How To Find Out Diabetes

Can Diabetes Be Cured Or Reversed

How do I know if I have diabetes?

Although these seem like simple questions, the answers are not so simple. Depending on the type of your diabetes and its specific cause, it may or may not be possible to reverse your diabetes. Successfully reversing diabetes is more commonly called achieving remission.

Type 1 diabetes is an immune system disease with some genetic component. This type of diabetes cant be reversed with traditional treatments. You need lifelong insulin to survive. Providing insulin through an artificial pancreas is the most advanced way of keeping glucose within a tight range at all times most closely mimicking the body. The closest thing toward a cure for Type 1 is a pancreas transplant or a pancreas islet transplant. Transplant candidates must meet strict criteria to be eligible. Its not an option for everyone and it requires taking immunosuppressant medications for life and dealing with the side effects of these drugs.

Its possible to reverse prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes with a lot of effort and motivation. Youd have to reverse all your risk factors for disease. To do this means a combination of losing weight, exercising regularly and eating healthy . These efforts should also lower your cholesterol numbers and blood pressure to within their normal range. Bariatric surgery has been shown to achieve remission in some people with Type 2 diabetes. This is a significant surgery that has its own risks and complications.

/8fitness Tips For People With Diabetes

Try to get some kind of activity everyday. If you are not used to exercising, just start with a 10 minute walk, 3 times a day. You can even walk around the house for a dedicated time period if it is difficult to find a way to go out for a walk.

Along with basic walking, work on your muscle strength. You can do this from simpler exercises like yoga, or more intense like doing push-ups.

Set a step goal and try to achieve it everyday. Ensure a healthy daily diet for best results.

Who Should Be Tested For Type 2 Diabetes

Most often, people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes through routine screening tests. Routine screening means that you are tested because you may be at risk of having diabetes, even when you dont have any signs or symptoms.

Routine screening for diabetes typically starts at age 45. You should be screened sooner if you have:

high blood pressure
acanthosis negricans, a skin condition
a family history of type 2 diabetes
a history of gestational diabetes or youve given birth to a baby weighing over 9 pounds
Black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Alaska Native, or Pacific Islander descent
a low level of HDL cholesterol or a high triglyceride level
a sedentary lifestyle

Routine screening uses blood tests to check for signs of diabetes.

Next, lets take a closer look at some blood tests commonly used to diagnose diabetes.

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Blood Tests Used To Diagnose Diabetes

We will explain below the different blood tests that could be used to diagnose your diabetes. Your doctor will ask you about any symptoms you have and will then decide which type of blood test to use.

Having blood tests doesnt need to be worrying, theyre straightforward and shouldnt take very long. Depending on the test you have you may be required to fast beforehand. If you do need to fast, a healthcare professional will let you know in advance.

Symptoms Diagnosis And Monitoring Of Diabetes

Nearly 33 million American adults have Type 2 diabetes and many dont know it. Type 1 diabetes often remains undiagnosed until symptoms become so severe that hospitalization is required.

Both of these facts speak to a larger truth: Left untreated, diabetes can cause many health complications. Thats why its crucial to know the warning signs and to see a healthcare professional regularly for routine wellness screenings.

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How Is Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosed

Doctors use a blood test that measures the amount of sugar in the blood. High blood sugars show that a child has diabetes. Then, the doctor will do more blood tests to find out what type it is.

Kids with type 1 diabetes often go to a pediatric endocrinologist. This kind of doctor finds and treats problems affecting hormones, like diabetes.

How Age Affects A T1d Diagnosis

There are some side effects in the overall health of a person with T1D that present themselves in time. Diabetic eye disease and kidney, nerve or circulation damage can appear in people who have had T1D for 15 years or more. With proper maintenance and routine checkups, these effects can often be limited or avoided altogether.

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How To Prevent Dizziness In Diabetes

Regular Blood Sugar Monitoring: Monitoring your blood sugar levels regularly will help you detect any sudden variations. This reduces the chances of any complications and related symptoms such as dizziness.
Diet and Exercise: Following a balanced diet and exercising regularly is crucial in the management of diabetes. This will help keep your sugar levels in check and avoid unwanted complications that can affect the quality of your life.
Proper Hydration: Frequent urination and constant thirst are common symptoms of diabetes. Therefore, it is important that you stay hydrated to prevent dehydration and avoid symptoms such as dizziness.
Follow the 15:15 Rule: This is an effective way to manage a sudden drop in your blood sugar levels. The 15-15 rule suggests that you have 15 grams of fast-acting carbohydrates and check your blood sugar levels after 15 minutes. If it is still below 70 mm/hg have a serving. This will help prevent dizziness that results from low blood sugar or hypoglycemia.

