Pre-diabetic condition | The causes of diabetes | How to recognize diabetes on your own | Why is it important to identify a pre-diabetes condition | Treatment for prediabetes
How to avoid this serious illness and detect its first signs in time? A renowned Israeli diabetes specialist made some recommendations.
A few days ago, a 26-year-old young man was admitted to a clinic in central Israel.
In the afternoon, he got into a traffic accident, and in the evening, feeling a severe headache, he decided to seek medical help. It should be noted that the man was overweight.
On the first routine blood test, he was found to have elevated blood sugar.
The doctors did not rule out that the consequences of a road accident could be the reason for this, so they re-tested for glycated hemoglobin (sugar hemoglobin A1C). It is a measure of the average blood sugar levels over the previous 90 days.
This figure was much higher than the normal level, on the basis of which, the doctors came to the conclusion that the patient had diabetes in a latent form, and for quite some time. Therefore, it was necessary to treat not only injuries after a road accident, but also an identified endocrine disease.
I must say that this is a very common and typical story: at the initial stage, diabetes is asymptomatic, and a person can feel quite healthy.
He lives with high blood glucose, not realizing that he is either in a state of pre-diabetes or already has diabetes.
Until a period of time when blood sugar levels do not get too high, the body’s response to illness can be varied.
Pre-diabetic condition
Prediabetes refers to a condition in which a deterioration in health can occur, leading to diabetes.
In a pre-diabetic state, the body almost imperceptibly gives signals that a certain imbalance has occurred inside a person.
In the 21st century, diabetes has become a true epidemic. More than 400 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes today.
Therefore, today, more than ever, the task of identifying prediabetes at an early stage of development has become urgent.
Prediabetes is a borderline condition that can develop in 3 directions:
- To become a real diabetes that will require continuous treatment.
- Stop at the stage of prediabetes.
- Return to a healthy state.
It is important to timely detect a pre-diabetic state, as well as completely change your habits and behavior so that they do not lead to the development of real diabetes.
The causes of diabetes
- Hereditary predisposition. If a person has already had such a disease among his close relatives (parents, siblings, grandparents), then the risk of diabetes increases.
- Body mass. Being overweight leads to high blood sugar levels. The more it is, the higher the level of glucose in the blood, and hence the risk of diabetes.
- High blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood lipids.
- Men are less likely to develop diabetes than women.
- Chronic lack of sleep
- Sleep disruption or night work increases the risk of diabetes.
- Ethnic factor
Individuals at high risk need to undergo periodic examinations in medical institutions.
How to recognize diabetes on your own
Pre-diabetes and diabetes can be determined with a blood sugar test. If the glucose level is above 126 mmol / L after complete abstinence from food for 8 hours or more than 200 mmol / L after eating, then this means that the patient has hyperglycemia and is diagnosed with diabetes. Such a person needs urgent treatment.
If the glucose content is less than 100 mmol / L after an 8-hour fast or less than 140 after a meal, the diagnosis of diabetes is excluded.
If the analysis establishes the presence of a glucose level from 100 to 126 units after abstinence from food or from 140 to 200 after a meal, then the doctor ascertains the presence of a latent form of diabetes, which also requires urgent therapy.
Why is it important to identify a pre-diabetes condition
Diabetes mellitus needs to be treated not because the patient feels any pain today. The main danger of this disease is the threat of serious complications in the future: visual impairment, heart and kidney disease, the development of diseases of the nervous system and brain.
When a person starts treating diabetes at its initial stage, the blood glucose level returns to normal and begins to correspond to the glucose level before the onset of the disease, during the first 10 years of the disease.
Thus, the body begins to accumulate high quality metabolic memory.
Diagnosing and treating diabetes at an early stage is necessary not only to prevent complications, but also to prolong life.
What is the treatment for prediabetes
The transition from a pre-diabetic state to diabetes mellitus can be prevented if you follow the correct diet and engage in walking for at least 2.5 hours a week. Such measures greatly increase the possibility of complete recovery.
In some cases, the use of a hypoglycemic drug such as metformin is recommended, which is used by patients with diabetes mellitus, and also serves as a prophylactic agent for diabetes.
There are contraindications. It is necessary to consult a doctor.