Mar. 23--ASHLAND -- Diabetes is under attack today in the Tri-State.
Today is American Diabetes Alert Day, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Ashland-Boyd County Health Department. The agencies are asking residents to find out if they are at risk for Type 2 diabetes by taking the Diabetes Risk Test, which can be found online at diabetes.org.alert. The health department also has paper copies of the test.
Janet Fannin, diabetes educator at the health department, said those who are overweight, physically inactive and older than 45 should take the test.
She said the test was created to indicate you could be at risk if you make a certain score. If you are, she said, it's important to make an appointment with your doctor and share that information.
Just because you see a doctor on a regular basis does not mean you're safe, she said. Sometimes family history can change after you have given that information to a doctor, so a diabetes test might not be indicated based on the information the doctor has.
Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes are frequent urination, blurred vision, numbness or tingling in feet or hands, wounds that won't heal and excessive thirst or hunger; but Fannin said a patient could be diabetic without showing any of those symptoms.
"By the time some of those symptoms show up, you might have been diabetic for seven to 10 years," she said, adding sometimes the disease doesn't become evident until a more serious complication develops, such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, eye damage or nerve damage.
It is possible to be pre-diabetic, she said. Someone who is pre-diabetic has higher than normal blood glucose levels but not high enough to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Early intervention via lifestyle changes such as weight loss and increased physical activity can help delay or prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes, Fannin said.
She recommends exercising 30 minutes a day and making healthy food choices, such as eating more vegetables and fruit (not fruit juice) and eating less meat, especially red meat. Keeping a food diary and exercise log can help make changes for the positive.
"It takes a lot of time to control diabetes well," she said. "And it is an ever-changing disease. You might have it perfect for a while and then, all at once, it's not and that's why you have to make that appointment and get in there and see what went wrong. They can try some different things for you."
She said although she doesn't think a cure is near, she said there are many new developments and new medications that are effective in controlling diabetes.
"There are so many ways to help control it that you don't run out of ways," she said.
LEE WARD can be reached at lward@
dailyindependent.com. or (606) 326-2661.
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