What Happens During A Diabetes Test

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Diabetes is usually tested by using a blood glucose test. Normally, a blood sample is taken from your vein and sent to a pathology lab for analysis.

There are different types of blood tests. You may be asked to fast overnight beforehand or you may not need to prepare. You may be asked to take an oral glucose tolerance test. For this test, you are asked to fast, have a blood sample taken, then drink a sugary drink provided for you and have another blood sample taken 2 hours later.

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People with diabetes are advised to check their blood sugar often to know their levels and take necessary steps to prevent your condition from worsening. It is important to stick to the medications prescribed by your doctor and if you feel sick, consult your doctor again to adjust your insulin. Maintain a healthy, active and balanced lifestyle to keep your blood sugar levels in the healthy target range.

Who Should Be Tested For Prediabetes And Diabetes

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that you should be tested if you are:

A family history of diabetes
Are African-American, Asian-American, Latino/Hispanic-American, Native American or of Pacific Islander descent
Have a history of gestational diabetes or delivering a baby more than nine pounds

If your blood glucose levels are normal, you should be tested about every three years. If you have prediabetes, you should be checked for diabetes every one to two years after that diagnosis.

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How Often Do I Need To See My Primary Diabetes Healthcare Professional

In general, if you are being treated with insulin shots, you should see your doctor at least every three to four months. If you are treated with pills or are managing diabetes through diet, you should be seen at least every four to six months. More frequent visits may be needed if your blood sugar is not controlled or if complications of diabetes are worsening.

How Type 2 Diabetes Is Diagnosed

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Diagnosing type 2 diabetes requires a series of lab tests looking for markers of elevated glucose, or blood sugar. Such tests are necessary, as type 2 diabetes may or may not have noticeable symptoms, or symptoms may crossover with other conditions.

The diagnosis often is made during an annual physical or checkup. Your healthcare provider may order a hemoglobin A1C test, a fasting blood sugar test, or an oral glucose tolerance test as part of regular screening to check blood sugar levels and to help determine if you have diabetes.

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Shop For Diabetes Supplies

What supplies do you need to manage your diabetes? Heres a quick rundown of frequently used tools.

Common diabetes supplies:

Blood glucose meter: Ask if a complimentary meter is provided or if your health care provider suggests a monitor. If not, ask about rebates and check your health plan coverage for these supplies.

Blood glucose test strips: These are expensive get a prescription from your health care provider. Depending on the health plan, a certain number of strips may be covered.

Lancing device: Used to obtain a blood sample for a test strip.

Lancet: A needle used in the lancing device.

Medicine: Oral or injectable drugs prescribed by your health care provider.

Syringes: For insulin or other injectable drugs. Or pen needles for insulin pens and other injectable pens.

Sharps container: To contain used lancets and needles. You can use a hard plastic container with a lid, such as a laundry detergent or bleach bottle.

Medical identification: A card, bracelet, or necklace.

Food, activity, and blood glucose journal, record book, or mobile app: To help you track what you eat, activity, stress, and medications and the effects they have on your blood sugar levels. This will also help your health care provider make recommendations for your diabetes management.

What Insulin Medications Are Approved To Treat Diabetes

There are many types of insulins for diabetes. If you need insulin, you healthcare team will discuss the different types and if they are to be combined with oral medications. To follow is a brief review of insulin types.

Rapid-acting insulins: These insulins are taken 15 minutes before meals, they peak at one hour and work for another two to four hours. Examples include insulin glulisine , insulin lispro and insulin aspart .
Short-acting insulins: These insulins take about 30 minutes to reach your bloodstream, reach their peak effects in two to three hours and last for three to six hours. An example is insulin regular .
Intermediate-acting insulins: These insulins reach your bloodstream in two to four hours, peak in four to 12 hours and work for up to 18 hours. An example in NPH.
Long-acting insulins: These insulins work to keep your blood sugar stable all day. Usually, these insulins last for about 18 hours. Examples include insulin glargine , insulin detemir and insulin degludec .

There are insulins that are a combination of different insulins. There are also insulins that are combined with a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication .

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Can Diabetes Be Prevented

Type 1 diabetes cant be prevented.

You may be able to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by managing your weight, staying active, and following a healthy diet. However, genetics and other risk factors may increase your risk despite your best efforts.

If you have any risk factors for diabetes, its important to get regular checkups with your doctor or healthcare professional. This will help prevent diabetes from progressing and causing other serious health complications.

What Diabetes Can Do

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High blood sugar can impact different parts of your body:

Eyes. Diabetes raises your odds of having vision problems, including blindness. It can cause:

Cataracts. The lens of your eye gets cloudy.
Glaucoma. This can damage the nerve that connects your eye to your brain and keep you from seeing well.
Retinopathy. This involves changes to the retina in the back of your eyes.

