Preventing Complications

Because you've been managing your type 2 diabetes diabetes for a while now, you probably already know that keeping your blood sugar levels within your target range is the best way to reduce your risk of other health problems. The higher your blood sugar level, the greater your risk for developing eye, kidney, heart, blood vessel, and nerve disease.⁶

Just focus on one day at a time, and:

• Make healthy food choices, and lose weight if you need to.
• Be active.
• Test your blood sugar levels.
• Keep high blood pressure and high cholesterol under control.
• Take medicines, such as metformin (Glucophage) or insulin, if you need them.

And if you smoke, quit.Quitting smoking can help you reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

For tips on how to do these things, see the Home Treatment section of this topic.

Get the tests you need

Make sure to schedule the important tests you need to monitor diabetes and watch for complications. These include:

• An eye exam.
• A hemoglobin A1c test to check your blood sugar levels.
• A foot exam.
• A blood pressure test.
• Cholesterol tests.
• A urine test to check for protein.

Flu shots

Diabetes affects your immune system. This increases your risk for getting sick. It's important to keep your flu shots and other immunizations up to date. Getting sick can make your blood sugar harder to control, so avoid illness if you can. See the topic Immunizations for guidelines on these and other shots.

Daily aspirin

People with diabetes have a higher risk of dying from heart and blood vessel diseases than people who don't have diabetes.¹ Talk to your doctor about whether you should take low-dose aspirin. Daily low-dose aspirin (81 milligrams) may help prevent heart problems if you are at risk for heart attack or stroke.