welcome to ask the doc today we're taking a deep dive into one of the most commonly heard of metabolic conditions diabetes from recognizing the early signs to learning how it's diagnosed to what can be done to manage it and what are the complications if it's not managed including the day-to-day challenges the latest experiments all of it whether you're living with diabetes or you're caring for somebody living with diabetes we're going to talk about it all and this show is for you I'm here to provide you that information and to support you through it as well as to answer your questions here on ask the do send in your questions to questions at allhealth TV .c or allhealth goo on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com welcome to ask the doc the show where we encourage you to send in your healthcare related questions my name is Dr Gumi cor and I'm a primary care physician here in South Florida and I'm going to give you some advice on recognizing and managing diabetes today's first question comes to us from Haley who just reached out through our our website allhealth tv.com Haley's question is hi Dr core my 10-year-old son Shane has lost a little weight lately which is peculiar because he eats and drinks like there's no tomorrow don't most 10-year-olds what are some of the early signs and symptoms of diabetes that people should watch for hay this is such an important question because no matter the age it is very important to recognize certain symptoms that might be red flag signs of diabetes now I assume since you're son is 10 years old and was just diagnosed that you're referring to Diabetes Type 1 for many of you who don't know diabetes is often characterized into type one and type two we'll talk a little bit more about it later but there's a lot of children who are being diagnosed not just with type one but with type two diabetes as well now it can present in a number of ways including but not limited to having excessive thirst so you're drinking drinking drinking water but you're just not satiated you still feel thirsty all the time or excessive hunger where you're eating and eating but you still don't feel satisfied and you're still hungry you can also experience excessive urination where you're not drinking that much liquids but you find yourself using the restroom lot now this may surprise you but a majority of people are actually asymptomatic meaning they are not showing any symptoms when they're diagnosed with diabetes but this is why screening is so important getting screened every year with your physician at a primary care clinic um your annual exam so so important now by the time you have the disease and you're having symptoms it pretty much means that it's progressed to a certain point so the sooner you catch it the earlier you can treat it and the better your chances of managing it without complications but nevertheless it's important to be very familiar with the symptoms of diabetes it's so important that I'm going to put together a little list for you so let's go through it number one frequent urination as mentioned number two that excessive thirst I was talking about number number three the extreme hunger I was referring to and then there's unexplained weight loss the fourth and probably one of the most common symptoms that we see first number five is fatigue number six is blur Vision number seven is slow healing of your sores because diabetes does reduce your immune system and the defenses that your immune system has um Number Eight Is frequent urination and infections my apologies infections and that goes back to the reduced immunity that you experience as a diabetic so let's get to the next question and this one is from Vance who reaches out to us from YouTube Vance asks hey Dr K so my wife took our little girl Abby to the doctor and she was just diagnosed with diabetes what is it exactly and can you give me a quick download on blood sugar levels fans I'm so sorry to hear that your little girl was diagnosed with diabetes it's it's such a life altering diagnosis and it can have a lot of impact on our younger paent patients I'm glad that you guys are there as her parents to help support and guide her through this there's good news the diagnosis may not be great but with healthy eating habits exercise proper medications I'm sure that she's going to live a long and happy life now we hear a lot about diabetes whether it's from doctors or the television ads for the diabetes medications it's everywhere but what exactly is diabetes Now essentially diabetes is a disease state in which very high levels of sugar or glucose in your bloodstream cause a series of abnormalities in the way your body metabolizes carbohydrates fats and proteins in simple terms your body is not able to adequately deal with or metabolize these high sugar numbers in your bloodstream and because of that um well not because of that but that is caused generally by your body's reduced ability to work with insulin now insulin is really really important because insulin is what metabolizes that glucose and that sugar when high levels of sugar are allowed to run freely in the bloodstream they lead to damaging effects in so many parts of the body and this can result in health complications sometimes it can even be fatal but I know that's extreme nowadays your Physicians don't worry we have a good handle on how to recognize and how to manage diabetes so it doesn't progress and get that far now whether this is medications or just with left cell ch changes it's all very possible to do nowadays we have another question from allhealth tv.com this is great and this one comes from Lupita Lupita asks hola doctor can you tell me what the potential complications are if you don't take steps to manage your diabetes I want to know because my husband was diagnosed with type two a few months ago and he's not doing the things he needs to do he needs to be scared straight hi Lupita now your husband's not being fair to himself or to you because when you're diagnosed with something as important and as drastic as diabetes um you need to take it seriously because even though it can be easy to manage