Heart. Years of high blood sugar may harm your bodyâs blood vessels and nerves that take care of your heart. That raises your chance of having heart disease. It can cause heart failure early on and heart attacks or strokes later. High blood pressure and high cholesterol make the problems even more likely.

Kidneys. Diabetes can affect blood vessels in your kidneys, too, so they may not work as well. After many years of trouble, they might stop working.

Feet. High blood sugar can harm blood flow and damage nerves, and that may cause cuts, scrapes, or sores to heal slowly. You may lose some feeling in your feet, which keeps you from noticing injuries that can get infected. If an infection gets serious, it might mean you need to have a foot removed.

Nerves. If high blood sugar damages your nerves, called diabetic neuropathy, you might feel pain, tingling, or numbness, especially in your feet.

Skin. Diabetes may make you more likely to have yeast infections, itching, or brown or scaly patches.

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What Should My Blood Glucose Level Be

Ask your healthcare team what your blood glucose level should be. They may have a specific target range for you. In general, though, most people try to keep their blood glucose levels at these targets:

Before a meal: between 80 and 130 mg/dL.
About two hours after the start of a meal: less than 180 mg/dL.

How Does Fruit Affect Blood Sugar

Because they have carbohydrates, fruits will raise your blood sugar. So itâs important to count the carbs you eat and balance them with medicine, diet, and lifestyle choices. If youâre having trouble keeping your blood sugar under control, let your doctor know right away.

One serving of fruit has 15 grams of carbs. But the serving size can be very different depending on the type of fruit. For example, you get 15 grams of carbs from:

1/2 medium apple or banana
1 cup blackberries or raspberries
3/4 cup blueberries
1 1/4 cup whole strawberries
1 cup cubed honeydew melon
1/8 cup raisins

Carbs arenât the only number to keep in mind. The glycemic index measures how a food affects your blood sugar. Foods that are low on the scale raise it slowly. Those high on the scale raise it quickly.

Eating mostly low-GI foods can help you keep control of your blood sugar. But they may not always be good for you. A candy bar and a cup of brown rice can have the same GI value. Be sure to keep nutrition in mind when choosing what to eat.

A large serving of a low-GI food will usually raise your blood sugar as much as a small amount of a high-GI food. So experts also use glycemic load , a measurement that involves portion size as well as the GI number, to give more details about these effects. For example, an orange has a GI of 52 but a glycemic load of 4.4, which is low. A candy bar with a GI of 55 may have a GL of 22.1, which is high.

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Blood Tests For Diagnosing Diabetes

Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can be diagnosed using blood tests. These include:

A random plasma glucose test, which measures blood sugar at a single point in time
A fasting blood glucose test, which is done after the person fasts for at least eight hours
An oral glucose tolerance test , which involves fasting overnight, having a blood test, then drinking a sugary drink and having the blood sugar checked over the course of two hours
An A1C test, which is a blood test that shows the average blood sugar over the past three months

Here are blood test results that indicate diabetes:

Random plasma glucose: 200 mg/dl or above
Fasting blood glucose: 126 mg/dl or above
OGTT: 200 mg/dl or above
A1C: 6.5% or above

Diagnosis of diabetes requires two abnormal screening test results, either from the same sample or in two separate test samples, according to the American Diabetes Association, unless there is a clear clinical diagnosis with classic symptoms of hyperglycemia .

Its important to note that these blood test results dont distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Another potential indicator of type 1 diabetes is the presence of ketones in the urine. A lack of insulin causes fat to be used for energy, and this process forms substances called ketones. However, people with type 2 diabetes may also have ketones, although its not as common as it is with type 1 diabetes.

Dont Have Time To Read

Dizziness is a feeling of being lightheaded, weak, or unsteady. Dizziness itself is not a disease and is rather a symptom of another condition.
Dizziness can be one of the symptoms of diabetes that can occur as a result of the condition itself, due to other health issues alongside, or as a side effect of certain medications.
Diabetics may experience dizziness due to hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, dehydration, certain medications , or vestibular dysfunction.
When you feel dizzy, avoid sudden movements. Sit down or lie down with your eyes closed until you feel better. Have more fluids and avoid the use of caffeine or alcohol as it can worsen the condition.
If the dizziness is due to low blood sugar levels, doctors may recommend that you follow the 15:15 rule. In cases where your blood sugar is severely low, you may need a hormone called glucagon.
Dizziness due to high blood sugar can be managed by regular physical activities, a healthy balanced diet and proper medications. If certain medications are causing dizziness, make sure to talk to your doctor about it and do the needful.
Monitoring your blood sugar levels regularly, taking your medications as prescribed, following a balanced diet and regular exercise are some ways to prevent symptoms such as dizziness associated with diabetes.

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