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What is your diabetes risk?

Livingston County News - 3/23/2017

March 28 is the American Diabetes Association's "Alert Day."

The theme is "Take it," the ADA diabetes or pre-diabetes risk test; "Share it," share this test with those you care about; and "Learn it," find out if you are at risk for pre-diabetes or diabetes and if so, start learning and take charge.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 29.1 million Americans have diabetes and one out of every four don't know they are diabetic.

Type 2 diabetes affects 95 percent of the population where either insufficient insulin is produced by the beta cells or the body's cells have become resistant to the insulin and don't use the insulin efficiently or both. In Livingston County, 10.5 percent of the population is diabetic, up from last years' 10.2 percent.

Are you at risk for diabetes? Take the risk test found on the American Diabetes Association website.

Pre-diabetes affects 86 million Americans and nine out of 10 individuals do not know they have the condition.

With pre-diabetes, blood sugars are higher than normal, but not yet high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes.

Pre-diabetes does progress to diabetes, but this progression is not inevitable.

First, take the risk test accompanying this article and second, if you are at risk for pre-diabetes, talk to your health care provider and get tested.

Lastly, if you have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, take advantage of every opportunity to learn more about what you can do to either put off the progression to diabetes or not become diabetic at all.

If you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, meet the condition head on and take charge, do not let it take charge of you.

The CDC estimates that only 40.6 percent of those with diabetes ever take advantage of the education which would help them self-manage the condition. Yet, insurance companies know that their participants with diabetes education have medical costs more than two times lower than the person who has not taken a diabetes course.

Noyes Health has the professional resources you need close to home. The Noyes Hospital Diabetes Education Program is available in Dansville, Geneseo and Hornell and in four area physician offices. The program is recognized by the American Association of Diabetes Educators and staffed with an RN, Certified Diabetes Educator and RN Diabetes Educator. There are individual appointments to begin and, thanks to a rural health grant, 5 hours of free diabetes education classes which includes a free meal to help participants make better food choices.

Be alert to your risk factors and discuss them with your physician.

Diabetes increases the risk for some significant health problems which include; heart disease, amputations, stroke, kidney damage, blindness, gum disease, nerve damage, and possibly dementia.

Don't be one of the statistics!

Online resources

The American Diabetes Association website is at http://www.diabetes.org, a link can also be found on the Noyes Hospital website, www.noyes-health.org.

Also, here is a link to a pre-diabetes risk assessment, https://doihaveprediabetes.org/prediabetes-risk-test.html.

Nancy M. Johnsen, RN, CDE is a Certified Diabetes Educator and coordinator of the Diabetes Program at Noyes Health in Dansville. Call (585) 335-4355 and start to take charge.

Johnson is guest writing this week's "Got a Minute?" column for Lorraine Wichtowski, a community health educator at Noyes Health.