TIME FOR A DIABETES TEST...
At 45, you are at risk
Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and your risk for developing the disease increases greatly after age 45. So beginning on your 45th birthday, you should add another item to your annual physical–a diabetes screening. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) also recommends that you be tested again at three-year intervals if your first test is negative.

What Is diabetes?
Diabetes prevents the body from properly using or producing insulin, a hormone that helps convert starches, sugar and other food into energy.

Many people are familiar with type 1 diabetes, when the body does not produce any insulin. People usually develop type 1 early in life and must take daily insulin injections to stay well. But 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases are type 2, according to the ADA. This type of diabetes results from the body’s inability to produce enough, or properly use, insulin. Losing weight or improving nutrition and exercise can usually control it. Occasionally it must be regulated with oral medications or insulin injections.

A silent killer
Often people with type 2 diabetes don’t know they have the disease until they develop serious complications. Older adults are particularly at risk because they often mistake the warning signs of diabetes with symptoms commonly associated with aging. After all, many of the symptoms are similar.

But the effects are not the same. If left untreated, diabetes can lead to eye damage and blindness, kidney disease, heart disease, stroke, impotence, nerve disease (which can lead to amputation of a lower limb) and, in some cases, death.

Simple tests
Health care professionals can check the level of glucose in the bloodstream to help determine the possible presence of diabetes. In some cases, this reading is taken after a person has been given a drink containing glucose. This is a glucose tolerance test. Another method is a simple finger-stick blood screening, where no fasting is required.

Reduce your risk for complications
If you have diabetes, you can reduce your risk for complications if you are educated about your disease, learn and practice the skills necessary to better control your blood glucose levels, and receive regular checkups from your health care team.

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