if it's not then it can lead to very bad Health complications but before I get a little further into that let's watch a video from our friends at the Mayo Clinic type two diabetes is on the rise The increased incidence of obesity is what has probably driven part of the increase in diabetes Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Dr Adrien Vel says diabetes happens when your blood sugar is too high it's a leading cause of blindness and amputations and it increases your risk of heart disease and kidney failure dealing with high blood sugars early gives you a better chance of spending a longer time not requiring medications or other interventions to control your diabetes some people develop type 2 diabetes even if they're not overweight but for others lifestyle choices such as eating right exercising and losing weight can help prevent and even manage the chronic condition but unhealthy choices can be dangerous especially if you have a predisposition for the disease hereditary loads the gun while environment pulls the trigger but you can control diabetes with proper treatment for the Mayo Clinic News Network I'm Vivien Williams that was some great information and I don't generally like to use Scar Tactics my patients on the right track but it is important to know that diabetes can result in these drastic uh complications and you know it's very life-altering if not life-threatening now there's many ways to do and to prevent these but I think educating people about the dangers and the complications is probably one of the best ways to motivate somebody to treat their diabetes um as I mentioned earlier having high levels of blood sugar or glucose can damage so many different parts of your body and here are some of the complications um we can have nerve damage because those excess glucose levels do uh affect the nerves and then that causes inflammation around the nerve so you get nerve damage uh you can also have cardiovascular disease there's many ways that this can happen but the fact of the matter is cardiovascular disease heart attack Strokes those are all possibilities third uh we can get kidney damage so whether that's kidney dysfunction or kidney failure outright either one of those can happen if you don't take care of your diabetes you can also get number five eye damage um blindness is one of the biggest biggest complications that we see with untreated diabetes number five we can get foot damage leading to infections and amputations and this happens because a lot of times the nerves that are in your feet are damaged by the diabetes so when you're stepping on things that can harm you like you step on a nail or if you step on glass sometimes you don't feel that because your nerves aren't working to give you those pain receptors um that can lead to uh having a wound in your foot that you don't even know that's there and so you don't take care of it so it gets infected and unfortunately that can even lead to amputations amputations can also be a result of decreased blood flow in the lower extremities due to diabetes number six various skin conditions can result from uncontrolled diabetes and high levels of sugar um a lot of people develop one um very visible patch of Darker skin around their neck and that is a sign often of undiagnosed and untreated diabetes you can also have hearing impairment and number eight Believe It or Not Alzheimer's disease those high sugar levels affect more than just nerves your eyes and your kidneys they can also affect your brain health and your memory and concentration now in case you missed it the first time here's a video of how you can send us your questions send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com okay so now we're firing on all cylinders because we're getting tons of questions and I'm just trying to go through them and make sure that I pick out the ones that can give you the most amount of information our next one comes from juel and juul's question is Dr core my sister-in-law Janette just found out that she has diabetes I'm not sure if she has type one or type two so I'm curious what are the differences between the two Joel that's a really good question because as I mentioned earlier there are often we term diabetes as a disease that's just one thing but no there are two different types I'm sure your sister-in-law is going to need help right out of the gate with this diagnosis so it's great that you're educating yourself so you can support her through this now I don't want to get too bogged down in a medical school lecture or in a school lecture here but I think it's important to start from the beginning now we'll start with talking about insulin which is secreted by your beta cells your beta cells are made by your pancreas and basically these are specialized cells in the pancreas that release insulin and Insulin then goes and it promotes basically getting the sugar out of your blood and putting it to good use in your liver in your muscles and in your fatty tissue now when it gets to those centers of the body then it does all the good stuff it needs to do to really keep you healthy and keep your machine running it helps to metabolize the gluc glucose then goes and helps to metabolize the carbohydrates the P the uh pardon me the fats and the proteins I get so passionate about it that my brain goes faster than my mouth sometimes now once this happens like I said your body is able to use the carbohydrates the fats and the proteins to keep your energy levels good to keep your immune system high everything working just properly in diabetes this pathway for one reason or another is limited or inhibited or gone altogether there's two ways that this can happen two general ways and then that's where we go into type 1 diabetes and type two diabetes now in type one diabetes it's basically caused by an autoimmune destruction of those beta cells in your pancreas generally this is something that you're born with and because it's autoimmune it basically means your body is attacking itself for one reason or another and when that happens the beta cells are essentially not able to release that insulin and then your