Diabetes365 day 6 Oct. 13th 2007 - Screening for diabetes

I went to a local health fair at our local middle school on Saturday. Among the various health-related booths I came across some women from a local hospital. They were conducting screening for diabetes and pulmonary issues.



It was early in the morning and they hadn't had any 'customers' yet for the diabetes screening. But I got talking with them and asked them how often they tested people that turned up positive for diabetes. It seems that at the larger health fairs they generally find 2 to 3 people with positive diabetes tests.

Maybe it's the continued unawareness of the dangers of diabetes. But generally when they tell someone they've tested positive for diabetes the reaction they get is a kind of 'so what?' response. They remember one man who had a blood glucose value of over 500 mg/dL (normal is around 100 mg/dL). When they advised him to go straight to the emergency room, he ignored their warning because "he didn't feel sick".

I know about the scary side effects of diabetes. And I frequently thank God that I got Type 1 diabetes and not Type 2. Because with Type 1 it's a lot harder to ignore the symptoms. For folks with Type 2 diabetes, they may not be diagnosed for a while and in the meantime the high blood sugars are damaging their bodies.

I could go on for many paragraphs. But if you're one of my frequent readers you probably already know all about the dangers of diabetes. If you're a new reader, take the time to learn the symptoms of diabetes. And if you're told you have diabetes, please take it seriously.

We'd hate to lose you.

Labels: diabetes, screenings, symptoms

posted by Bernard @ 6:30 PM 3 Comments Links to this post