Diabetes is a common health concern as people age. At Priority Health MD in Cooper City, Florida, Roberto Fernandez-Blay, MD, offers comprehensive diabetes care to manage your blood sugar levels and improve your quality of life. In many cases, making minor changes in your diet and lifestyle can help manage your condition without medications. Call the office or schedule an appointment online today to find out more about diabetes management.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes includes diseases featuring high blood sugar. Your blood sugar fuels your body’s cells, providing energy that you need to function properly.
However, when you have diabetes, your cells don’t get the fuel they need. The sugar stays in your blood, leading to high levels that can endanger your health and life.
With Type 1 diabetes, high blood sugar happens because you don’t produce insulin — the hormone that unlocks the cell-fueling process — while with Type 2 diabetes, you make insulin but your body doesn’t use it correctly.
Of all people with diabetes worldwide, around 95% have Type 2 diabetes. The other 5% have Type 1, gestational diabetes (occurs during pregnancy), or monogenic diabetes, a rare type of diabetes in which a single gene mutation causes decreased insulin production and increased blood sugar levels.
What are the signs I have diabetes?
Diabetes can cause symptoms such as:
Type 2 diabetes typically causes no symptoms in earlier stages, so regular screenings are part of your primary care at Priority Health MD to monitor your blood sugar levels.
How is diabetes diagnosed?
During your routine wellness exam, you have a variety of health screenings, including those that can detect diabetes.
Common tests to detect diabetes include the A1C test, a fasting test that averages your blood sugar over the last three months. Or a random plasma glucose test, a nonfasting test that reflects your current blood sugar level.
You may need an oral glucose tolerance test in which you drink a sugary solution.
You might need other types of tests as well, including autoantibody and urine testing if you likely have Type 1 diabetes.
You might need other types of tests as well, including autoantibody and urine testing if you likely have Type 1 diabetes.
How does diabetes management work?
Priority Health MD takes an integrative medicine approach to diabetes, which focuses on your whole-person health and factors that might contribute or worsen your condition.
If you have Type 2 or monogenic diabetes, you can often control your blood sugar level and avoid medication through nutrition, supplements, weight loss, and other natural approaches.
If you have Type 1 diabetes, you must use insulin every day to survive. You can also improve your bodywide health with functional medicine treatments. Most people with Type 1 diabetes see an endocrinologist who specializes in their disease. Your primary care provider at Priority Health MD can work with your specialist to coordinate your treatment plan.
Diabetes is a manageable condition with the proper tools and support. To get comprehensive medical care for diabetes, call Priority Health MD or schedule an appointment online today.
