Article On Diabetes

Diabetes, A Silent Killer?
By Diabetics Portal
How many people in America have diabetes and don’t even know it. The estimates are huge, but how can anyone really know. Right now, as you read this you could have diabetes. I have diabetes. I found out by luck. I was at my parents house for a summer weekend dinner. As always my plate was filled to over flowing. I had consumer several beers and had two helpings of dessert. Seemed like a typical meal for me, that is the way I have always eaten. Now don’t get me wrong here, I was over weight but not obese. On the way out the door at the end of the night I had seen my fathers blood glucose tester. I had asked him what it was and why he had one. He explained that he had some symptoms of diabetes and that his doctor wanted him to test his blood sugars for a few days. Me, being the curious type wanted to check my own blood sugars. My fathers then took a sample of my blood and I placed it into the machine. A couple of beeps and a short wait, a number flashed up on the screen. 398! Well, not bad I say to myself. Doesn’t look to bad to me. I turned the screen to my wife and she about fell over. “that is horrible, it should be no more than 150 and that might be high” she said.

At that moment I really wasn’t that concerned. A little box flashed a number and all of the sudden I have diabetes? I really don’t even know what diabetes is. I brushed it off and headed for the door. My father stopped me and started to explain some things about Type2 diabetes. It was then that I thought it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to have a doctor check me out. Heck, even if it helped ease the mind of my family it would be worth it. I made an appointment with my doctor and let him know what I had found out with the blood glucose monitor. He sent me to a lab to have blood drawn before the visit.

Six days later I arrived at my doctors appointment still not very concerned. I was led into the exam room and waited for my doctor. He finally showed and sat in front of me and stared me in the eyes. Flipped open a chart and exclaimed “ Your A1C is 12.2, Do you know what that means?” “Nope!” I replied. He went on to explain that A1C is a three month average of my blood sugar levels. That a normal person has a A1C of 5.5 or less. “You have Diabetes”

he says to me. At that very moment it had finally hit me that this was some serious business.

He asked me about symptoms that I may have been feeling. Tired all the time? Urinating frequently during the night? Head aces? Feet and hands tingling? The list went on. Most of the symptoms I had, although I always thought they were from working to hard or being stressed out. I thought I was just me. Feeling the way I was supposed to feel. Holy cow!, I had diabetes and didn’t even know it! If it wasn’t for my Dad having that Blood Glucose meter on his counter that night I still wouldn’t know to this day.

People in America need to understand more about Diabetes. There could be hundreds of thousands of people walking around with Type2 diabetes. They have no clue, just going about there daily grind and suddenly they have a heart attack or stroke or get an infection and have to have a foot amputated. Then, and only then do they find out that the underling cause of their condition was a result from having diabetes. Since 1980, its prevalence in the United States has risen by 47 percent, a trend that’s expected to take a enormous leap in the next decade.

I call diabetes “ A Silent Killer!” Some or most medical professionals would not agree with me. I for one can prove that if not well educated on Type2 Diabetes , a person may never know. The information needs to start in elementary schools. Children are developing their habits of eating. They need to know what the right food choices are. They need to know what the symptoms of diabetes are. That goes for everyone in the nation. We must stop the destruction of this rapidly increasing disease.

I have controlled my Diabetes now. In the three years since I was diagnosed I have learned how to eat properly and to exercise. I have made it a mission in my life to help educate people about diabetes. I hope that the next visit to your doctor includes a diabetes test. Good luck!

Shannon Hooven is a Diabetic. He is also the webmaster of www.diabeticsportal.com. You can email shannon at shannonhooven@sbcglobal.net