Impaired fasting glucose
It’s a bold statement concerning impaired fasting glucose or pre-diabetes but I sincerely believe in this.
Why?
I can tell you exactly what I have in my mind, but first, let me explain what pre-diabetes means to some of you who aren’t familiar with this definition.
Hopefully, many of you are familiar with the above condition, but the real facts are different. According to the Centers of Disease Control, among Americans age 20 years and older only 10% are aware of having pre-diabetes.
It is sad news, given that almost 73 million Americans with pre-diabetes are out there, unaware about their internal ticking bomb.
Please go back and read the above statistic again, only around 7 million people are aware about having pre-diabetes and the other 66 million people don’t.
Many of these people consider themselves to be very healthy and don’t consider it necessary to see a doctor. You have probably also met similar people, haven’t you?
Pre-diabetes Definition
Pre-diabetes is simply the phase prior to being diagnosed with diabetes. The glucose levels are higher than the normal range but not high enough to reach the diabetic level.
Individuals with fasting sugar levels (not eating for at least 8 hours) of more than 99 mg/dl or hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C)—average sugar for the past 2-3 months—between 5.7 and 6.4% are considered as having pre-diabetes.
Why ignoring pre-diabetes is foolish
The first answer is very simple because ignoring pre-diabetes can lead to having full-blown diabetes with all the extras like heart attack, stroke, nerve pain , kidney failure, taking more medications, checking the sugar multiple times each day, fighting with the insurance company to cover the medications and lancets, seeing many doctors and others. These are not the only factors to consider.
The second reason why ignoring pre-diabetes is foolish is because early intervention and change can make a huge difference. It could reverse the process and save you from being another victim of ignorance.
Diabetes doesn’t develop in one night (there are a few possible exceptions). You don’t wake up in the morning and notice that you have a sugar level of 150 or 200 mg/dl. It is a process that can develop over a number of years.
We like to oversimplify things in our society. We are used to believing that most things happen in one night or suddenly. However, in reality, almost nothing— except some accidents—happen suddenly, especially when the process is related to our body and health.
Who is at risk?
I would say everybody.
Are you confused?
I can understand your confusion. Our (medical community’s) instructions or recommendations to the patients are not straightforward and easy to understand. We have a tendency to complicate things and try to avoid providing a blanket recommendation for the screening of any disease.
I know that many suggest checking the glucose in high risk patients but I believe that if we diagnose pre-diabetes early we can also reduce the number of diabetic patients later on .
Ironically, many patients at high risk of having pre-diabetes don’t consider themselves to be at risk. Since pre-diabetes doesn’t hurt, they will not seek help until it’s too late.
Not everybody with pre-diabetes will end up with diabetes
Oh, what a relief.
I am sorry if I’m a little cynical.
Some people try to downplay the true extent of this problem by saying that not every person with pre-diabetes will necessarily end up with diabetes.
However, if 50% of 73 million people are diagnosed with diabetes then there be almost 36.5 million new cases of diabetes in the next few years. This number is almost 150% higher than the current number of patients diagnosed with diabetes, which is almost 26 million.
What should you do now?
Make sure that you’re aware of your fasting sugar level or HbA1C results. If you don’t have recent blood tests then ask your doctor about it.
What if you don’t have a doctor?
If you don’t have a doctor, you should look for one. Don’t wait until the doctors come to you (it could end up being too late).
What if your sugar is high?
If your sugar is high then start working on lowering it right now (after you finished reading this article and you’ve registered for our free updates).
Learn, learn and learn more. Find out about the right ways of improving this condition and I will try to help you where I can.
I hope that this information has helped you to appreciate the importance of early diagnosis and management of pre-diabetes. Please ask your friends and family members to read this article or give them a copy as a present.
I am certain that this information will help to keep your closest people healthier and decrease the chances of going through unnecessary suffering.
The post Pre-diabetes: Why Ignoring it is Foolish appeared first on TheMedCircle- Dr.Daneschvar.