Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic and life-altering condition that’s affecting rapidly increasing numbers of people in the United States. Even if you have no symptoms, you could be in the early stages of diabetes, but a simple blood test at Brookhaven Diabetes & Primary Care Clinic in Brookhaven, Mississippi, is all it takes to know for sure. Amy Case is an experienced nurse practitioner who specializes in providing diabetes management and comprehensive family health care services. They accept cash and most cards. Call or request an appointment online with Brookhaven Diabetes & Primary Care today!

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition that involves your endocrine system, which produces hormones. One of the hormones your body makes is insulin, which you need to regulate your blood sugar. 

Without the right levels of insulin, your blood sugar could go too low or too high, causing a range of unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening health problems.

There are several problems that can affect your body’s ability to use insulin. You might have some insulin in your system, but not enough to adequately regulate blood sugar levels, or the insulin your body’s making isn’t being used properly. This is known as Type 2 diabetes. In many cases, Type 2 diabetes is accelerated because of lifestyle issues.  It can sometimes be prevented or controlled with just new lifestyle skills or taking appropriate actions.

What causes Type 2 diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes onset is greatly accellerated by certain factors: 

• Being overweight or obese
• High fat / sugar intake
• Not enough exercise
• Excessive alcohol consumption

Being overweight is one of the primary triggers for diabetes, but you don’t have to be overweight to be affected by the condition. 

Brookhaven Diabetes & Primary Care provides screening tests for diabetes that show, from a routine blood test, whether your blood sugar is too high. 

The test can detect early signs of diabetes long before it starts causing noticeable symptoms, at a stage called prediabetes. If you take action when you have prediabetes, it’s possible to prevent or at least significantly delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

You could also have an immune system disorder, which means your body destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. This is known as Type 1 diabetes.

What causes Type 1 diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes is strictly dependent on your genetics.

What treatments are there for diabetes?

If you have Type 1 diabetes, you need to take insulin long-term. Type 1 diabetes isn’t curable yet, but Amy will help you manage your condition and lead a long, full life.

If you have Type 2 diabetes, improving lifestyle as much as possible is always a priority.  Adding specific medications to your lifestyle changes based on your customized needs will also help control, delay or possible even prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes. 

Find out more about managing diabetes or arrange a screening test by calling Brookhaven Diabetes & Primary Care or booking an appointment online today.