Early pre-diabetes symptoms in women

GLOBAL medical reports suggest that approximately 84 per cent of people with pre-diabetes are unaware that they have it. General practitioner Dr Annetta Wishart said that pre-diabetic patients often go undetected because they are generally asymptomatic — many only becoming aware when it’s discovered during routine screening.

“Pre-diabetes is the term used to refer to individuals whose glucose levels do not meet the threshold for diabetes, but are too high to be considered normal,” Dr Wishart told All Woman.

“Most patients are asymptomatic while others have mild symptoms like polyuria (urinating excessively), polydipsia (excessive thirst), or polyphagia (eating excessively — usually a lot of carbohydrates/sweets.”

She explained that there are three available testing tools to screen for people with pre-diabetes or diabetes including the fasting plasma glucose test, the haemoglobin A1c test and the two-hour oral glucose tolerance test.

“For the fasting plasma glucose test, the patient is instructed to fast for about eight to 10 hours before testing. You are considered pre-diabetic if the results show that your blood sugar is 100 to 125 milligrams (mg) per deciliter (dL) or 5.6 to 6.9 millimoles per litre,” Dr Wishart outlined.

In the case of the two-hour oral glucose tolerance test, the family doctor said that the lab technician will first give the fasting plasma glucose test, following which you will be given something sugary to drink. After a two-hour wait period, the lab technician will then take another blood sample. If your blood sugar is 140 to 199 mg/dL or 7.7 to 11 millimoles per litre after the second test then you are considered pre-diabetic.

“For the haemoglobin A1c test, for which you are required to provide a single blood sample, it tells the patient’s average level of blood sugar control over the past three months. If the test returns a reading of 5.7 to 6.4 per cent, the patient is pre-diabetic.”

Dr Wishart said that anyone can develop pre-diabetes, even children; however, there are several reasons why you may be predisposed to diabetes. These include:

• You are overweight or obese

• You have a family history of diabetes

•You follow an unhealthy dietary pattern — for example, a diet that is rich in fats and oils (saturated fats), processed meat, highly processed carbohydrates and sweetened drinks.

• You have polycystic ovary syndrome

• You have high cholesterol

• You don’t exercise

•You had gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy) or you gave birth to a baby who weighed more than nine pounds

• You have a sedentary lifestyle.

For patients who are diagnosed with pre-diabetes, Dr Wishart said that the condition can be controlled through dietary modification and exercise.

“It is very important for you to eat healthy, in appropriate portions, and to maintain healthy body weight. A dietician can be helpful with guiding patients in this regard,” Dr Wishart shared.

She noted, too, that it is important for patients to receive diabetic counselling and education. In addition, she encourages patients to do complete annual screenings, and control all existing comorbid conditions such as hypertension and high cholesterol.