 Pre-diabetes Pre-diabetes is a condition that raises a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. People who have pre-diabetes have blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet diabetic. It is estimated that more than 40 million Americans have pre-diabetes compared with the approximately 20.8 million who have been diagnosed and the 6.2 million who have diabetes and don’t know it. Since diabetes complications are the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., and most people with pre-diabetes will develop the disease within 10 years, pre-diabetes has been called “the gathering storm.”
Not too many years ago, doctors said that either you had diabetes or you didn’t. There was no such medical term as “pre-diabetes.” Most often, blood sugar problems weren’t treated until diabetes was fully developed, and blood sugar levels were high enough to cause damage that could eventually result in heart attacks and stroke, kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, and amputation.
Fortunately, we’re more knowledgeable now and patients with pre-diabetes are being treated aggressively with structured therapeutic lifestyle changes and sometimes prescription medications that help prevent the progression to full-blown type 2 diabetes.
There are three types of diabetes:
• Gestational, which develops in some women during the late stages of pregnancy. It usually goes away after the baby is born, but the woman is more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life.
• Type 1, formerly called juvenile diabetes, is usually first diagnosed in children, teenagers, or young adults. It is not known how to prevent type 1 diabetes, and people who have it rely on insulin injections for life.
• Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset diabetes, is the most common form. People can develop it at any age, even during childhood. This the form of diabetes that can be prevented or delayed.
Please read these following pages for more information: Pre-diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome or PCOS
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