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Top Risk Factors for a Diabetes Diagnosis

Diabetes isn’t simply a random occurrence or something that you can just catch from strangers like other diseases. There are typically other risk factors involved that you need to watch out for that may lead to being diagnosed with diabetes.

The risk factors differ slightly between the two types of diabetes, since type 1 can’t be prevented but type 2 can. In both types, family history is extremely important. If one of your parents or siblings has diabetes, you’re immediately at much greater risk, since it’s somewhat hereditary.

Another very important factor is your weight. While this is more important with type 2 diabetes, it still applies to both to some extent. You can greatly decrease your chance of getting type 2 diabetes by keeping your weight at a normal level and not allowing obesity to creep in.

Activity levels are important, too. People who are more active experience fewer cases of diabetes diagnosis than those who live a more sedentary lifestyle. This may be because exercise allows your body to utilize the blood sugar more effectively.

Ethnicity is another risk factor in the development of diabetes. Certain ethnicities are more likely to get a diagnosis – including Hispanics, Paicific Islanders, American Indians, Asian and African Americans.

Age is another important risk factor. As you grow older, your risk for developing the disease rises. Those over the age of 45 begin seeing their blood sugar numbers rise, often leading to a type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

If you had gestational diabetes while you were pregnant, or delivered a baby weighing more than nine pounds, then the chances of you developing full blown diabetes after you give birth are also increased. It may not happen instantly, but down the road it could have an impact.

Other medical conditions – such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or triglycerides, or PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) can also be contributors to type 2 diabetes.

Other health concerns – primarily heart disease or having had a stroke previously – can also mean you’re headed for a diabetes diagnosis in your near future. So having an overall plan of attack for better health is important.

Even your mental health plays a vital role in staving off diabetes. Stress hormones can contribute to your body’s inability to properly use insulin, so if you’re depressed or experience chronic stress or anxiety, you’re setting yourself up for a diabetes diagnosis.

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Stress is a Serious Contributor to Diabetes

One of the most serious and common issues that diabetics face isn’t an issue concerning bodily damage or anything strictly physical, but rather something mental: stress.

Stress is something that people all around the world, both diabetics and non-diabetics, struggle with fairly often. For diabetics, stress affects them a bit differently on a technical level.

When your body’s stress hormones are activated, they cause your body to begin producing extra hormones and stocking up on glucose. In nature, this was helpful for us so that we could be prepared to fight or run in the event of an attack by another human or by an animal.

However, these days, stress is caused by less urgent things, and is a lot less helpful. The increased storage of glucose can mean serious trouble for diabetics, who can’t process it correctly - or at all.

Therefore, it’s very important that diabetics manage their stress to the best of their ability. Aside from normal stress of day to day life, there are other parts of diabetes that can bring on excess stress that you might not even notice.

It’s very important that you’re able to identify your issues, come up with solutions, and solve your issues. One of the major sources of stress for diabetics is the sheer amount of extra steps and thought that you have to put into everything you do.

Every meal you eat has to be planned, you have to keep track of your blood sugar levels, you have to administer insulin, you have to keep in touch with your doctors, and more.

All of this can really start to pile up on you, especially if you’re new to diabetes and have only recently been diagnosed. One of the best tips for dealing with it is to use your available resources.

You don’t have to deal with diabetes all by yourself - nobody wants to. Get in touch with one of many organizations around the world whose purpose is specifically to help diabetics.

They can help you design meal plans, recommend doctors, remind you to keep track of your glucose levels, and more. Don’t be afraid to use them. You should also try a few common stress relieving tips.

One is to stop stressing about things you can’t change, and this applies very well to diabetes. Many people get all stressed out and worried about being diagnosed with diabetes, but there’s nothing they can do to change the diagnosis – the control lies in developing a new lifestyle and embracing it.

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How to Monitor Your Blood Sugar

Possibly one of the harder things to get used to after initially being diagnosed with diabetes is the blood checks you have to perform on yourself on a consistent basis. The blood checks will measure the amount of sugar in your blood, also known as your blood glucose level or blood sugar.

If your blood sugar gets too low or too high, as a diabetic, you can be in some serious trouble. Therefore, it’s very important that you keep regular track of your blood sugar, preferably logging it in some kind of journal to share with your doctor.

Typically, you’ll be checking your blood sugar around five times per day, every day. This may sound excessive, but your blood sugar changes a lot throughout the day, and you need to keep consistent track of it, or you may encounter some severe issues.

