Millions of Americans Have Diabetes and Don't Know It. Don't Let That Be You!

Nearly one out of four US adults has diabetes and doesn’t know it. If you’re one of those 8.7 million people, your diabetes is still progressing, harming your body, and increasing your risk of serious health challenges like heart attacks, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and vision loss.

Manzoor Kazi, MD, provides comprehensive diabetes care at Palm Desert Urgent Care. He assesses your diabetes risk, helps you prevent it, and provides personalized disease management to stop the disease from progressing.

How could I not know?

You won’t know you have type 2 diabetes because symptoms seldom appear until the disease reaches an advanced stage. It slowly progresses through two stages — insulin resistance and prediabetes — before developing into full-blown diabetes. Symptoms develop just as gradually, making them difficult to identify. 

In some cases, you may not have diabetes symptoms. Instead, the first sign of a problem could be caused by complications.

Diabetes symptoms

If diabetes symptoms appear, you may have:

• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination, including at night
• Slow-healing cuts or sores
• Unexplained weight loss
• Fatigue

As the disease progresses, high blood sugar damages nerves and blood vessels. Though this damage can occur throughout your body, the first areas affected are usually the peripheral nerves in your feet or hands and your eyes.

As a result, your first symptoms may include:

• Tingling or burning sensations in your feet
• Pain or extreme sensitivity in your feet
• Loss of feeling (numbness) in your feet
• Nonhealing sores on your feet
• Changes in balance
• Difficulty walking
• Blurry vision
• Double vision
• Seeing flashing lights
• Pain or pressure in one or both eyes
• Vision loss (blank spots in your vision)

These symptoms are signs of advanced diabetes.

How to protect your health

Can you protect yourself and stay healthy if you don’t have physical signs of a problem? Yes. Prevention is possible when you identify you’re at risk and immediately take steps to restore healthy blood sugar levels before diabetes develops.

You can prevent type 2 diabetes at any time during stage 1 (insulin resistance) and stage 2 (prediabetes). In both stages, blood sugar is high but not high enough to diagnose diabetes.

Diabetes risk factors

Your risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases if you:

• Are overweight or obese
• Have high blood pressure
• Have high cholesterol
• Have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• Have a history of cardiovascular disease
• Smoke cigarettes
• Are not physically active
• Are age 35 or older
• Had gestational diabetes
• Have a family history of diabetes
• Are African American, Asian American, American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander

The American Diabetes Association recommends scheduling a risk assessment if you meet any of the criteria in this list. And November is Diabetes Awareness Month, so now is a great time to take action and visit Dr. Kazi.

Preventing type 2 diabetes

After screening your risk factors and running lab tests to determine your blood sugar levels, Dr. Kazi can recommend a plan to lower your blood sugar and prevent diabetes.

Most people can restore their health with the following lifestyle changes:

Dietary adjustments

Certain carbohydrates quickly reach your bloodstream and boost blood sugar. You can keep your blood sugar in an acceptable range by avoiding or limiting:

• Refined grains (products made with white flour or white rice)
• Sugary foods and beverages (baked goods, candy, and cereals or drinks that are sweetened with sugar, honey, and high-fructose corn syrup)
• Fruit juice without the pulp (pulp is a fiber that moderates the impact of natural fruit sugars)

Instead, choose whole grains, vegetables, whole fruits, beans, and proteins. These prevent spikes and stabilize your blood sugar in the healthy range.

Weight loss

Excess body weight is a direct cause of type 2 diabetes. Fat affects the cells that produce insulin and triggers insulin resistance. You can reverse these changes and prevent diabetes if you lose weight during the first two stages.

Weight loss isn’t easy, and your success often has nothing to do with willpower. That’s why we offer a medically supervised weight loss program to support your efforts and help you reach your goals. Our program includes nutritional guidance, meal planning, and prescription medications.

Exercise

Exercise alone lowers your blood sugar. Increasing your activity level also improves insulin sensitivity, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and supports weight loss.

Schedule a risk assessment

Call Palm Desert Urgent Care or book an appointment online today for a diabetes risk assessment to learn if you have diabetes and didn’t realize it or if you need to take preventive steps so you can avoid a diabetes diagnosis.