During my recent volunteering assignment, I was asked to follow up with people who had done their health screening in which their test result showing less than ideal readings.

There were many seniors who were appreciative of our effort for making call.

To them, knowing that there is a stranger that is willing to spend time talking to them for their health matter means a lot, as such they were delighted and willing to take proactive action for better health.

However, there was still a small number of people who received the phone call felt that they were being ‘disturbed’.

Some of the common responses are
“I know already, don’t bother me anymore”,
“My condition not so serious yet..,” (which may not be true)
“I don’t want to see doctor, later they asked me to take more medicine.”
“What is your agenda, can you straight to the point?” and etc.

It’s worrying that these group of people with their health screen result showing out of range decided to do nothing.

One of the key concerns are people having higher blood sugar.

Many people think that so long as they don’t consume much sugar, they should be ok.

However, the situation is not as simple as not consuming sugar.

These group of people may have pre-diabetes condition that if left without proper intervention, the situation will snowball to bigger and painful issue in the future.

To some people, pre-diabetes may sound ok. After all, it not yet diabetic right?  Unfortunately, pre-diabetes is a early warning sign.

For other people who takes responsibility for themselves and the loved one, pre-diabetes sounds off their red alarm. It means that they are getting a ticket to the train that leads to diabetes.

It is good time to throw a way the ticket and jump of that train.

What is considered high blood sugar?

A person with Fasting Glucose of less than 6.00 mmol/L is considered normal.

If your Fasting Glucose is more than 6.00 mmol/L and have either one of the below conditions, you are considered having pre-diabetes

a) 2-hour post challenge glucose less than 7.8 mmol/L is having impaired fasting glucose
b) 2-hour post challenge glucose range at 7.8 – 11 mmol/L is having impaired glucose tolerance.

According to Ministry of Health – Clinical Practice Guidelines
In patients with typical symptoms, diabetes mellitus can be diagnosed if any one of the following is present.

1. Casual plasma glucose more than 11.1 mmol/l
2. Fasting plasma glucose more than 7.0 mmol/l
3. 2-hour post-challenge plasma glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l

Sometimes the symptoms could be very mild and we may not notice.

The common symptoms of diabetes are:

• Feeling thirsty frequently despite drinking plenty of water
• Hungry or feeling hungry regularly
• Tiredness and lethargic
• Itchy skin especially around the genital area
• Frequent urine
• Weight loss (even though you have good appetite and eat normally)
• Cuts and wounds that hard to heal that could lead to amputation.

The long-term complications of diabetes include:

• coronary heart disease such as angina, heart attack
• stroke
• eye disease
• kidney disease
• foot disease such as numbness, ulcers and even gangrene
• nerve disease which can lead to problems such as impotence and diarrhea

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to high blood glucose (hyperglycaemia) and low blood glucose (hypoglycaemia).

Both situations can cause a diabetic to become very sick very quickly and even go into a coma.

If weight reduction is needed, it should be attempted gradually (0.25 to 1.0 kg/week).

In overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes, a weight loss of 5-10% of body weight achieved through lifestyle interventions is a realistic goal

You may want to consider attending Ultimate Slimming Intensive Program for healthy, sustainable and autopilot way to manage your weight.

Patients with type 2 diabetes may initially be treated with lifestyle modification (diet and exercise) unless they are symptomatic or severely hyperglycaemic (i.e. random blood glucose more than 15 mmol/l or fasting blood glucose more than 10 mmol/l) – in which case pharmacological therapy should be initiated together with lifestyle intervention

Do you have the risk factor?

Risk factors for diabetes include:

• Overweight/obesity (body mass index more than 25.0 kg/m2)
• First degree relative with diabetes mellitus
• High risk race/ethnicity
• Women who have delivered a baby 4 kg or more; or previously diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus
• Hypertension more than 140/90 mmHg or on therapy for hypertension
• HDL cholesterol level
• Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome
• IGT (Impaired Glucose Tolerance), or IFG (Impair Fasting Glycaemia) on previous testing
• History of cardiovascular disease.

Many myths and misconceptions lingering around high blood sugar that sometimes prevent the person from taking actions.

That is the reason our recent LOHAS DIGEST 50 – focusing on clarifying the myths and 5 Areas to prevent the condition. Hopefully it helps people take positive and proactive action before they are officially a diabetic.