Urgent diabetes warning: Get screened, soon

Urgent diabetes warning: Get screened, soon

Health alert: Blacks and other minorities are warned that they may be at high risk for a malady that can incubate inside the body for many years before being diagnosed and treated -- diabetes.

That is why it is so crucial for those who are overweight; those who have a close relative with diabetes; women who had babies that were nine pounds or more at birth; and those who are Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Asian American to get checked and screen as soon as possible for Type 2 diabetes.

A recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) said many Americans too often have the most common form of diabetes, Type 2, festering for up to 12 years in their bodies before they are diagnosed and properly treated.

That's more than a decade, more than half a generation of living with deteriorating eyes, kidneys and nerves and being set up as a perfect candidate for eventual heart disease -- unless you catch some of the tell-tell symptoms in time. You can learn what the symptoms are by calling the National Diabetes Education Program at (800) 438-5383.

Diabetics' bodies cannot regulate blood sugar adequately and of the 16 million Americans who have it, experts say a third don't know that they have contracted the disease that kills an estimated 180,000 Americans each year.

The kind of diabetes most common after age 40 -- Type 2 -- can be dealt with and somewhat controlled with insulin or other medications, diet and exercise.

Anyone with high cholesterol or high blood pressure may be at risk for diabetes, especially those over 40 and should get screened as soon as possible.

Check it out. The life you save may be your own, or that of a loved one.

Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.