Unhealthy lifestyle can cause diabetes

Dr. Conrado Sioson talks to patient Shirley Woods.

As Americans add more and more weight to their bodies, they are increasing their chances of getting another major health problem – diabetes.

“People need to improve their diets and start changing their lifestyles,” says Dr. Conrado Sioson, a board-certified internal medicine physician at the Medical Clinic, who sees an increasing number of patients with diabetes. “Though genetics play a role in who gets adult onset diabetes, being overweight worsens your chances.”

Adult onset diabetes, also called Type 2 diabetes, results when the body does not produce enough insulin or when the body resists the insulin, Dr. Sioson says. Your body needs insulin to take sugar (glucose), the body’s basic food, from your blood into your cells.

If the glucose builds up in your blood because it can’t get into your cells, your body starves for energy. Eventually, those high glucose levels harm other parts of your body, such as your heart, kidneys, nerves and eyes.

As with many diseases, the early detection of diabetes makes it easier to control and reduces your risks of complications, Dr. Sioson says. Regular checkups with your doctor should include a glucose test.

Of the 20 million Americans with diabetes, about one-third don’t know that they have it, says the American Diabetes Association. Though diabetes occurs in people of all ages and races, Type 2 diabetes is more common in older people, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans.

Early indications of diabetes, says Dr. Sioson, is being overweight and having elevated sugar levels in your blood. Patients also may feel thirsty, need to urinate a lot, crave sweets, may want to eat a lot, and have blurry vision, he adds. “Often people don’t show signs of diabetes until the disease progresses.”

Just as an unhealthy lifestyle increases your chances for diabetes, Dr. Sioson says, diabetes increases your chances of getting other health problems, such as high cholesterol and heart problems and kidney problems. Diabetes also is a major cause of blindness, he adds. “Diabetes involves the whole body.”

When diabetes damages your nerve system, for example, your sense of touch changes, Dr. Sioson explains. You easily burn yourself because scalding water may not feel hot to you. You are more prone to injuries in your feet and hands and have poor wound healing.

“Once diabetes develops,” he says, “ you can’t cure it, but you can control it.”

He tells his patients that to control their diabetes and prevent more life-threatening complications, they need a total lifestyle modification, one that includes a change in their diet, regular exercise and taking medications, if needed. With advances in medicines and treatments, he has a variety of options he can use to tailor treatment to individual patients.

Often, it takes a serious complication, such as a foot ulcer, stroke or heart attack, to convince a patient to be totally committed to improving his or her lifestyle, Dr. Sioson says.

“It’s so hard to give up the good stuff; it’s our culture to get what we want.”