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Recognizing Diabetes & How to Avoid It

Recognizing Diabetes & How to Avoid It
Diabetes doesn’t differentiate between young or old, but instead it keeps increasing worldwide. Unfortunately, Egypt ranks among the top 10 countries with high risk of diabetes. Here we’ll discuss with you everything you need to know about what diabetes is, its types, and how to know if you have it or not.

What’s Diabetes?
To put it simply, diabetes describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar) levels, either because insulin production is inadequate, or because cells don’t respond properly to insulin, or both.

3 Types of Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes
The bodies of patients with Type 1 Diabetes don’t produce insulin, which means that glucose keeps increasing. This type is also known as  juvenile diabetes, or early-onset diabetes because it begins at an early age: 20 years old, and in some cases younger. Around 10% of all diabetes cases are Type 1.

Type 2 Diabetes
This type is the opposite of early-onset diabetes; the pancreas produces insulin but the cells don’t use, also known as insulin resistance. The risk of this type often increases after 45 and older. 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are Type 2.

Type 3: Gestational diabetes
In some pregnancies women may not be able to produce enough insulin to transport glucose into the cells, resulting in high blood sugar levels. Up to 10% of pregnant women get diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Pre-Diabetes
This is the phase where each decision you make can save you from diabetes or not. Many people have above-normal blood sugar levels without classifying as diabetic, which is known as pre-diabetes. What to look for to know if you need take diabetes tests:

Peeing frequently, particularly at night
Excessive thirst
Unexplained weight loss with loss of muscle bulk
Extreme hunger
Sudden vision changes
Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
Feeling very tired much of the time
Very dry skin
Cuts or wounds that heal slowly
However, not all people show the same symptoms. You can help protect yourself by identifying the risk factors:

older age
excess weight, particularly around the waist
family history
certain ethnicities
physical inactivity
poor diet

Identified your risk factors and pre-diabetic symptoms? The next step is taking the appropriate tests. Early testing and discovery can help delay or even prevent the development of Type 2 Diabetes.

Diabetes Tests & Diagnosis
Diabetes is discovered through several blood tests, which is always better done with professionals for accuracy and proper testing. These tests include:

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test
For the most reliable results, it is best to have this test in the morning, after fasting for at least 8 hours with no drinks or food except for small amounts of water.

A1C test
The A1C test is a blood test maps out your average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. The test is also called hemoglobin A1C, HbA1C, glycated hemoglobin, and glycosylated hemoglobin test. It doesn’t require fasting and considers factors such as age and whether you have anemia or another blood related problem. The A1C test is not accurate for people with anemia

The results are reported as percentages, such as an A1C of 7%. Higher percentages indicate higher average blood glucose levels.

Random plasma glucose (RPG) test
Sometimes healthcare professionals use the RPG test to diagnose diabetes when diabetes symptoms are present. No fasting is needed and the test can be taken at any time in the day.

Glucose challenge test
This test is suitable for pregnant women, as it shows how well the woman’s body handles glucose. They can the glucose challenge test, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), or both; to test for gestational diabetes.

Tabibi doctors can test for diabetes at Tabibi clinics or right at your home anywhere in Greater Cairo. We use the latest diabetes testing devices. Call us now on 16724.