Early detection is key to controlling diabetes

November is the start of the holiday season - a time to celebrate fun, family and food.

It also is a time to consider a medical condition for which as many as 79 million American adults are at risk of contracting: diabetes.

November is American Diabetes Month. If you aren't living with diabetes yourself, chances are that at least one of the friends or loved ones with whom you will celebrate in the coming weeks has been touched by the disease.

Diabetes is a condition that causes blood sugar levels to rise higher than normal. Our bodies break down the food we eat into glucose, or sugar, so it can be used for energy. A hormone called insulin helps the glucose to get inside our cells. When our bodies don't make enough insulin or the insulin we have isn't being used properly, sugar starts to build up in the blood.

Complications from diabetes can include blindness, heart disease, hearing loss, kidney failure, severe nerve damage leading to limb amputations and strokes.

More than 25 million Americans currently have diabetes. This number is on the rise, and more than one in three American adults suffers from prediabetes, which occurs when blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetes. People with prediabetes who do not change their lifestyles usually develop type 2 diabetes, otherwise known as adult-onset diabetes, within three years.

Changing your lifestyle to incorporate regular physical activity, weight loss, and a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables can help maintain blood sugar levels. This can help prevent diabetes in those who have prediabetes and assist those who have diabetes in better managing their disease.

The worst complications from diabetes often occur when the disease goes unchecked. With the help of healthy lifestyle changes, insulin medication and blood sugar monitoring, you and your primary care provider (PCP) can prevent these from happening.

Symptoms of diabetes include:

» Urinating often;

» Feeling very thirsty or very hungry even when you have just eaten;

» Extreme fatigue;

» Blurry vision;

» Slow-healing cuts and bruises; and

» Tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.

If this list looks familiar to you, talk to a doctor as soon as possible. If you can detect your diabetes early, you and your doctor can help control it together.

Prediabetes, unfortunately, has almost no symptoms, so people should carefully assess their risk factors for type 2 diabetes. These include:

» Being 45 years of age or older;

» Being overweight;

» A family history of type 2 diabetes;

» Engaging in physical activity less than 3 times a week;

» Having had diabetes while pregnant (gestational diabetes); and

» Having given birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds.

If one or more of these factors describes you, talk to your doctor about your risk for diabetes and get your glucose levels checked. Remember, people with diabetes often have no symptoms at all, which can delay diagnosis and treatment. Your doctor can detect diabetes easily with a simple blood test.

To learn more about diabetes and take a risk factor test, visit the American Diabetes Association at www.diabetes.org. If you're concerned that you or someone you love may be at risk, please reach out to Sovah Health. We have a range of programs to assist people of all ages in preventing and controlling diabetes. If you do not have a primary care provider, call 844.GO.SOVAH and our referral consultants can help schedule you with a PCP in our area who is accepting new patients.

Sources: American Diabetes Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.