You should typically check your blood sugar levels before you eat a meal, so the results aren’t affected or skewed in any way. Before your next meal, your levels should have returned back to the base number.

This will give you a better idea of what your regular sugar levels are, and if they’re too high or too low. Depending on which glucose monitor you buy, your means of actually recording your sugar levels will be a bit different, but they’re all fairly similar.

Once you’re used to the process, it becomes like second nature, but at first it will be a bit difficult. Be sure that you continue getting the same lancets and test strips that go with your kit, though.

These are fairly inexpensive to replace, as 100 packs of both are available for under $20 for the test strips and under $5 for the lancets. First, you’ll clean and prepare the place you’re drawing blood from, as to avoid any chance of infection.

Next, you’ll use the lancing device to prick your finger. This sounds scary at first, but it’s typically pretty painless. Be sure to use the side of your fingertip instead of the pad, because the pad has more nerve endings and it will hurt more.

Finally, you’ll touch the test strip to the blood drop and wait for the meter to show your results. Depending on a lot of different factors, the healthy glucose level can differ greatly, so be sure to consult your doctor and find out what range you should be aiming for.

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How Exercise Helps with Insulin Resistance

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar levels are too high due to insulin resistance, where your body doesn’t effectively use insulin to break down sugars, despite producing it.

This can be dangerous for a number of reasons involving damage to your nervous system and internal organs. However, there is a way to make your body less resistant, or simply more sensitive to insulin: exercise.

Various studies have shown that exercising regularly can vastly improve how well your body uses insulin, even essentially reversing the condition in some cases. While you reverse the effects of insulin resistance, you’ll also be getting in better physical condition and improving your heart health.

The reason exercise has such a drastic effect is actually fairly simple. Glucose, the primary sugar found in blood that doesn’t get broken down in the case of diabetes, is your body’s primary source of fuel for all physical actions.

All of your cells produce energy by breaking down glucose in cellular respiration, even for little activities like breathing, talking, or even just moving your fingers. By engaging in more physical activity, you’ll be using more of that glucose on a regular basis, not even allowing it to make it into the bloodstream before being used as fuel.

So with less glucose in the blood, your body will actually be able to use the insulin effectively enough to regulate the levels in the bloodstream. Now, if you live a fairly non-active lifestyle already, adding in all this exercise might sound a bit daunting since you’re not used to it.

It’s really not as bad as it might sound, though. You don’t have to go out and walk for miles on end every single day, every singly week. It’s been shown that even just a 30 minute walk 3 times a week can make a significant difference in your insulin resistance.

Any sort of aerobic exercise will do. Aerobic exercises are ones that make you feel out of breath when you’re done with them or make your heart rate go up. A few common examples are jogging, walking, swimming, and riding a bike.

It’s also recommended to throw in some anaerobic exercises, such as weightlifting. This is because the more muscles you have, the more glucose your body will use when doing aerobic exercise, meaning your insulin will work a bit better.

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Get Your Eyes Checked After a Diabetes Diagnosis

One of the lesser known side effects of diabetes is the damage it can cause to your eyes. This might go unnoticed at first or dismissed as a result of just getting older, because type 2 diabetes typically begins in your 40s.

But instead of dismissing it, get your eyes checked. Diabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar levels are too high due to a lack of insulin. Due to the high levels of sugar in your blood, a lot of little things in your body can be damaged from the blood that runs through them.

This is what causes the damage in your eye as a diabetic. The back wall of your eyes are lined with a tissue referred to as the retina, which is the light-sensitive portion of your eye.

Any damage to your retina can cause severe sight loss, as those portions of your eye may no longer be able to sense light. Temporary retina burns can be brought on by looking at lights, but more permanent damage is brought on by diabetes.

Many tiny blood vessels run through your retina in order to keep the tissue healthy and functioning. As a result of diabetes, these miniscule blood vessels can be damaged by the excess sugar, leading to a loss of vision.

This condition is known as diabetic retinopathy. Some of the more common symptoms of this condition are blurred vision and little spots that don’t quite look right. Retinopathy isn’t the only eye damage you’re at risk for as a diabetic.

Diabetics can be up to five times more likely than the average person to develop cataracts. A cataract is a clouded lens in your eye. A regular lens is vital for sight, because it allows you to focus on different things, but it can get clouded.

