Type II diabetes is running rampant in the United States. A big problem is that it is not diagnosed early enough. Most physicians don’t even check for it unless a person is obese and has an abnormally high random blood sugar.
Risk factors for Type II diabetes include a history of gestational diabetes, being overweight, being inactive, and a family history of diabetes. Symptoms can be excessive thirst, hunger, and urination.
As Americans get more and more overweight, the lab values have risen including the “normal“ blood sugar levels. At Action Medicine, DPC, we test fasting glucose, insulin, and C-peptide. This gives us the best opportunity to diagnose prediabetes short of doing a full three-hour glucose tolerance test with insulin levels. A regular glucose tolerance test is not enough because we need to test insulin levels at the same time. You can have a normal blood sugar but if you must have high insulin levels to keep it normal, you are insulin resistant, carbohydrate overloaded, and you are on your way to diabetes.
A study was done on several hundred Yale undergrads who were not overweight, but they did not exercise. 25% of the students tested positive for early diabetes and another 25% were prediabetic. Another 25% had high normal blood sugars. Action Medicine runs these tests on our patients during their yearly medical exam and lab work.
Please contact the office to schedule your annual physical, if needed.
~Dr. Mike and Action Medicine team
