March 26 is Diabetes Awareness DayDate: 3/20/2019 GREATER SPRINGFIELD – Maybe it’s the typical American diet, maybe it’s our lifestyle. Maybe it’s a trigger medical science hasn’t yet discovered. Whatever the contributing factor, Type 2 diabetes is a growing health issue across the country, with one in three Americans now at risk for the disease.
On March 26 – Diabetes Alert Day – the American Diabetes Association (ADA) urges everyone to find out if they might be one of the estimated 7.2 million adults with undiagnosed diabetes – or prediabetes – by taking a painless, six-question online test.
The test – in an interactive or printable paper version – is available at www.diabetes.org under the “Are You At Risk” tab on the upper left side of the home page. Those who take the online version get an immediate assessment of their risk.
“Just because your family doesn’t have a history of diabetes doesn’t mean you won’t get it,” Chet Galaska, diabetic and local author of “The Diabetes Book: What Everyone Should Know,” (www.amazon.com) told Reminder Publishing.
Galaska, who also founded and runs the area’s Challenge Diabetes program for Type 2 Diabetics in conjunction with the Springfield YMCA, said knowing if you have diabetes – or even prediabetes – is important because the disease can have serious long-term consequences, including blindness, heart and kidney damage, and neuropathy.
“Diabetes is very dangerous. If you don’t treat it, [the disease] is fatal,” Glalaska said. “But with today’s medical treatments and knowledge, diabetics can live long, full lives.”
The ADA’s test is a good starting point, but Galaska said it’s important those who get an assessment of even pre-diabetes follow up with their doctor. Though not considered clinical insulin resistance, a diagnosis of prediabetes means an individual’s blood sugar is approaching levels higher than normal, indicating there is already some instance of insulin resistance occurring in the body.
Insulin is a hormone naturally produced by the pancreas. It is crucial to moving glucose – which is the internal fuel for everything from muscle movement to thinking – from the blood into the cells of the body.
“When you have insulin resistance, you need more insulin to open the cells and your pancreas has to work hard to make more and more insulin,” Galaska explained. Over time the body’s cells become more and more insulin resistant and the levels of glucose in an individual’s blood rises above the normal level, indicating a progression of the disease.
“Type 2 diabetes is initiated by a condition called insulin resistance,” Galaska said, adding, “You can have insulin resistance for a long time and not know it.”
In all cases – prediabetes, insulin resistance and even Type 2 diabetes – lifestyle changes can be an important factor in managing the disease, according to Galaska.
“You can keep you blood sugar under control if you watch your diet and not put a lot of carbs in your body and you can also exercise – and that’s the best kept secret because exercise drops you blood sugar,” Galaska said. “By doing those two things you can preserve your pancreas because it is not having to work so hard to overcome insulin resistance.”
Individuals coping with Type 2 diabetes who would like to learn more about Galaska’s Challenge Diabetes program and how it can help with disease management can visit www.challengediabetes.us. For a schedule of upcoming Challenge Diabetes classes, call 636-5582.
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