When you learn you have diabetes, your to-do list can feel a lot longer. You might be exercising more often, making changes to your diet, starting a new medication or learning about monitoring your blood sugar. Though it might feel overwhelming, there’s another thing you should add to your list: Get an eye exam. While…
It can be confusing to hear that you’re at risk for a serious health condition when you feel fine. Take prediabetes—a condition where your blood sugar (also referred to as glucose) levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. “People can be shocked when they learn they have higher…
Most people think that preeclampsia, a high blood pressure condition that occurs during pregnancy, goes away after the baby is born. That’s why Noelle Roth, who was diagnosed with the disease just two days before having her daughter, was surprised to learn that her short stint with the condition had long-term ramifications. It puts her…
If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes, you may have heard the term “A1C.” This is a blood test that measures your average blood sugar level over the last 90 to 120 days, and it’s a powerful tool for staying healthy. “A1C is the yardstick of blood sugar,” says UNC Health diabetes educator Camille…
If you have diabetes, you might know that foot problems, such as sores that won’t heal, are common in people with the disease. Fortunately, you can lower your chances of having diabetes-related foot problems by managing your blood sugar and taking care of your feet every day. We talked to UNC Health podiatrist Howard E.…
This article was published on July 27, 2020; statistical information was updated on November 6, 2024. More than 300,000 children and teens in the United States have type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, the hormone that controls blood-sugar levels. With early diagnosis and treatment of type…
There are more than 34 million people in the U.S. who have diabetes—that’s 10 percent of the population. So if you don’t have the disease, you certainly know someone who does. Managing diabetes can be difficult, but there are ways you can help or offer support to someone who needs it. UNC Health endocrinologist M.…
If you have diabetes, you’re used to putting in extra effort to manage your health. Now, there’s a new wrinkle: It appears people with diabetes are more prone to complications from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). “If you have diabetes, you really don’t want to get COVID,” says UNC Health endocrinologist John B. Buse, MD, PhD.…
Do you have undiagnosed diabetes? 1.4 million Americans are newly diagnosed each year. In recognition of National Diabetes Awareness Month, we want you to monitor for these 10 subtle signs of diabetes. [Read more...]
Age-specific guidelines for diabetes care. If your child has been diagnosed with diabetes, you may have dozens of questions and concerns. While a diagnosis can feel scary and overwhelming, it does get better. “Take it one day at a time, and after a few months, it’s going to feel a lot easier and manageable,” says…
Children's Health, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Health, Pediatric Medicine
Learn why more children are being diagnosed with this condition and how to prevent it. Once upon a time, type 2 diabetes was called adult-onset diabetes because it almost exclusively affected adults. Back then, virtually all children with diabetes had the type 1 form of the disease, but that’s no longer the case. In recent…
Fortunately, medicine has come a long way since the Middle Ages, but one early practice might be coming back: bloodletting. Bloodletting, a process in which units of blood are drawn to cure or prevent disease, has a history spanning 3,000 years. The practice was used to cure ailments including the plague, smallpox, epilepsy and gout,…
