Diabetes Awareness

Monthly Newsletter, November 2022

November is Diabetes awareness month

Diabetes is one of the major chronic diseases along with hypertension that causes a lot of untimely death. Complications of untreated diabetes can be quite devastating. Screening for diabetes should be part of routine healthcare checkups. Untreated diabetes can lead to heart attack, strokes, kidney damage, blindness, nerve damage/pain and many more issues.

Diabetes is caused by the body not making enough insulin or the body not responding to insulin that is being made. Insulin is the hormone in the body that regulates glucose level in the blood. Decrease in the effectiveness of insulin in the body leads to high glucose in the blood which eventually results in the complications associated with diabetes.

Common symptoms of diabetes includes frequent urination, excessive thirst, unintentional weight loss in spite of eating well, non-healing wound and blurry vision. If you have any of these symptoms or have been told you have diabetes, discuss appropriate test with your doctor or come in to our facility for a free blood fasting glucose test and consultation.

Normal fasting blood glucose should be 99 mg/dL or lower. Fasting blood glucose of 126 mg/dL or higher indicates you may have diabetes. Hemoglobin A1C is the gold standard for screening and diagnosing severity of diabetes. There are associated blood tests in addition to blood glucose screening that your doctor will recommend if you are diagnosed with diabetes. Schedule an appointment to see us today in our clinic or remotely through our tele-medicine services if you have diabetes to receive expert care!

Written by Dr. Temitayo Odesanya