subject: What Is The Difference Between Pre-diabetes And Type 2 Diabetes? [print this page] Every day, more Americans are being diagnosed with either Pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes. Is the state before actually having type 2 diabetes, where blood sugar levels is already higher than normal but isnt enough to be classified as full blown diabetes. According to statistics, pre-diabetes without intervention can lead to type 2 diabetes within a period of 10 years. Type 2 diabetes is already having the life-threatening disease. Aside from this, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes differ in terms of blood sugar levels, signs and symptoms, management, reversibility, and complications.
Blood sugar levels. Blood sugar level in pre-diabetes is higher than normal of up to 125 mg/dl. Remember that normal blood sugar is 70-80 mg/dl without meals and 120 mg/dl one or two hours after meals. Blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes starts at 126 mg/dl and above. There is very thin line between pre-diabetes and diabetes, just 1mg of glucose per deciliter of blood.
Signs and symptoms. Pre-diabetes often manifest no signs and symptoms aside from elevated blood sugar levels. Although acanthosis nigricans, a condition where there is darkening in some areas of the skin have been observed in people at risk for diabetes. Meanwhile, type 2 diabetes is manifested by excessive thirst, urinary frequency, weakness, fatigue, and blurring of vision.
Management. The best way to manage pre-diabetes is to lose 5-10 percent of your weight, regular exercise, and regularly consuming low-carbohydrates diet. Management for Type 2 diabetes includes all pre-diabetic management plus taking sulphonylureas, biguanides, insulin, and other diabetic medications.
Reversibility. Pre-diabetes is reversible, healthy changes in your lifestyle can prevent the progression to Type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes is irreversible. When you have been diagnosed with diabetes, you can only manage its symptoms. Until today, diabetes remains to be an incurable disease.
Complications. The single complication of pre-diabetes is full blown type 2 diabetes. Whereas, diabetic-related complications include kidney failure, hypertension, stroke, retinopathy, blindness, and neuropathy.
No matter how different they are, both pre-diabetes and full blown diabetes requires monitoring and medical attention. You need to have regular blood sugar testing as prescribed by your doctor. There are different blood sugar tests and the hemoglobin A1C test is the most definitive. Lastly, both pre-diabetes and diabetes share common goals control blood sugar levels and keep them within healthy limits.
