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Prediabetes is when your blood sugar level is higher than it should be, but not high enough for your doctor to diagnose diabetes. Before people develop diabetes they almost always follow a pre – destined pattern, overweight, obese and pre-diabetes first. About 80 million people in Nigeria have pre-diabetes.
The way to suspect that you could have pre-diabetes is when you are a lot thirstier than usual, when you urinate excessively, when your vision is blurry, or you are a lot more tired than you used to be. A lot of my patients with pre-diabetic symptoms, over the years, had always tilted back to normalcy, after counseling and diet regime. This write up is at the behest of one of my patients, who reverted from obesity to overweight to normal weight in 18 months. He was so thrilled that he became a conscientious advocate of moderation in consumption.
There are certain risk factors, we must watch out for or guard against, if we must avoid the consequences of pre-diabetes and its comorbidity.
If you are older, especially over age 40 and become overweight.
If you have a waistline larger than 40 inches for males and 35 inches for females.
If you consume a lot of food regularly at a sitting, drink a lot of sugary beverages and you do not eat much fruits, vegetables, nuts, carrots, water melon etc.
If you have extra folds around your middle(belly fat), especially if you are overweight or obese.
If you have excess cholesterol, especially the dangerous ones Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL).
If you sleep a lot, and occasionally experience numbness in your feet.
If as a woman you had a gestational diabetes. That is becoming diabetic while pregnant.
If your blood sugar regularly fluctuates between 100 to 125mg/dl. Of course we know that diabetes is when your blood sugar level remains at greater than 126mg/dl for more than 4 weeks.
Hemoglobin A1c test – This blood test shows your average blood sugar levels for the past 2 to 3 months. Doctors do it for for people who are overweight, obese or pre-diabetic, to check if their blood sugar levels are under control. For those with pre-diabetes it determines whether the person is tilting towards diabetes. The ranges are 1) normal – 5. 6% or less. 2) pre-diabetes – 5.7 to 6.4%. 3) diabetes – 6.5% or above.
The treatment to reverse, pre-diabetes may include, eating a healthy diet and losing weight. Losing even 5 to 10% of your weight can make a huge difference.
You must exercise – pick something you enjoy doing, like walking. You must stop smoking if you do. Control your blood pressure and cholesterol. Take trial metformin (Glucophage), to lower your blood sugar, if you are at high risk of diabetes as directed by your doctor. Always be medically guided.
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