24 million Americans have diabetes

[Schuyler Colfax]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25350702/

ASHINGTON - New government estimates show that nearly 24 million people in the United States have diabetes, an increase of more than 3 million in two years.

This means that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes, mostly the type-2 diabetes linked with obesity, poor diet and a lack of exercise, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

The estimates, based on 2007 data, also show that 57 million people have pre-diabetes, a condition that puts people at increased risk for diabetes. And up to 25 percent of people with diabetes do not know they have it, the CDC said — down from 30 percent two years ago.

Almost 25 percent of the population 60 years and older had diabetes in 2007, the CDC found.

The highest rates are among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, with 16.5 percent affected.

Close to 12 percent of blacks and 10 percent of Hispanics have diabetes, but just 7.5 percent of Asian Americans and 6.6 percent of whites.

Diabetes causes the body to produce less insulin, or to use it less effectively, which in turn causes blood sugar levels to rise. This in turn damages blood vessels and organs, leading to blindness, kidney disease, limb loss and heart disease.

It is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States.

“It is concerning to know that we have more people developing diabetes, and these data are a reminder of the importance of increasing awareness of this condition, especially among people who are at high risk,” said Dr. Ann Albright, director of the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.

“On the other hand, it is good to see that more people are aware that they have diabetes. That is an indication that our efforts to increase awareness are working, and more importantly, that more people are better prepared to manage this disease and its complications.”

No surprise here. If I don't get my act together I'm sure I'll get later in life.

[Kitsune]

I have it but I am getting it under control.....Moist of the time I have been below about 100.....Hoping to get off the medicines for it. Mine is likely genetic though, most of my family has it or are pre-diabetic

[The Yosemite Bear]

So's mine, however I've been acting pre-diabetic since I was seven...

[The Spartan]

Let's see. My grandfather had it (controled with insulin in pre-medication days), my father has it (controled with medication), one of my brothers has it (controled with diet). However, my sister doesn't have it, though she needs to continue getting her weight down. My brother's twin doesn't have it, though he needs to get his weight back down. I don't have it and I'll be damned if I'm going to not do my damnedest to avoid it. But I've lost 30lbs in the last year so I'm in a good spot to keep doing that...

I've seen what it can do to someone and I sure as hell don't want to have to deal with that, especially since I hate needles...

[TC Pilot]

If you don't like needles, you could use an insulin pump. You'll only need to stick yourself about once a month (in order to replace the tubing), but you'd have to carry a pager-sized brick around your waist all day, every day.

[The Spartan]

If you don't like needles, you could use an insulin pump. You'll only need to stick yourself about once a month (in order to replace the tubing), but you'd have to carry a pager-sized brick around your waist all day, every day.

It's not the insulin that would concern me, I'd likely be swallowing pills not injecting insulin. It's the pricking my finger to check my blood sugar thing.

I know it's silly to be squeamish about that and be using that as one of my primary motivators, but, well, if it's stupid but works it isn't stupid.

[Master of Ossus]

I blame childhood vaccinations.

[Frank Hipper]

I know it's silly to be squeamish about that and be using that as one of my primary motivators, but, well, if it's stupid but works it isn't stupid.

I disagree; it's stupid whether it works or not.

To avoid dying nastily in the next 48-72 hours, I take two insulin injections a day.
Having been close to dying with diabetic ketoacidosis twice has taught me to happily appreciate those insignificant, ridiculous little pinpricks as the literal source of my life.

People who take care of their diabetes with the upmost rigor suffer limb loss, blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy, heart attacks and strokes every day.
You may congratulate yourself for using fear of jabbing your finger for a glucometer as being practical, but believe me, there are people in diabetic wards in every hospital in every city living through things that should truly be feared. Like this.

I didn't have the luxury of of controlling my weight to avoid developing this shit, and there's no amount of weight I could possibly lose to cure myself of it; I've never been so much as a single pound overweight in my entire life.
I simply caught a flu, and my immune system destroyed the isles of Langerhans in my pancreas.

If you have any option available to you to avoid developing diabetes, then you should be ecstatic, and work every day at it for no other reason than you can, period.

[The Spartan]

Fair enough I suppose.

And you don't need to tell me about the potential complications that stem from diabetes. I know plenty about them. The problem is that most of the ones I'd be likely to face are the ones that occur a couple decades or so down the road. And irrational or not, it's much easier to motivate one's self with the immediate consequences that can be seen than the far off ones that you may encounter.

I've yet to see the most serious of diabetes' complications in anyone I've known, including my dad. But I have seen him testing his blood sugar on a daily basis (to say nothing of the handful of medications he has to take) and for someone who has such an irrational hatred of needles as me, that's one hell of a motivator.

Of course, you have a far more personal experience with this shit than I likely ever will, so, our perspectives are obviously different.