World Diabetes Day on November 14 is a great chance to Know Your Risk, Know Your Response by taking a simple test.
People with diabetes cannot control their blood sugar levels properly, either because their body doesn’t make enough – or any – insulin or because their cells have become resistant to it.
More than 250,000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand have been diagnosed with diabetes, most of them with type 2 diabetes which usually develops in adults but is becoming increasingly common in young people. Type 2 is more common in Māori, Pacific and South Asian people.
Those with prediabetes, excess weight, a close family member with diabetes, physically inactive, and/or have ever had gestational diabetes are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Risk increases with age.
The test above tells you your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 percent of diabetes for the one in 10 adults worldwide diagnosed with the disease. It aims to help prevent people developing type 2 by adopting and maintaining healthy habits, such as regular physical activity and healthy eating.
Common symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:
- feeling tired and lacking energy
- feeling thirsty
- going to the toilet often
- getting infections frequently
- getting infections which are hard to heal
- poor eyesight or blurred vision
- often feeling hungry.
Anyone with these symptoms should see their doctor.
As well as type 2 diabetes there is type 1 and gestational. Type 1 is usually diagnosed in childhood, and those with it need to inject insulin to live. Gestational diabetes can develop during pregnancy and usually resolves once the baby is born. However, about half those who have gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2.
As with a number of diseases, prevention is better than cure. So go ahead, take the test and work out what you can do to keep this potentially life-altering disease at bay.
