By Sonia Ayanna
Published April 15, 2013
When I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes, I was stunned. I eat well and exercise almost daily; I felt betrayed by my genetics. I was afraid I would have to make drastic changes to my already healthy lifestyle. Once I dealt with my emotions and stopped feeling sorry for myself, I got educated about insulin resistance vs. type 2 diabetes.
I remember spending a Thanksgiving in the hospital with my great-grandmother, who was recovering from the amputation of one of her legs. It was the first time I’d ever had a family connection to diabetes.
I never thought of diabetes as an issue that would affect me. I ate well, worked out and wasn’t significantly overweight.
Thanks to “Mama” Edwina, I inherited a love of cooking, and of knowing how and when to stand up for myself. I had no idea her diabetes was part of my inheritance.
My first step was to understand insulin resistance vs. type 2 diabetes. I had to get to the bottom of what insulin does ??? or is supposed to do ??? in my body. Most importantly, I wanted to find out whether I could still stop myself from developing full-blown diabetes.
Checking Out My Risk Factors
According to a press release from Johns Hopkins University, type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease in adults. It strikes when body tissue stops responding to insulin’s signal to absorb sugar from the blood. Unless treated, the high blood sugar that results could lead to blindness and other symptoms.
But before diabetes, there’s usually pre-diabetes — also called insulin resistance. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) defines insulin resistance as blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered type 2 diabetes.
According to ADA, the symptoms of pre-diabetes develop so gradually, people may not know there’s a problem until it’s too late and they start to develop complications.
A few of the symptoms that the ADA describes include:
Slow recovery from bruises and cuts
A history of gestational diabetes
Being unusually thirsty
Having to go to the bathroom often
Symptoms like unusual thirst can be explained away. For instance, I never noticed being unusually thirsty ??? and if I was, it made sense that I would need to go to the bathroom. After all, I was drinking more, right?
There are risk factors of which I was aware, but I didn’t put them all together. I knew that being African-American was one, which the ADA confirms.
Hypertension and high levels of fat in the blood are also linked to insulin resistance. Even though I had discussions with my doctor about having low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides, I didn’t know enough to put those facts together with my family history and ask the right questions.
I thought I was having thyroid issues and they were the reason I couldn’t seem to lose the last bit of weight around my waistline, despite being an avid exerciser. I spent years thinking that I wasn’t trying hard enough, that I needed to be more disciplined about my exercise program ??? even though I was exercising at least five days a week!
After being diagnosed, I immediately searched “insulin resistance vs. type 2 diabetes” on the Internet and took a quiz on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Based on that quiz, I didn’t have pre-diabetes. I knew, though, that an online quiz wasn’t enough to ignore my combination of risk factors. The more I read, the more I realized I needed to know.
The CDC and ADA discuss tests your doctor can give you to find out if you have pre-diabetes ??? particularly for those people who are under 45 and have a combination of risk factors. If you have some risk factors but you aren’t sure about having pre-diabetes, you can learn more on the ADA’s website.
Glucose Testing
Insulin resistance and pre-diabetes are sometimes called impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), according to the ADA. Different types of glucose tests ??? such as oral glucose tolerance testing, impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or an A1C test, which tests your blood sugar level ??? are used to detect pre-diabetes.
If you aren’t sure whether you have a family history of diabetes, talk to your relatives.
I was fortunate to know my great-grandmother and remember some of her physical ailments. It helped me be aware of my own health issues. However, not everyone has the benefit of knowing her family history firsthand.
If you still aren’t sure, talk to your doctor about taking one of the glucose tests. Living in fear is worse than not knowing the truth. Check out the ADA FAQ page to learn more about pre-diabetes as well as insulin resistance vs. type 2 diabetes.
Being diagnosed with a medical condition should come with a guide to acronyms and medical jargon. The CDC diabetes fact sheet helped me understand the definitions of conditions and symptoms related to insulin resistance vs. type 2 diabetes, such as HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and others.
I decided that it was worth taking the time to learn what these words mean. After all, they affect my quality of life. Once I got educated, I felt empowered.
Feeling empowered, I felt my old fighting spirit springing back to life. Now I was ready to deal with my situation. I decided to tackle what I saw as one of the biggest factors: losing weight.
At first, I believed the key to making pre-diabetes go away was simply losing weight. After all, the commercials make it seem so easy.
And most of the information available through reputable sites ??? and even through my physician ??? says that losing just 7 to 10% of your body weight can make a significant difference in your health.
Weight loss can bring down your A1C numbers and decrease your chance of developing diabetes. (According to the ADA, A1C numbers above six indicate diabetes.)
Although scientists continue to research the effects of insulin on humans and look for ways to help people manage diabetes, the CDC says 26 million Americans have diabetes.
Learning to Cope
It took me nearly six months to lose 17 pounds with an online weight management tool. As usual, I was working out regularly, doing 30 minutes of exercise or more at least five days a week. I was trying various DVD exercise programs, riding my bike and staying away from ice cream (my nemesis) altogether.
When I went in for a checkup to review my three-month A1C levels, I was devastated to discover they hadn’t moved at all. My doctor encouraged me, telling me how hard it is for someone with pre-diabetes to lose weight.
I still thought it was unfair, though ??? especially when she told me that someone without pre-diabetes would have lost twice that amount given the same effort.
For me, the hardest part of dealing with any medical condition diagnosis is accepting that, while the condition may affect me, it doesn’t have to define me. The Mayo Clinic website has a blog with resources for learning how to cope with diabetes.
I was discouraged, but I’m not giving up. I still do all the things I enjoy doing. I’m just more aware of how I eat, and taking care of myself through exercise is a top priority.
I’m stocking my arsenal with everything from recipes to exercises, and I continue to educate myself on pre-diabetes. I’m ready to share my struggles, clasp hands with others in my situation and say, “Bring it on.”
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