Diabetes is a group of conditions that affect how your body uses sugar for fuel. One in four people with diabetes don’t know they have it. Without treatment, diabetes can lead to serious health complications like heart and kidney disease. What’s the good news? By making lifestyle changes, you may be able to avoid developing diabetes and avoid the complications if you do have it.
Types of diabetes
“Blood sugar, also known as glucose, becomes too high with diabetes. Normally, our body’s turn the food we eat into glucose to be used as fuel for our tissues and organs like the brain, heart and muscles,” explains Helen Arnold, D.O., primary care physician.
There are three types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes commonly occurs in childhood but can develop at any age. In type 1 diabetes the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that lowers blood sugar.
- Type 2 diabetes is the most common and tends to develop after age 40. The body doesn’t use insulin well in type 2 diabetes.
- Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes after pregnancy
Prediabetes is a condition where blood sugar is higher than normal but diabetes has not yet developed. Having prediabetes increases your risk for diabetes.
Signs and symptoms
Regular blood work may show signs of diabetes but you may also notice some symptoms.
Common symptoms of diabetes include:
- Frequent urination
- Increased thirst
- Blurred vision
- Decreased feeling or pain in hands and feet
- Unexplained weight loss (type 1)
- Slow healing cuts, sores or wounds
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Frequent infections
Treatment of diabetes
Diabetes is a highly treatable condition. Treatment commonly includes a combination of the following:
- Changes to diet
- Increase in physical activity and exercise
- Medications
- Preventing complications by getting flu and pneumonia shots and not using tobacco
“Quite often, simple lifestyle changes like eating a healthy diet and moving more can dramatically improve blood sugar and reduce the need for medication,” says Dr. Arnold.
Get screened if you're at risk
“Some factors like age and health history increase your risk for diabetes. If you’re at increased risk, you should be screened even if you don’t have symptoms,” says Dr. Arnold.
Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include:
- Older than 45 years of age
- Overweight or obese
- Diagnosed with prediabetes, gestational diabetes, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome , high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease
- Family history of diabetes
Don't go it alone
Expert help is important for preventing, diagnosing and treating diabetes. Primary care physicians and endocrinologists are medical experts when it comes to diabetes.
Certified diabetes educators and registered dietitians can also provide diabetes education and guidance on managing diabetes.
Ask your provider about a referral to one of the Riverside Wellness and Fitness Centers to start a prescription exercise course called the R.I.S.E. Program.
If you don’t have a primary care provider, Riverside can help you find a doctor.
Don’t go it alone, make an appointment with a diabetes expert at one of our many diabetes services locations today.