The symptoms of cataracts are fairly simple, you’ll begin to have more clouded and blurry vision. As it gets worse, you may even be able to see the clouded lens in your eye, as one pupil will be noticeably lighter.

Luckily, cataracts are easily fixed with cataract surgery. These conditions apply for all forms of diabetes. If any of these conditions go unchecked, they can cause permanent and severe vision loss. It’s recommended that diabetics get their eyes checked at least annually, so they can catch any of these early signs before they develop any further.

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Are Artificial Sweeteners Safe for Diabetics?

One of the more difficult aspects of dealing with diabetes is the fact that you’ll be making a serious switch in your diet in order to cut out any excess sugar. This can be especially difficult if you regularly consumed sodas, sweets, and other items high in sugar or carbs.

Can Diabetes Be Cured?

The first thought that may pop into your head when being diagnosed with diabetes is what you can do to cure it, as you would with any other disease. While it may be a bit disappointing to hear, there isn’t currently a cure for diabetes.

Once you have it, you have it. However, the effects of diabetes can be mitigated and it can even go into remission, which is essentially a lessened version of the affliction. This makes living with diabetes much more manageable, and much easier on your mental health.

In order to curb the effects of diabetes, you’ll need to keep your blood sugar levels under control and at a normal level. Consult your doctor to find out what your normal blood sugar levels should be, and monitor those levels closely to figure out what changes you need to make to keep a normal level.

One strategy that you can use to help you is planning out each one of your meals in advance, making sure they’re healthy for you and are okay for you to eat. This will help you avoid accidental snacking on foods that aren’t diabetes friendly, and could potentially cause issues for you.

For type 2 diabetics, one thing that can help you a lot is exercise. By keeping your body healthy, your blood sugar levels will be kept at more normal levels. Anything from lifting weights to jogging can help, as long as you’re doing something to keep your system active.

Another option for type 2 diabetics is weight loss surgery. It’s been shown that many type 2 diabetics who undergo this surgery have their blood sugar levels return either to normal or close to normal.

However, if you regain the weight that you lost, your sugar levels may return. One of the most important things for all diabetics is ensuring that you have a good, consistent, and healthy sleep schedule.

Scientific studies have shown that those who don’t get a lot of sleep experience symptoms very similar to those of diabetics, with high blood sugar levels, while those who get normal amounts of sleep don’t.

If you’re already diabetic, a poor sleep schedule will only make things worse. Most importantly, be sure to keep in regular touch with your diabetes educator and doctor. They’re there to help you, and can find ways to make the negative effects of diabetes lessened for you.

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How Diabetes Results in Nerve Damage

While diabetes undeniably comes with a variety of unfortunate side effects and symptoms, many are less severe than others. For example, you might have to change your eating habits or start exercising more.

More often than not, these are simply inconveniences, and don’t actually pose any serious threat. However, there are a few symptoms which do pose very real threats, and one of the more dangerous ones is nerve damage.

Also known as neuropathy, nerve damage occurs when the high levels of sugar in your blood damage the blood vessels running through your nerves, sometimes damaging them beyond repair and rendering them useless.

This can lead to many severe issues, from feet needing to be amputated from infections to permanent loss of vision. When you first begin to develop nerve damage, the first thing you’ll probably notice is a tingling sensation, especially in your feet, and numbness in that area.

These are only the signs of early stage nerve damage, so you don’t need to get too concerned just yet. However, this should also be a bit of a wake-up call that you need to get your diabetes under control by getting in contact with your doctor.

The levels of severity of nerve damage varies heavily, however. In most cases, the nerve damage is negligible, showing no actual signs of damage through symptoms. Others may experience very minor symptoms, but nothing too crazy or dangerous.

However, some do experience very severe symptoms with nerve damage, and these symptoms can even be fatal. On the bright side, there are ways to minimize or prevent nerve damage in most cases.

A recent study has shown that by simply keeping your blood sugar in a normal range, your chances of developing any form of serious nerve damage decrease drastically. This means you’ll have to monitor your blood sugar levels regularly, administer insulin, and stick to a diabetes-friendly diet.

If you get your blood sugar levels to normal and you still continue to see signs of nerve damage, then it’s probably about time to get your doctor involved. Unfortunately, it is possible that you can still show signs of nerve damage no matter what you do individually.

Instead, it may require the intervention of a doctor. However, this kind of situation is the absolute worst case scenario and is very rare. In most cases of nerve damage, you’ll only experience light damage that can be stopped with a few basic lifestyle changes.