My Diabetes My Way: September 2023 Update

Welcome to the My Diabetes My Way Newsletter for September 2023.

Diabetes and Blood Pressure
This month My Diabetes My Way is focusing on blood pressure. Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure your heart uses to push blood through your blood vessels and around your body. By maintaining your BP to target you are protecting your blood vessels.

You may not always be aware if your BP is elevated as symptoms may not be obvious, but it can be harmful to your health if left untreated. This is due to the increased pressure placed on your heart, eyes, kidneys and other organs.

For more information watch this video: https://mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk/resources/video/diabetes-and-blood-pressure/

Things you can do to help improve or maintain a safe blood pressure target include changes to the following lifestyle factors:

Stopping smoking
Increasing exercise, if you can
Reducing stress
Maintaining a healthy balanced diet
Limiting alcohol intake

Some people have started to regularly check their blood pressure at home. If you are considering home monitoring always check with your health care team first to make sure you are doing this accurately.

By registering to access your records on My Diabetes My Way you can access a record of your BP measurements and always know your numbers. You can use the service to:

Find out your latest BP reading
Understand what the results mean
Set goals if your BP needs improvement
Record your own home BP results

You can also find further information to discuss with your healthcare team. If treatment is required, your doctor or nurse will be able to give you advice.

National Cholesterol Month 2023
October is "National Cholesterol Month", aiming to raise awareness of the impact that cholesterol can have on your heart and arteries. You can read more about cholesterol and how you can make changes to it at the following link: https://heartresearch.org.uk/ht-national-cholesterol-month/

My Diabetes My Way also contains information on cholesterol and how to reduce your risk of complications: https://mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk/resources/video/cholesterol-reducing-your-risk-of-complications/

This Diabetes UK video also explains more:
https://mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk/resources/video/diabetes-and-cholesterol/

Website Updates
We have been making some updates to the My Diabetes My Way website, including an update to our publications page. This page provides links to all the journal articles that have been published on the impact of the platform, and references recent Scottish Government policy documents that refer to the service: https://mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk/my-diabetes/publications/

Facebook and Twitter
Please remember, you can keep up-to-date with the latest news and useful information on the My Diabetes My Way Facebook and Twitter pages.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mydiabetesmyway
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mydiabetesmyway

Help and Support

If you have not yet managed to gain access to your diabetes records on My Diabetes My Way, or would like an update on the status of your registration, please let us know. You can contact us regarding any problems or request further help and support by emailing: mydiabetes.myway@nhs.scot

Thank you for your continued support.