Gerd, Heartburn & Reflux Disease Information

You can prevent or delay the development of complications from type 2 diabetes by keeping your blood sugar levels within a normal or near-normal range (tight control). Scientific evidence shows that tightly controlling blood sugar levels:

• Prevents the development and progression of small blood vessel (microvascular) disease and nerve disease (neuropathy).
• Slightly reduces your risk for heart and large blood vessel (macrovascular) disease from diabetes.

If you are age 30 or older, talk to your health professional about taking a low-dose, or baby, aspirin daily to help prevent heart attack, stroke, or other large blood vessel disease (macrovascular disease). People with diabetes are 2 to 4 times more likely than people who don’t have diabetes to die from heart and blood vessel diseases.

Prevention and early detection

To prevent and detect complications early:

• Don’t smoke. If you quit smoking, you will reduce your risk for developing early damage to the blood vessels caused by diabetes. For information on how to quit smoking, see the topic Quitting Tobacco Use.
• Inspect your feet daily, wear properly fitted shoes, do not go barefoot or use home remedies, and have yearly foot examinations. If you have poor vision, have someone else examine your feet daily and help you with foot and toenail care. Keep pathways in your home clear of objects that could cause a fall.
• Report blurred vision, floaters, or flashes of light to your doctor immediately, and have yearly eye exams by an ophthalmologist or optometrist.
• Have yearly urine tests for protein. At the first sign of small amounts of protein (microalbuminuria), talk with your doctor about whether you can take a high blood pressure medication, such as an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or an angiotension II receptor blocker (ARB).
• Get effective treatment for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. You may take an ACE inhibitor, ARB, or other medications to keep your blood pressure consistently below 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). You also may need to take cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins (for example, Lipitor, Zocor, or Pravachol) to reach your goals.
• Have yearly exams to test for touch and feeling sensations in your feet and legs and report any symptoms of digestive, sexual, or urinary problems or signs of hypoglycemia unawareness as soon as you notice them.

Other preventive measures

Keep your immunizations up to date. Diabetes affects your immune system, increasing your risk for having a serious case of the flu, pneumonia, or other infections. For the recommended immunization schedule, see the topic Immunizations.

If you have just a small portion on your body that is just a little imperfect then maybe you should consider mini liposuction. This is right for those who are only a little bit overweight and have a certain spot or spots on their body they want to correct. Mini lipo is a name given to any liposuction procedure that is small and not complicated. You don’t necessarily need to be obese to have liposuction. Sometimes all you need is to trim off only 2 or 3 inches of belly fat to have a perfectly flat stomach. You might think that a person could just diet and exercise such little body fat but that isn’t so easy. You can lose so much weight and once you reach the last ten pounds it’s the hardest to burn off. This is very common though, the last few pounds of fat is the most difficult to lose. This fat is named “brown fat”. If you have this then mini liposuction is all you need.

Men and women can have brown fat, it is usually located on the belly or the chest area. You know if you have brown fat if you are thin person but not exactly tight. If you still don’t get it just remember that if you are able to pinch a more than an inch then that’s what you need to focus on. You might even know this as skinny fat.

Some people have a nice figure but also have some excess fat around the knees. Mini liposuction can remove this fat and leave you with nicely shaped knees. What about behind the elbow? Yes, some people have a little extra fat back there which can simply be removed. Under the chin could also be a little too fatty for many people.

During a mini-liposuction a patient would only need local anesthesia which means they will be awake during the whole surgery. The whole process would only take up to an hour. This means there are far less risks then regular liposuction.

Recovery is very quick with minimal pain and bruising. You can resume your normal life and go back to work the next day. Keep in mind that min-lipo is still a surgical procedure and as with any kind of surgery the risk of infection in that area is still possible. You can consult with a doctor and discuss your situation with him/her. After you have learned all the risks and benefits you can then decide what you want to do.

By Cynthia Osborne

So you have decided that liposuction is what you want to have done. You have found a good surgeon with recommendation from other patients as well as a professional association. You have researched the risks and have considered the benefits. Still, you want to move forward with the liposuction, but the price tag is standing in the way. Today, with sky-rocketing medical costs and a weak economy, choosing to have an elective surgery like liposuction is not an easy choice, but there are options.

The typical costs of liposuction can begin around $2,000 and can exceed $11,000. The variation in these prices depend on several factors including how many areas of the body that you are having processed, the type of facility you use, the surgeon you selected, and the type of procedure that he or she uses.

However, these are not the only costs associated with plastic surgery. Because this type of procedure is evasive, it may likely require general anesthesia, which costs money. If the work to be done is extensive you may need an anesthesiologist, which also increases your total costs. All said and done, however, an average liposuction will range between $2,500 and $3,000.

Still, money is a concern, which is stopping you from moving forward. However, there are ways to finance the procedure so you can look better now while paying the money back later. The quickest way to pay for your procedure is to use your credit card. This automatically transfers the fees into monthly payments that you may already be making.

However, this should only be an option if you have a good rate on your credit card. If you charge $3000 on a card that has an interest rate of 29% (and it is not unreasonable to have such cards today), your monthly payment would be $127 over 3 years. Additionally, your procedure, with interest would be almost $4500. At 15%, your payment would be $105 over 3 years and a total of $3800.

Another option to financing your liposuction procedure is to go through a financing company that specializes in small loans for cosmetic surgery. Some companies charge low interest rates as much as 5.9%, but even at 7-14% this is a much better value than several credit cards. There are various companies worth considering that can be found on the Internet.

Also, ask your surgeon or the facility that you would be using for the procedure if they have payment schedules. This way, the payments are taken care of in-house and you do not have to deal with a separate company.

Still, the facility is likely to charge you interest as well because you are technically borrowing money. However, some facilities allow you to pay over a 3-month period that greatly reduces the amount of interest you would pay on a loan.

The most cost effective way to pay for your liposuction is to set up a separate savings account or possible even a CD account with a decent interest rate. Have a portion of your income go into that account monthly until you have the necessary amount. Although you will have to wait to have the procedure you really want now, you will save money in the long run.

By A Aaronson