Diabetes is a scary diagnosis, but there’s hope for people who have heard this word uttered by their doctors. A good diet, exercise, and sticking to a medication, testing, and treatment schedule can help most people to alleviate the symptoms of the disease and live a healthy life.
But when you hear the word “prediabetes,” there is often a lot of confusion. It’s not a term that we use a lot in everyday conversation so it can be easy to jump to the conclusion that diabetes and prediabetes are the same thing. Commonly, the temptation to think about prediabetes goes in one of two ways. Either the problem is completely minimized (“It’s not full diabetes. I’m in great shape!”) or it is magnified (“I have a life-ending illness!”). And although prediabetes does carry some very real issues along with it, the reality of the situation is that it is somewhere in between these two extremes.
Ignoring the diagnosis and carrying on as normal isn’t smart, but it’s not the end of the world, either. You are likely still in pretty good overall health if you hear this diagnosis and might not even have any noticeable concerns with your health. If things stay how they are, this can continue for many years.
However, prediabetes is certainly not something to be taken lightly, either. Studies indicate that people who have prediabetes are much more likely to be at risk of heart disease. It can acts as a warning that someone is getting close to the blood sugar levels that would be indicative of diabetes. It is often controllable, but not always. About 70 percent of people with prediabetes will go on to develop full scale diabetes. Still, this is not a death sentence by any means. Rather, it should be viewed as a warning. If serious lifestyle changes are not made, there is the risk of severe health issues later on.
This particular diagnosis can also help you to make some changes before serious health concerns manifest themselves. Although it can have serious negative health effects, addressing things early on can help you to prevent these issues in a lot of cases. It’s important that you treat this seriously and speak with a doctor to come up with a personalized game plan to help you live a healthy life regardless of what your diagnosis might be.
Diabetes, and many other illnesses, often present a need for support and care. If you have a loved one that fits into this category, please reach out to someone. If you’re in the San Francisco area, we’d love to help with this. Give us a call or email and we can help you get started. Our consultation service is completely free and comes with no obligation on your behalf. Our hope is to get you pointed in the right direction. That might mean going with our service, or it might lead you somewhere else. Either way, we’d love to help you by answering your questions, giving guidance, and easing your burden.
Call us today to speak with a trained caregiver!
Leave a Reply