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March 24, 2008

Diabetes Alert: Get educated | National observance serves as a reminder

Anonymous The Tribune-Democrat Mon Mar 24, 2008, 09:51 AM EDT

If you think diabetes can only happen to the other person, you could be dead wrong.

Today is the 20th annual American Diabetes Alert Day, which is observed on the fourth Tuesday of every March. And as part of that observance, we want to join the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and area health-care providers in urging our readers to become better educated about this disease, which can lead to kidney failure, blindness, heart attacks, amputations and even death.

Pretty serious stuff. But are you doing everything you can to lessen your risks?

Probably most of us aren’t.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugars and starches into energy, says the ADA Web site.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society says a poll conducted in January by its Institute for Good Medicine found that 37 percent of Pennsylvania adults believe eating too much sugar gives you diabetes.

That’s a myth, says the ADA, adding, however, that eating too much food and not getting enough exercise can lead to the disease.

In other words, obesity can bring on diabetes, and we all know that obesity today is a worldwide epidemic.

Other poll results found that Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly believe diabetes can affect people of all ages, that some forms of diabetes can be prevented, that diabetes can kill you, and that insulin does not cure diabetes.

Those assumptions are correct, according to Dr. Margrit Shoemaker, medical director of the Diabetes Center at Susquehanna Health in Williamsport.

Shoemaker adds that to improve the health of Pennsylvania’s diabetic population, screening of patients at increased risk of the disease must be improved. Once identified, the goals of treatment should be determined and therapy initiated.

Treatment, she says, may include, along with a healthy diet and appropriate exercise, a variety of oral or injectable medications including insulin.

None of these “cure the disease” but by normalizing glucose levels, along with control of blood pressure, cholesterol, and other risk factors, Pennsylvanians will enjoy the benefits of reducing diabetic complications, and improve their health.

Fortunately, our region offers excellent health-care services involving diabetes, including the Conemaugh Diabetes Institute, a collaboration among Conemaugh Health System, the University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Located at Memorial Medical Center’s Lee Campus, the Conemaugh Diabetes Institute has as its mission to provide extensive education and support services to those who have been diagnosed with diabetes and those who are at risk for developing the disease. It serves as a support and information center for primary-care doctors.

More information about the institute can be obtained online at www.conemaugh.org.

Do yourself and your family a favor and learn more about what causes diabetes, what its early symptoms are, and, most importantly, what you can do to lessen your chances of ever getting this debilitating and killer disease.

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