eyedrops container by rolling it between your hands for several minutes.
Wipe any drainage from your eye with a clean cotton ball or a tissue moistened with water. Always wipe away from your eye, not toward it.
Tilt your head back slightly, look up at the ceiling, and pull down your lower eyelid.
Hold the container over the exposed lower part of your eye and place the prescribed number of drops onto the eye. Don't touch the sterile part of the container.
Release the lower lid and gently close your eye.
Then wipe away excess drops with a clean cotton ball or tissue.
Open your eye and keep it open for about 30 seconds. To prevent the eyedrops from being absorbed into your tear duct, gently press on the area where your eyelids join your nose.
Peripheral Vascular Disease: Selecting The Right Shoes
Advise your patient to purchase shoes that are made of natural material, such as leather. Explain that synthetics don't allow enough air circulation. If she has decreased sensation in her feet, suggest that she take a family member along when she buys new shoes. She can ask the family member to feel her foot through the shoe to make sure it isn't too tight. If necessary, tell her how to order adaptive footwear, such as extradepth or specially constructed shoes.
If your patient has an orthotic insert and she's buying regular shoes, tell her to make sure she has enough room between the sole and upper part of the shoe for the insert. Explain that orthotics help avoid pressure sores by dispersing pressure evenly across her foot. If she has foot deformities, such as claw toes, tell her to make sure that her toes don't rub against her shoe.
Tell your patient that good running shoes made of soft fabric may be an acceptable alternative to custommade shoes. Advise her to select running shoes that have a wide toe area and a thick sole and that lace up the front, not the side. Explain that by wearing comfortable running shoes, she'll have better balance and walk more comfortably.
Encourage her to avoid high heels because they increase pressure on the ball of the foot and may decrease sensation. Instead, she should buy low heels or flats.
Wearing New Shoes
Advise your patient to wear new shoes for about 2 hours and then examine her feet for pressure areasred spots that may turn into blisters. If she finds no pressure areas, she can continue to wear the shoes for a few more hours and then examine her feet again. If she still finds no pressure areas, she should increase the wearing time slowly over a few days. If she does notice pressure areas, she should avoid wearing the shoes because a foot ulcer may develop.
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You and Your Carbohydrates.

By: aron wallad
I am so zeroed in when it comes to carbohydrates. I read all labels of any food I have an interest in purchasing. Checking the carb gram count is part of my mission wherever I am when I purchase foods that bear labels on the package. To create an easier time for myself I now just by-pass the pasta and bakery aisles when I shop. We all know that those food groups usually encompass a whopping number of grams of carbohydrates. They are in another league.
What is it about these carbs anyway?
Carbohydrates, which the body breaks down to glucose (sugar) in the digestive system is the energy provider you and I need to run our lives. Without the fuel from carbohydrates our bodies will look for other foods to create energy. This may not be an effective way for you or I nutritionally.
So carbohydrates are needed. The difficulty I had was consuming too many carbohydrates. I loved the breads and pastas. The cookies and cakes were pretty good also.
The problem was that the unnecessary glucose my body created went into my blood sugar. Making me a diabetic. What I like to equate this to is if I were a car and had a 15 gallon gas tank. I would order 17 gallons of gas because I liked the gas, Two gallons would spill onto the ground and make the environment unhealthy. It is the same with me. Because I ate too many carbohydrates the sugar spilled into my blood raising my blood sugar amount. You could say I have a portions control problem.
What is a carbohydrate you ask?
Carbohydrates are a critical part of our diets. They consist of sugars, starches and fiber. Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose in the body which is an imperative fuel for the body.
Some foods will help you with your diabetes diet plan. Some will not. That is why I count carbohydrates. Some foods do not make up a good diabetes diet plan. Like soda, ice cream, most breads, and pastries. Limit yourself to these foods. Eating them once per week or once per month or maybe once every quarter, depending on the severity of your diabetes will help you control your diabetes. You cannot be too careful when it comes to the carbohydrates you ingest into your body. Other foods like non starch vegetables, chicken and fish will help with your diabetes diet plan.
Think of this. The level of sugar that gets into your blood depends on the amount of carbohydrates eaten. Depending on what type of food you eat will determine how quickly or slowly the carbohydrates are turned into sugar and how hastily or slowly that sugar enters into your blood if you are diabetic.
So as they say a carb is a carb. The determining influencer is the range of carbohydrates that are eaten. With all that being said the one exception is fiber. This type of carbohydrate does not get digested into the body like other foods. So it does not heighten blood sugar levels. It cleans the body. Fiber is the roughage needed to sweep out the waste created by the foods we digest.
Carbohydrate counting is one part of a responsible diabetes diet plan. I like to have fun when I carbohydrate count by finding at least on food in the store that has a huge amount of carbohydrates that I may have eaten in the past that I avoid now.
Grab your free e course. It will help you create a comprehensive diabetes natural solutions care program.
source:www.superfeature.com
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