Diabetes Care

If you think you might have diabetes or have been diagnosed with the condition, you need an expert team to support you as you learn to live with this disease.

At UC San Diego Health, we take a multidisciplinary approach to provide the newest proven therapies, technologies and therapeutic lifestyle changes that can help you manage your diabetes.

We also offer shared medical appointments that let patients get more quality time with our diabetes experts. Call 858-657-1636 for an appointment.

Our team treats all forms of diabetes, including:

• Type 1 diabetes
• Type 2 diabetes
• Gestational diabetes
• Maturity onset diabetes of the young
• Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults
• Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes
• Drug and surgically induced diabetes in adults

We also offer a program to help patients transition from pediatric to adult care and a Diabetes Self-Management Program

No matter which type of diabetes you have or when you were diagnosed, we work with you to help you live well with diabetes and to manage its complications.

You may also have access to clinical trials to evaluate new tools for diabetes management.

When to See an Endocrinologist for Diabetes

An endocrinologist specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of hormone-related diseases such as diabetes. Your primary care doctor can treat diabetes but might refer you to an endocrinologist to help you manage it, especially if your treatment isn't working well or you have diabetes-related complications.

Those with type 1 diabetes especially can benefit from the expertise of an endocrinologist.

Type 1 Diabetes Treatment

At UC San Diego Health, we recognize the work that adults with type 1 diabetes and their families do every day to live with this disease. Our goal is to equip you with:

• Evidence-based therapies to live well with type 1 diabetes
• The best tools to manage blood glucose, including insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors
• Education on diabetes management tools and therapies
• Accurate, up-to-date information on diabetes and its complications
• Responsive and reliable advice for managing the highs and lows of life with type 1 diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment

Living well with type 2 diabetes requires:

• Regular blood sugar monitoring
• Weight management
• Exercise
• Oral medications as well as non-insulin injectable medications, and insulin
• Proper nutrition

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. While you may not need to take oral medication or insulin at first, over time it may become a necessary part of your diabetes management plan.

Maintaining low cholesterol and low blood pressure is essential to controlling diabetes. Many people with diabetes are unaware that diabetes raises their risk for deadly heart disease and stroke.

Weight Loss Surgery for Type 2 Diabetes

Significant weight loss improves the body’s glycemic control, greatly reducing the potentially damaging effects of high blood sugar. As the region’s only academic medical center, UC San Diego Health develops and performs the most advanced, yet minimally invasive surgical treatments for combating obesity, including:

• Sleeve gastrectomy
• Gastric banding
• Gastric bypass
• Revisional bypass surgery

These minimally invasive approaches are helping patients get their lives back by improving glycemic control. Nearly 80 percent of patients with type 2 diabetes who have bariatric surgery go into remission.

Learn More About Weight Loss Procedures

Giving Back Control

A recent study found patients who underwent bariatric surgery were more than three times more likely to gain control over their diabetes after one year, compared to a group treated with medication.

Learn More About Bariatric Surgery

Diabetes Resources

• Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) — a San Diego-based organization founded and led by UC San Diego Health Physician Steven Edelman, MD.
• American Diabetes Association (ADA)
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

Research and Clinical Trials

We collaborate as one of only 16 U.S. research centers established by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to accelerate basic science and clinical research in diabetes.

See a list of our clinical trials