body can't metabolize the sugar that's roaming around in your bloodstream so just going all willy-nilly and doing not so good things in your body type two diabetes is a gradual reduction in your body's ability to release that insulin that happens for so many reasons it's multifactorial it could be a genetic cause it could be because um uh there's obesity because the eating habits aren't right there's no exercise there's so many reasons for it it's multifactorial but the point of the matter is your body is not able to release the ins insulin and deal with those high levels of glucose and really no matter how it happens type one or type two the point is that there's too much sugar roaming around in your body and like I said earlier that's going to lead to so many different kinds of complications that hopefully we want to avoid all right friends we finally get a question from YouTube and this one comes to us from Lucas and Lucas asks Dr core my mom was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes I want to know if diabetes can be prevented or cured and if so what can I do to help her oh Lucas that is so sweet of you to be looking out for your mom and being there to support her I'm sure she appreciates it very very much now I'm all about prevention if you guys have watched our previous episodes you know I really really like to hone in on preventative methods and one of the best ways to prevent type two diabetes is by living a healthy lifestyle so what does that mean well that means eating a healthy diet one that's based mostly on Whole Foods and plant-based Foods so basically if Mother Earth didn't make it try not to eat it once in a while is okay um exercising is very important at least 30 minutes a day at least 5 days a week you want to get a moderate level of activity going so your heart's pumping and you're getting that those good endorphins released very important getting at least 7 to n hours of restful sleep on average nightly is recommended managing your stress levels is so important I know we've talked about that a lot before engaging in joyful activi with your loved ones believe it or not is also part of a healthy lifestyle and all this is to save weight management that's one of the most important things that you can do to prevent diabetes is to reduce the amount of weight that you have especially the belly fat it's probably one of the most dangerous forms of fat that a human body can experience now once diabetes is diagnosed there's many different ways to treat it according to the American Diabetes Association medications should be started in a diabetic individual when their hemoglobin A1c is 7 .5% or higher now the hemoglobin A1c as many of you may know is the protein used to diagnose and monitor diabetes when that number is 6.5 or higher that is diagnosed formally as diabetes so between 6.5 and 7.5 you have a chance of using just lifestyle measures as your main treatment mode and that is what we prefer to be very honest with you but when that number starts to get higher and higher above 7.5 that's when medications come into play here now there's so many medications that are out now but metformin remains for most people the first line treatment there's a lot of reasons for this it's been thoroughly studied and the safety profile is quite good as well so that's probably going to be the most commonly recommended one also that does depend on your personal risk factors your side effects and you know your allergies so you really want to talk to your physician and see which one is best for you now as most of you know of all the medications that are out there the most famous one right now is probably semaglutide which is branded as OIC it's got a lot of different brand names now and it's being prescribed really left right and Center um it was originally uh created for diabetics because it works in different Pathways in your body to enhance that insulin production uh there's been a lot of other good effects that scientists have noted about this medication so it's being prescribed for other indications as well but primarily it remains a diabetes medication now like I said earlier it really depends on your personal risk factors on which medication and what mode of treatment is going to be best with for you so please do talk to your physician about it and no matter if it's medications or lifestyle measures the basis of diabetes management is acknowledging that you have the disease educating yourself about it and really trying to stay as healthy as possible now as far as curing diabetes there's still ongoing debate in the medical community whether or not this is possible a lot of major medical societies have their doubts that even though you can reverse diabetes and bring your A1C down to under 6% even under 5.7% which is the cut off pre-diabetes that there's really no cure for diabetes the body is still prone to it now like I said the debate is out there the jury's still out so we're not really sure the studies are ongoing and I'm sure as soon as there's a final verdict it'll be announced but for now managing it to the lowest uh A1C that is healthy for you is going to be the goal now whether that means it's shortterm or long-term point is just manage it as best as you can and be aware of those symptoms and those complications because you want to keep a handle on those now we have a really interesting question here from Facebook and this comes from faith faith asks I gave birth a few weeks ago congratulations faith and my roommate was another pregnant woman who said that she had gestational diabetes my question is what is it and what risks does it pose to both mother and baby hi Faith congratulations I hope you and your baby are doing just great this is such an exciting time now I hope that you had an easy pregnancy and I hope you didn't have to experience gestational diabetes because it is a serious health condition um but before I get a little deeper into that let's watch a video from our friends at the Mayo Clinic all expectant women hope for a healthy pregnancy but that's not always possible some develop gestational diabetes Dr Margaret da in OBGYN at