I have written that what doctors don’t know about diabetes can kill you. The same goes for what you don’t know. Nearly one in seven Americans is a diabetic. Significantly, almost 25% of those with diabetes are not aware that they are diabetics.
Diabetes can kill. It can kill slowly by gradually damaging the heart, the kidneys, the liver and the circulatory system. It can kill rapidly by causing diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal condition in which the body’s metabolism gets so far out of balance that it can no longer support life. The key to surviving diabetes is knowledge. First, the knowledge that you have diabetes. Second, the knowledge of what to do to keep your blood sugars in check and how to recognize when your metabolic system is beginning to get out of balance.
If you have already been diagnosed with diabetes, you should have received some education about your particular form of diabetes and how to manage it. Follow that education and you have the potential to live a long and satisfying life. Allow your blood sugars to run high on a regular basis and you will likely end up with heart disease, pain in the extremities, and perhaps limb amputations. Not good.
If you have not been diagnosed with diabetes, take a look at your risk factors. Is there a family history of diabetes? Are you overweight? Do you exercise regularly? Do you have high blood pressure? Are you over 40? All of these are risk factors for diabetes.
If you have one or more risk factors for diabetes, and even if you don’t, you should get regular physical examinations, which should include blood and urine testing. A simple blood test will determine if your blood sugar levels are high or in the normal range. If they are high, more testing is in order to determine if you are a diabetic.
Listen to your body. Diabetes can come on suddenly. Infections can trigger latent diabetes and precipitate what is called a hyperglycemic crisis, an extremely dangerous and quick rise in blood sugars. Signs of extreme hyperglycemia are excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, lethargy, vision changes, and confusion. Excessive thirst, frequent urination and fatigue are the first signs. Vision changes and confusion are late signs and indicate the need for immediate treatment.
For reasons that still puzzle doctors, Type 1 diabetes is on the rise in the industrialized world. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks the part of the pancreas that produces insulin. Without insulin to convert sugar in the blood to energy, a Type 1 diabetic will die.
Type 2 diabetes is also on the rise, although for better understood reasons. In Type 2 diabetes, the body still makes insulin but the amount is either not enough or the body is not able to effectively use the insulin it makes. The rise in Type 2 diabetes is related to our sedentary lifestyles and increasing consumption of highly processed foods.
Don’t let your lack of knowledge about diabetes kill or seriously injure you.
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