Diabetes

Diabetes is most easily defined as a condition that results from your blood glucose, or blood sugar levels, being too high. The foods that you eat generate glucose. A hormone that your body makes, insulin, helps regulate your glucose and get it into your cells to create energy. Insufficient or non-functioning insulin makes glucose stay in your blood. 

What Types of Diabetes Exist?

There are two types of diabetes possible. When you have Type 1, your body is unable to make insulin. With Type 2, which is more common, your body does not make enough insulin or use it well. Another form is gestational diabetes, which occurs in pregnant women, and increases your risk of becoming a Type 2 diabetic. 

Many also live with a condition called prediabetes. People living with this condition have higher-than-normal blood glucose levels but have not yet reached diabetic levels. You are more likely to become a Type 2 diabetic when you have prediabetes and may experience some of the more common diabetic complications further down the road.

What Are the Possible Health Problems Associated with This Condition?

Serious problems can occur when your glucose levels are too high. Nerve damage, kidney disease, and eye problems can result from high blood sugar. Strokes and heart disease are also common with uncontrolled diabetes, as well as the risk of amputation due to impaired arm or leg circulation.  

How is Diabetes Diagnosed?

UTIs can spread to other parts of your urinary tract if left untreated. This is called pyelonephritis and becomes a more serious health problem at this stage. This condition can lead to scary There are blood tests that can make a diabetic diagnosis. Routine lab work will help reveal whether your glucose levels are within reasonable ranges. This lab work can be done at Amarillo STAT Care. The A1C test is a test that you will have regularly post-diagnosis to monitor your glucose levels. ng of your kidneys, causing them to lose their ability to effectively remove waste from your blood and produce urine.

Risk Factors and Prevention

A family history with diabetic relatives, having been prediabetic, or having had gestational diabetes all increase your risk for developing this condition. Overweight or obese people or those with inactive lifestyles have a greater risk of developing the condition as well.

Ethnicity plays a role, with African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders, and Latino populations having a higher risk. People over the age of 45 have an elevated risk, as well as people living with high blood pressure or cholesterol levels, heart disease or stroke history, and depression. 

Maintaining a regular diet, keeping a healthy weight, and exercising can help you manage your condition, and if only prediabetic, keep yourself from becoming a diabetic. Take all prescribed medications and monitor your sugar levels.

Treatments

Every patient will have a different course of treatment, depending on their other conditions, age, and blood sugar levels at diagnosis. It is important for diabetic patients to carefully follow the treatment plan their doctor or healthcare provider decides to use. The more diabetics take charge of their health, the more they can avoid serious and possibly deadly complications.

Patients living with Type 1 diabetes will require insulin to survive. Although commonly taken using a syringe, some patients might receive their insulin through a pump. Patients with Type 1 need to be very careful about their diets.

Some Type 2 patients may be able to manage their diabetes primarily through diet and exercise. When a patient can pursue managing their symptoms by lifestyle, having a diet plan devised by a nutritionist is key. It is important for such patients to find an exercise routine that they will keep up with. 

Patients with Type 2 may take oral medications or non-insulin injectables to manage their diabetes more effectively. Oral medications are taken once or twice a day, and may also be taken with insulin. Non-insulin injectables can be taken with other medications and are usually dosed for use once or twice a day.

If you're diabetic and need regular medical treatment, Amarillo STAT Care in Amarillo, TX is here to help.