It’s a sobering statistic: one in three Americans will develop Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime, many of them later in life.
Diabetes does not suddenly appear. It’s a long, deteriorating condition that has likely been in motion for several years, if not decades.
“Therein lies the big problem,” emphasized Dr. Samira Ummat of Longevity Medical Clinic. “People think that once they have a diagnosis they'll do something about it. But the time to do something about it is before the diagnosis, and so you've missed this huge window of opportunity of a decade or two before you got the diagnosis where you could have been more proactive and prevented the huge consequences of this one simple diagnosis.”
Dr. Ummat describes the progression of Type 2 diabetes, especially in older people, is as follows:
- Your aging body changes – muscle mass decreases, fat levels increase, and your body’s ability to handle sugar isn’t as good
- Insulin production from the pancreas increases, your body’s resistance to insulin increases
- Over time (sometimes years) the pancreas is unable to produce sufficient insulin to remove sugar, resulting in Type 2 diabetes
“One of the things that people notice as they're getting older is they feel tired,” Dr. Ummat said. “With diabetes, you'll feel tired. You won't have the energy or the stamina to do what you could do in the past. A lot of times people will notice that they want to eat a lot, and the classic symptoms, we used to say, was eating a lot, peeing a lot, and feeling thirsty.”
But science and our understanding of the disease has matured, and there are other warning signs to be on the lookout for:
- Short-term memory issues
- Blurred vision
- Numbness or tingling in the hands and feet
The folks at Longevity Medical Clinic have developed diagnostics and treatments to help patients through the challenges of diabetes.
“We're very much geared towards objective measurement, because if we can't show you what you have to do, how do you know where to start?” Dr. Ummat said. They offer a free health analysis appointment, where patients are first educated on what to expect from the process, then receive two tests at no charge.
“And those two tests are valuable because they give us a huge idea about your risk for becoming diabetic and whether you're prediabetic or not, and then more importantly what's happening to your physiology.”
Along with the free assessment, Longevity is offering $100 in free supplements just for coming in. For more information, visit the Longevity website.
Sponsored by Longevity. Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.