Diabetes Screening

Diabetes screening is a preventive medicine tool that identifies diabetes in its earlier stages. Cookeville Medical Clinic RHC has offices in Cookeville, Gainesboro, Crossville, and Sparta, Tennessee, where their experienced team members offer diabetes screening to detect diabetes and prediabetes (where your blood sugar is high but hasn’t caused irreversible damage). The team can then help you make changes that improve your health and prescribe any medication you need. To arrange a diabetes screening, call Cookeville Medical Clinic RHC today or book an appointment online.

Why would I need diabetes screening?

Anyone can benefit from diabetes screening because the disease causes few or no symptoms in its early stages. However, if you have any risk factors for diabetes, it’s even more critical to undergo routine screening. These risk factors include:

• Excess body weight
• A diet high in fat and sugar
• Having had gestational diabetes during pregnancy
• Exercising infrequently
• Family history of diabetes

Type 1 diabetes usually affects younger people and often causes noticeable symptoms. It’s an autoimmune disorder where the immune system kills cells in your pancreas that make insulin. This hormone is vital for blood sugar regulation; without it, people can suffer potentially life-threatening complications.

The far more common Type 2 diabetes is due to insulin resistance, typically from excess body fat. While Type 1 diabetes isn’t preventable, Type 2 diabetes almost always is. Diabetes screening detects the earliest signs of insulin resistance, at which point the condition is fully reversible.

Why is diabetes screening so important?

Diabetes screening is vital to help you avoid the consequences of managing this chronic disease. Poorly managed or untreated Type 2 diabetes can cause various unpleasant, painful, and life-threatening problems. These complications range from kidney damage (nephropathy) and eye damage (retinopathy) to dementia and repeated bacterial and fungal infections.

Atherosclerosis (a build-up of cholesterol that coats the insides of your arteries with sticky plaque) is more common in people with diabetes. It can cause blockages in blood flow, leading to heart attacks and strokes.

High sugar levels in your blood can cause poor circulation in your feet and legs. As a result, wounds take longer to heal, and infections are harder to fight off. Another common diabetes complication is diabetic peripheral neuropathy — nerve damage due to excessive blood sugar.

Neuropathy can cause numbness in your feet. You might suffer an injury and not realize it, giving bacteria a chance to enter the wound. Poor circulation means the wound doesn’t heal, and the tissue starts breaking down. The result is a diabetic ulcer, an open sore that resists healing. Ulcers can develop into gangrene and lead to limb amputation.

What does diabetes screening involve?

The great thing about diabetes screening is that it’s so simple. You just need to provide a blood sample that your provider sends to Cookeville Medical Clinic RHC’s onsite lab for testing. If your blood sugar is too high, your provider can start you on a personalized treatment program.

To arrange your diabetes screening test, call Cookeville Medical Clinic RHC today or book an appointment online.