Mayo Clinic explained gational diabetes causes vascular damage and can cause excessive weight gain in neonates and about two-thirds of women with gestational diabetes will go on to develop type 2 diabetes in the following two decades Dr Dow says long-term risks of stroke and heart disease significantly increase in women with gestational diabetes not just about blood sugar and managing one's blood sugar it's about all the other cardiovascular risks including the modifiable ones Dr Dow says pregnant women can reduce their risks by maintaining a healthy diet rich in fruit vegetables whole grains lean proteins and regular exercise one can even start an exercise program during the pregnancy after care is just as vital Dr da says a yearly follow-up after delivery can also reduce health risks for the Mayo Clinic News Network I'm Vivian Williams so have some wonderful information now G gestational diabetes excuse me is a term that we use to describe diabetes when it is diagnosed in a pregnant woman it in itself is not different than regular diabetes so we use that term just to make sure that we know that this was diagnosed while the woman was pregnant now there is some debate for instance the American diabetic Association suggests and notes that this term gestational diabetes should be given when a woman is diagnosed in her second or third trimester because their research and their Theory their theories say that if it's diagnosed in the first trimester it's likely to be undiagnosed diabetes from before so that being said we leave this to the second and third trimester um condition of diabetes now also diabetes has a lot of Health complications as we discussed for the mother for sure but for the child The Unborn fetus and after the baby is born it can have complications then as well and really recognizing this the first thing to do is get those prenatal exams um you know as soon as you find out you're pregnant get in touch with the OB physician and then schedule to have those regular prenatal visits because that's when the screening for diabetes is done especially if you have a family history or if you've had gestational diabetes and pregnancy before so you really really want to keep an eye on it now some of the risk factors that diabetes has for The Unborn fetus can be um macrosomia which is basically a baby who's born larger than average weight that can be dangerous because it can um it can sustain uh birth injuries during the birthing process for both the mom and the baby um having abnormal glucose levels in The Unborn fetus can lead to a lot of complications as we discussed before um the baby can have metabolic complications as well and honestly the baby can even be stillborn it can be a fatal condition so you really really want to keep an eye on it and like I said screening is of the utmost importance so we have another question here from Instagram and this comes from Jackson Jackson asks hey Dr core what are some diabetes education and support resources that are available for patients and their families I'm a high school student and my girlfriend was just recently told that she has diabetes I want to help her as much as I can oh Jackson what I don't want to embarrass you but oh my goodness that is the cutest thing I'm I'm so glad that you're there for her because as I've mentioned having that support is so so important and I'm sure that she's very very glad to have your support now luckily we have an abundance of resources out there to learn about diabetes I mean with the Advent of the internet and social media media and online resources there's so much out there so here's a list of those resources I do want to say though before I get into the list that you want to make sure you're getting your information from a credible resource American Diabetes Association the CDC etc etc so number one we have the diabetes education programs and classes now these are nowadays abundant to be honest with you when I first started training and I was in medical school there wasn't a lot of these but now we're seeing them in more frequency they can be provided by your doctor's office they can be provided to you by even your insurance a lot of insurance companies are um uh covering these services for their diabetic patients and it's so important to have all these resources right then there's the DI the certified diabetes Educators yeah these are individuals who have done extra training to be able to give you that education there are online resources as I mentioned the American Diabetes Association there support groups and Community organizations because that's also very important to be in a group where there's other people who are dealing with the same thing that you are it just makes it easier to go through and then obviously your Healthcare Providers and a registered dietitian they're all really really good good resources now if you got questions we've got answers and just in case you missed it the first time here's how to send us your Healthcare questions send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com so that was a lot of information today and I know you probably have so many more questions on what diabetes is how to diagnose it how to manage it and it can if it can be cured or not the point of the matter is you want to get your regular screenings done not just for diabetes for a lot of preventable uh health conditions and when it comes to diabetes you can prevent it by living a healthy life style exercising diet sleep um reducing your stress there are so many ways to do it and honestly having that good connection with your primary care physician in order to do it is so so important I hope that I was able to answer your questions it's a very important topic and I do encourage you to talk to your Healthcare Providers about it and your family members support them if they do have diabetes that's all the time we have for today folks like I said I hope that you guys found this helpful and useful it's been a pleasure my name is Dr gumal core and I wish you all well send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the ask the doc page on our website allhealth tv.com e