Prediabetes in Reno
What is Prediabetes?
Pre-diabetes is a disorder of glucose metabolism that often leads to full-blown diabetes. Roughly 30% of patients with pre-diabetes will progress to full-blown diabetes within three years. And diabetes is serious business: it is the #1 underlying cause of renal failure, blindness and amputations. It shortens life expectancy by around a decade and its negative impact on quality of life is profound.
The American Diabetes Association estimates that 75 million Americans have pre-diabetes today. Most of them don’t know they have it. Call us to get tested, and take action to reverse the disease.
Some people are shaken into action only once they have a formal diagnosis of diabetes. They must now take medication and prick their finger to check blood sugar levels regularly. Others are stirred to change only when they must actually begin injecting themselves with insulin to control the blood sugar.
But some people would definitely take action sooner to improve their health if only they knew they had pre-diabetes. And what could they do? First, second, and third answers: lose weight. They could also exercise more, stop smoking and reduce calories and carbohydrates. But the top priority is losing weight, whether with a structured program or a minimally invasive gastric procedure. Losing weight dramatically reduces the chances of Pre-diabetes progressing to full-blown diabetes.
So, you are ready. How do we make the diagnosis of pre-diabetes?
The answer is a simple blood test. The most widely agreed upon test that diagnoses both pre-diabetes and diabetes is known as the glycated hemoglobin or the hemoglobin A1c level. A normal hemoglobin A1c is less than 5.7%. Anything from 5.7% to 6.4% indicates pre-diabetes, and above that level means diabetes. The glycated hemoglobin measures the percentage of your hemoglobin which has a glucose attached to it. It tends to reflect the levels of the plasma circulating blood sugars that have been occurring over the last 4-12 weeks, and it is regarded as a very accurate diagnostic test.
Another simple test that can make a diagnosis of pre-diabetes would be a fasting serum blood glucose level of 100-125. Lastly a 2-hour glucose tolerance test in which the glucose level rises to 140 to 199 after ingestion of a standard 75-gram load of glucose means pre-diabetes.
GET TESTED FOR PRE-DIABETES TODAY!
The chances of a person being Pre-diabetic are markedly higher if the person is overweight or obese. So it is critically important to get tested if you are overweight. A positive test should be a call to action, indicating an urgent need to lose weight, quit smoking, reduce calorie and carbohydrate intake and exercise more regularly. The consequences of not doing so are simply too great.
Call us today for a life-changing consultation and a test for prediabetes.
