Garden City Hospital Internal Medicine doctor, Hetal Gandhi, has been treating diabetic patients for the past 15 years and is very passionate about the subject.
What is Diabetes? “Diabetes is when your blood sugar level is higher than normal.”
What are the different types? “There are two types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Five percent of the population with diabetes has Type 1 diabetes. Maturity of 90-95% of patients now having Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is mostly caused by a diet that is high in carbohydrates, lack of physical activity, a family history of diabetes and obesity.
What is prediabetes? More patients have now been diagnosed with prediabetes. Prediabetes is the start entry point of when we can define diabetes. Patients with prediabetes are 50% more likely to develop diabetes in the future if not taken care of properly.
What can you do? To get yourself checked for diabetes or prediabetes, make an appointment to see your family doctor. Have them check your fasting plasma sugar, hemoglobin A1C or glycohemoglobin. That will help them decide whether you are prediabetic, diabetic or non-diabetic. You can also see a nutritionist or diabetes educator. They can help you modify your diet plan and help you prevent becoming diabetic and is an excellent way to prevent any complication that occurs from having diabetes for a long time, such as kidney disease, heart disease, eye complications, etc. Dr. Gandhi strongly recommends patients start physical activity as soon as possible and get your sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol checked, make an appointment with your family doctor and take care of your health!
For a referral to a Garden City Hospital Physician, please call 877-717-9355.
For more information or events on Diabetes Education at Garden City Hospital, visit our Diabetes Education page.
See how Diabetes Education helped Mary manage her prediabetes Mary’s Story
