Diabetes

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a common chronic disease that affects your blood glucose or sugar in your blood. In diabetes, your blood sugar is consistently too high due to lack of insulin or the inability to use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone that moves sugar from your blood to other cells within the body.

Type 2 diabetes usually develops in adults over 40 and occurs when your body doesn’t use insulin properly. In type 1 diabetes, which often appears in childhood, the body doesn’t make enough insulin. Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and may go away after delivery. If you have prediabetes, your blood sugar is higher than normal, but you don’t yet have diabetes.

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

If you notice one or more of the following symptoms, see the team at Hale Family Practice for diabetes screening:

• Frequent infections
• Extreme hunger
• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Unintentional weight loss
• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Blurry vision
• Slow-healing sores

If left untreated, complications of uncontrolled diabetes include nerve damage, heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, and vision problems. That’s why early detection and treatment is so crucial.

What are the risk factors for diabetes?

Diabetes results from genetic or lifestyle factors or combinations of the two. Type 1 diabetes is genetic, and type 2 diabetes has genetic predispositions as well as the following risk factors:

• Having polycystic ovary syndrome in women
• Being inactive
• A family history of diabetes
• Older age
• Being overweight
• Being Hispanic, American Indian, African American, or Asian
• Having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high triglycerides

If you have one or more diabetes risk factors, the team at Hale Family Practice may recommend a diabetes screening test for early detection.

How is diabetes treated?

The basis of your personalized diabetes treatment plan from Hale Family Practice depends on the type of diabetes you have. Your provider might recommend:

Lifestyle changes

If you have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, your Hale Family Practice provider works with you to get your blood sugar under control using nutrition, weight loss, and healthy weight management. They may recommend regular exercise and help you plan diabetes meals and menus. If you have prediabetes, lifestyle changes can reverse your condition and prevent type 2 diabetes.

Medications

Diabetes medications control blood sugar, too. Always take your medications as directed.

Insulin injections

Insulin injections control blood sugar when your body doesn’t make enough insulin on its own. The injections are necessary for type 1 diabetics and sometimes for people with type 2 diabetes.

The team at Hale Family Practice follows up with you every three months to monitor your blood sugar control. They can adjust medications as needed to fine-tune your diabetes treatment plan.

Don’t let uncontrolled diabetes cause serious health complications that hinder your quality of life. Schedule an appointment with Hale Family Practice by phone or request one online today.