80% of people don’t know they have Prediabetes: Easily avoid Type 2 Diabetes
There are 322 million people in the United States(1). This scary statistic from the CDC:
Approximately 96 million American adults—more than 1 in 3—have prediabetes. Of those with prediabetes, more than 80% don’t know they have it.
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/prediabetes.html
While it seems like a small percentage of the population, the scary part is that 80% of the 96M people don’t know they have prediabetes. Diabetes is a horrible lifelong struggle to maintain good blood sugar levels, if left uncontrolled it can manifest with several of the following symptoms:
- Increased thirst
- Frequent urination
- Extreme hunger
- Unexplained weight loss
- Presence of ketones in the urine (ketones are a byproduct of the breakdown of muscle and fat that happens when there’s not enough available insulin)
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Blurred vision
- Slow-healing sores
- Frequent infections, such as gums or skin infections and vaginal infections
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/symptoms-causes/syc-20371444
If you have several, 4 or more of the symptoms, especially Frequent Urination and Increased Thirst. Go see a doctor now. Don’t wait. Even if you have to go to an emergency room, these are the signs of extremely high blood sugar and it can be fatal.
Prediabetes is the warning sign that gives you time to avoid getting type 2 diabetes If I could choose to not have diabetes, I would take that choice. We will discuss what diabetes is, why you don’t want it, and how to avoid it as a prediabetic.
What is Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes is similar to type 1 but in a different direction. Diabetes is the lack of insulin to properly transform sugars into glucose that your body needs to perform work. Type 1 diabetics don’t make insulin and Type 2 diabetics don’t have enough insulin produced to handle the work.
Many systems in the body use glucose and insulin to make the whole thing work correctly. Typically the body gets slow and generally, as we get older we gain weight. The extra pounds start to spread the available insulin too thin so it can’t keep running the sugar to glucose conversion as efficiently.
The good news, if you don’t know you can test for it. Your doctor, you are seeing one, right? may already test your Hemoglobin A1c. It’s an average of your glucose levels over the last 3 months or so. If your A1c is higher than 6.4 you are starting to trend into needing additional support to maintain your blood sugar.
Now let’s see what happens if you ignore a higher A1c.
Why you don’t want diabetes – high blood sugar
High blood sugar is this feeling of ickiness in your body that doesn’t go away. When I was diagnosed my glucose level was 860. I was laying around, couldn’t move, and didn’t feel like doing anything. The water tasted bad so I drank Kool-Aid, yeah that was smart, but I didn’t know that it was contributing to the problem.
It felt like 1000 ants were moving around under my skin. My muscles ached and I lost 20 lbs. When the sugar does not get converted to glucose it creates another problem called Diabetic Keto Acidosis. Translation, Acid in your bloodstream. That acid starts to eat away at your body parts where ever the the blood goes.
That’s why diabetes has a long list of complications and failures that could happen. Because of the amount of sugar in your system, your body tries to get rid of it, so you end up going to the bathroom, a lot. Before my diagnosis, every half hour and 5 or more times a night.
Why you don’t want diabetes – low blood sugar
Low Blood sugar is nearly as bad and everyone has different indicators to alert you that your blood sugar is going down. Many people may have experienced low blood sugar after skipping a meal and staying busy. My hands used to shake, my left foot becomes heavy sometimes, a general feeling of not doing anything, losing focus on any task, and that’s just the early symptoms.
When blood sugar gets dangerously low, I have been known to say “I Don’t Know”, to simple questions like “Where are you”, or “What color is the sky”.
The scary one was once in the evening my wife pushed on me, which is usually my cue to get out of bed and go to the gym. So I did, just that, I wondered why the roads were mostly empty and Starbucks was closed. But kept going, parked walked to the front door of the gym, and was mad that it wasn’t a holiday and they weren’t open. My blood sugar was 45.
Other people have different reactions to low blood sugar. In all my years have only needed a paramedic twice and one trip to the emergency room.
Prediabetes: Now how to avoid becoming a type 2 diabetic.
There are only 2 major things that will change your life for the better, exercise and diet. I know, the same speech that everyone has been told most of their lives, but it’s true, it works. Walking as fast as you can comfortably is an amazing tool to lower blood sugar.
If you haven’t done that in a while, start walking 1 mile a day. It should take only 20 minutes or less and as it becomes more comfortable, start to add miles until you get to about 3 miles. I decided to take my advice and in January I walked 3 or more miles every day. The results were amazing, more on that later, but I reduced my daily insulin requirements by the end of those 31 days.
The other thing that will keep type 2 diabetes away is changing your diet. We have all heard this for years, but roll our eyes and mumble something incoherent. The fact is, we do drink too many sodas and eat too many chips or too much ice cream.
As we have gotten older, we like the foods we eat and don’t ever want to change. Unfortunately, those carb-rich foods we are eating are putting a strain on your system and the prediabetes warning is to change or get diabetes and all the complications that can come with it.
There is a possibility that simply changing your diet will keep diabetes away. The key to prediabetes is lowering your weight. According to the CDC, a 200-pound person needs to drop 12 to 18 pounds. Weight loss is tough for everyone. I have been the same weight since I started exercising but I haven’t changed my diet enough to get the benefit. However, the more consistent I am the more I see weight loss.
Prediabetes is your wake-up call, are you going to get it or put it on snooze. Diabetes adds more things for you to do in your day, and in our already busy lives, it’s hard to add stuff. Adding a 20 to 40 min walk every day and considering what you eat, could be a small change that keeps diabetes out of your life.
Besides, you will feel better after your body gets over the shock of walking every day. Walking with someone is time to invest in that person or time to invest in yourself by listening to books or podcasts on a topic you are interested in.
I have continued to walk since January and the time away is tough but the benefits are amazing, I think you will feel that way too. I hope you make the change to avoid diabetes completely.
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, complaints, or successes. I am here to cheer you on, you can do it, and diabetes can’t stop us.
I am not a doctor, therapist, or licensed advisor, I am a diabetic though for longer than most doctors, therapists or advisors have been in their profession. Take my advice as advice and double-check with your doctor, therapist, or advisor just to see if I am right.
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