November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Even if you think you’re aware of the risk factors involved with type 2 diabetes, and you steadfastly avoid them, you might still develop this potentially serious condition.
Type 2 diabetes is an acquired condition that can sneak up on you without you realizing it. Even if your fasting blood glucose is normal at your annual physical for women’s health or men’s health, you may experience daily spikes in your glucose levels that could lead to diabetes and its complications, including:
Our medical experts — Kelly Burrows, APRN FNP-C, and Lee Ann Garza, FNP — encourage you to screen for diabetes, especially if you have a family member with the disease or any of its symptoms, including fatigue. At Enrich Family Practice, we test fasting glucose regularly and can measure A1C levels at our office in Odessa, Texas.
Do you need to screen for diabetes? Here’s why you should.
Even if you fast before your annual exam and we draw your blood for various tests — including a metabolic panel that includes fasting glucose levels — that may not be enough to get an insight into your metabolic health. The numbers that you get on this test are:
However, this test is just a snapshot of the amount of sugar in your blood when you haven’t eaten since the night before. It doesn’t tell us anything about how your body reacts to food or how it processes glucose.
One of the first signs of diabetes, which could easily be attributed to other factors, is fatigue. Even if your fasting glucose levels are normal when we test you at your annual exam, you may still experience blood-glucose spikes throughout the day that could damage your blood vessels and lead to full-fledged diabetes.
Before you develop type 2 diabetes, you may have enough blood-sugar spikes to be considered “pre-diabetic.” Although you could have no symptoms at all, you might also have general symptoms such as:
But you don’t have to have any of those signs or symptoms to be pre-diabetic. To make sure you’re not on your way to diabetes, we can screen your A1C levels.
Unlike a fasting glucose test, which measures your blood-glucose levels on a single day before you’ve eaten, an A1C test measures levels throughout the last three months:
An A1C test can create a historical picture of your blood-glucose levels because it measures the percentage of the hemoglobin in your blood that’s coated with glucose. Glucose-coated hemoglobin is considered to be “glycated.”
High glycation levels are a sign that your body isn’t properly processing dietary sugars. This can happen even if you eat a diet low in sugars and simple carbohydrates.
High amounts of protein, for instance, can also cause glycation, especially if you do eat sugar or carbs. If your A1C levels are high, your body might be resistant to insulin, and so it can’t get the sugars from your diet (including from protein) into your cells to fuel them. This can lead to a general sense of fatigue.
Even if you do everything “right,” in terms of balancing your macronutrients, you may have a genetic tendency to over-glycate. That’s why it’s important to find the right type of diet for you, and not follow the latest trends.
For instance, some people with prediabetes or diabetes may do well with a ketogenic diet, which favors protein and high-quality fat over carbohydrates. But depending on your genetic make-up, you may not be able to process that fat and protein, which could cause oxidative stress or glycative stress that raises your A1C.
So, even if you don’t have obvious risk factors for diabetes — such as obesity, a family member with diabetes, or symptoms — you may wish to undergo an A1C screening as a baseline. If you do have prediabetes or diabetes, you can then make lifestyle changes or take medication to keep your blood vessels and heart safe.
Are you at risk for prediabetes or diabetes, or do you have unexplained fatigue or lethargy? As part of National Diabetes Awareness Month, contact our team at 432-200-9052 to schedule a diabetes screening today.
