Prediabetes could affect a very large number of people. Diabetes is less likely to happen if it is found early. Prediabetes is more likely to happen if you are overweight or obese, have heart disease, or if someone in your family has diabetes.
Prediabetes is a problem with how much glucose is in the blood. And even though it’s not diabetes yet, it leads to it and is underrated. When prediabetes isn’t treated, bad things happen. It can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart problems, which are part of a group of diseases caused by how people live their lives.
These dangerous things don’t just happen out of nowhere, and the body often tries to get help much earlier by giving signs like prediabetes. To protect yourself from getting the disease, you need to change the way you live.
Symptoms of prediabetes
As we’ve already said, this condition may not show any obvious or worrying signs at first. It is very important to get regular preventative blood tests, such as morphology with glucose determination. But too much blood sugar can show up as:
- increased thirst
- constant fatigue ,
- frequent urination,
- attacks of wolf hunger, especially with a desire for sweets,
- drowsiness ,
- skin color changes.
How is prediabetes diagnosed?
The amount of glucose in the veins is used to diagnose diabetes. Different tests are used, such as the fasting concentration and the OGTT, which involves drinking 75 mg of glucose dissolved in water and checking the blood sugar level two hours later.
Impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance
IFG is impaired fasting glycemia, while IGT is impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) if blood glucose is between 140 and 199 mg/dL at 120 minutes of the OGTT. Larger deviations are sufficient for a diagnosis of diabetes.
What interferes with the diagnosis of prediabetes?
Not all glucose monitoring works well. Even if the pancreas is healthy and hormones are in balance, its concentration may rise in some states. This can happen to people who take certain drugs, like glucocorticoids (necessary in the treatment of some forms of allergies, COPD, asthma or rheumatic diseases). The same thing can happen when treating contagious diseases or major injuries.
After being diagnosed with prediabetes
After a diagnosis like this, glucose levels and signs of diabetes should be watched. If you have any of these signs, you should see a doctor right away. Unfortunately, there aren’t always signs of glucose intolerance, so screening tests are the best way to find it.
Minimizing the risk of developing diabetes
Change the way you live to keep from getting diabetes. Take care of what you eat (diabetic diet), use the right exercises to build muscle (which improves your ability to handle glucose), and try to lose weight. Diabetes can be avoided by limiting salt and animal fats, not frying food, and eating meals at regular times.
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