Woman’s Diabetes Education Services are certified by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as a Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) program.
It provides children, adolescents and adults (both men and women) with access to comprehensive educational and supportive services provided by:
As part of our DSME program, patients will be taught self-care skills that are essential to diabetes management. Through appropriate self-management, unnecessary hospital admissions and some of the acute and chronic complications of diabetes can be prevented.
Woman’s Diabetes Education Services provides a complete approach to improving the health and well-being of patients who have:
Prediabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes.
People with prediabetes are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Insulin resistance and prediabetes usually have no symptoms. People may have one or both conditions for several years without noticing anything, and the best way to find out if a woman has either is through blood and glucose tests.
Diabetes Prevention Program
The Lifestyle Change Program
Woman's Nutrition offers the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). If you have been diagnosed with prediabetes or know you are at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes, learn how the DPP can help you! Open to women who meet the criteria.
Interested participants please call our Diabetes Prevention Program coordinator at 225-924-8936.
Gestational diabetes is similar to type 2 diabetes and occurs when your body cannot use blood sugar correctly during pregnancy.
Gestational diabetes usually has no symptoms and is often diagnosed through the blood work pregnant women have during weeks 24-28 of their pregnancy.
If you had gestational diabetes when you were pregnant, you and your child have a lifelong risk for getting diabetes. Because of this risk, you need to be tested for diabetes after your baby is born, then every one to two years after delivery.
Type 1 diabetes, also called insulin-dependent diabetes, means the pancreas does not produce insulin. It occurs when the pancreas can no longer make insulin because of injury due to genetic or environmental factors, such as viruses. Type 1 diabetes occurs most often in children and young adults, and the only way to treat type 1 is by insulin injections. A good diet and regular exercise are also important in controlling blood sugar.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes include:
- Increased thirst
- Increased hunger
- Increased urination
- Sudden weight loss
- Feeling tired
Also called non-insulin dependent diabetes, type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease. Of the people who have diabetes, 90 percent have type 2.
In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas cannot keep up with the sugar in your diet, and the insulin that is being produced does not function correctly. Usually this happens because the pancreas cannot work well during periods of stress. Illness, poor diet and exercise habits and certain medications can also affect the ability of your pancreas to produce insulin.
People with type 2 diabetes tend to be over the age of 40 and overweight with a family history of type 2 diabetes, but type 2 diabetes can afflict teenagers as well.
A good meal plan and regular exercise are necessary parts of treatment. Sometimes you may need pills or insulin injections to keep good control of your blood sugar.
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:
- Feeling tired
- Dry, itchy skin
- Increased thirst
- Increased hunger
- Blurred vision
- Increased urination
- Increased infections
- Tingling or numbness in hands or feet