Calling for More Testing for Diabetes

A lot more needs to be done. It seems many educational institutions are jumping on the band wagon of encouraging more testing for diabetes. But calling for more testing is not getting the job done. Unless this call is turned into action, nothing will change. And this is all to often the case. Calls go out, but no one follows through to see that doctors are doing this and often the insurance companies are discouraging them.

If these institutions would encourage their medical schools to spread the word and talk to their graduates, more good might happen. What might assist if pressure on the medical insurance industry to request doctors do this to remain on the approved list. Doubt insurance would consider, but it could save them big bucks in the long term.

In addition they would actually be doing some excellent preventative medicine and developing customer relations. What is it going to take to get everyone on board and taking action. I suspect it is a task for people in a position to call investigations and enact legislation that might force this stalemate.

Yes, why even have elected officials if they cannot act on behalf of their constituents. The Alzheimers Association has a national plan. What can't the American Diabetes Association have a national plan. Probably because it is not part of their 2011 priorities.

Many of the Type 1 people are talking about talking to their elected officials and are doing this, but it is not even on the agenda for the ADA. This is another reason those of us with Type 2 need a new organization that will advocate for 90 to 95 percent of the people with diabetes.

Using the HbA1c test as a screening test is somewhat practical, but both tests should be preformed. If getting this started requires giving up one test, then so be it. In the January 2011 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, a study reports that the A1c test can be administered in the physician's office and will identify pre-diabetes.

If they can identify more individuals with pre-diabetes in the physicians office, it will give an opportunity to stop the progression of the disease and possibly delay diabetes for many years. This would be a win for the people in terms of healthcare and even a win for the medical insurance industry with less expenses.

If you are considering being tested, learn the signs for risk for diabetes. They are high blood pressure or heart disease, being overweight or obese, or a family history of diabetes, over the age of 45, and are a woman with a past gestational diabetes, get yourself tested to determine if you have prediabetes. If you are diagnosed as having pre-diabetes, loosing as little as 10 to 15 pounds through exercise and diet will cut your chances in half of developing diabetes. This will improve your health dramatically if you treat it as serious and keep working at it.

Read the article on the study here and good luck. For those of us already with diabetes, if you can work this in with a friend that shows the above probabilities, do it politely and explain how it can help.

This article appeared on January 13, 2011. It is not a total shock that they say that nearly one-half of the people with Type 2 diabetes do not manage it. From the persons I know locally, I thought the percentage would have been nearer 60 percent.

Don't get me wrong, nearly 50 percent is horrible, and coming from the Centers for Disease Control, I can trust these numbers a lot more that my own observations. This public health initiative is between the doctors of endocrinology and two large pharmacological companies.

This may be a lofty project, but at least some of the people in a position to do so are involved. Now the problem will be if we can get them behind the screening for diabetes and pre-diabetes.