Diabetes

How does diabetes affect me?  

Diabetes or prediabetes has affected more than 100 million United States citizens.  Everyone has heard the word diabetes, and most people understand that it affects blood sugar levels but do not understand much more than that.  

Diabetes is the presence of high glucose levels in the blood due to the body’s inability to create or effectively use insulin.  Prediabetes is higher than normal blood sugar, but not in the diabetic range.  

The two types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2.  When a body cannot produce insulin, it is type 1 diabetes.  When the body does not produce enough insulin or cannot use the insulin produced to keep blood sugars in a healthy range, it is type 2 diabetes.  

Unmanaged diabetes can lead to more serious conditions, such as neuropathy (a decrease in sensation in the nerves), heart disease, hypertension, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and possible limb amputations.  

MaxHealth Family, Internal, & Sports Medicine offers diabetes management, from lifestyle changes and diet plans to medications.  Our comprehensive approach to diabetic control includes patient education, medication management, and the necessary laboratory testing needed to monitor all the possible changes that diabetes can cause.  A hemoglobin A1C test is obtained every three to four months to obtain an average daily blood sugar to make sure that the treatment plan in place is effective.