Diabetes awareness - Thomas G. Urosevich, OD, MS, FAAO - Geisinger Medical Group-Mt. Pocono

November has been designated as National Diabetes Month.  Diabetes is the major cause of blindness among working-age Americans, and there are 5,000 new cases of blindness each year caused by diabetes.
 It may be a surprise to you to know that over 17 million Americans have diabetes, and the American Diabetes Association estimates that almost half of those people don’t know they have diabetes. 
 Your regular eye exam may be the first opportunity to detect diabetes.  Your eye doctor may suspect diabetes if you have symptoms of blurred vision, vision that changes over time (as blurred one day and clear some time later) or if you have double vision. Your doctor should perform tests to determine your visual perception and sharpness, how well coordinated your eye movements are, if the strength of your glasses has changed over time, your eye pressure and perhaps a visual field test. 
 There are 2 major types of diabetes.  Insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM), or type I diabetes, means that people who are affected must have insulin injectons to stay alive.  You may have heard this called juvenile diabetes, because it usually starts in children under the age of 20 and accounts for only 10% of the diabetes patients in the United States.
  Non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), or type II diabetes, occurs in people who can usually control their diabetes without taking insulin.  It usually occurs after the age of 40.  This type accounts for 90% of all diabetes in the United States.  Alarmingly, this form of diabetes is now also occurring more frequently in children.  This is especially true for Native American, Hispanic American and African American children. 
 A blood test may be ordered by your optometrist or ophthalmologist to measure the amount of glucose in your blood.  If your eye doctor is concerned that you may have diabetes, he will refer you to your family physician for more tests.
 Diabetes is a disease that affects our body’s ability to use food energy.  Diabetes prevents a person’s body from using glucose, which is produced from the food we eat. Persons with diabetes are not able to make use of the glucose they produce. In either case, glucose builds up in the blood and eventually may spill over into the urine. 
 Usually the first sign of diabetes is frequent urination, especially at night.  This is followed by unusual thirst. Other symptoms of diabetes include fatigue, always feeling hungry, blurred vision, sudden weight loss-even when the person is eating their usual amount of food, and wounds or infections are slow to heal.  Some persons with these symptoms may not have diabetes, but if you or someone you know has these complaints, it is important to see your doctor.
 Scientists around the world are working hard to f ind a cure, but the exact cause is still not clear.  We do know that you can’t  catch diabetes from someone else and eating a lot of sugar does not cause diabetes.  Being overweight and not getting enough exercise does increase your chance of getting non-insulin-dependent diabetes.  If the disease “runs in your family”, this will increase your chance of developing diabetes.   Also, as we get older, our likelihood of developing diabetes increases. 
 Most of the complications of diabetes are preventable.  People with diabetes can lead normal, healthy lives, with proper diet, medication and exercise.  Most importantly, persons with diabetes can have a lifetime of good vision.  Controlling blood sugar reduces the risk of bad vision by at least 60%.  Coupled with an annual eye exam, you can significantly reduce the risk of blindness.
 If you or a member of your family have not received a dilated eye examination in the past year, you should contact your local eye care provider for an appointment.  Anyone may call the “Diabetes Hotline” at 1-800-262-3947 to get assistance in receiving an eye exam.  More information can be found on the American Optometric Association website at www.aoa.org.
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