{"id":5961,"date":"2016-11-18T20:27:30","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T20:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=5961"},"modified":"2016-11-18T20:27:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T20:27:30","slug":"doctors-highlight-care-prevention-for-diabetes-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=5961","title":{"rendered":"Doctors Highlight Care, Prevention for Diabetes Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"It\u2019s<\/a>

It\u2019s National Diabetes Awareness Month. Monitoring blood glucose levels can help prevent or control Type 2 diabetes and its complications. Photo: Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

by Mark Richardson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas<\/strong> — November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and health professionals are getting the message out to Texans about a serious complication of the disease: diabetic foot ulcers.<\/p>\n

According to vascular surgeon Dr. Gary Gibbons, there are several causes of foot ulcers. One is diabetic neuropathy, when nerves are affected by blood-sugar levels, causing a loss of sensation in the feet. Many diabetics also have circulation problems, so wound healing can be much slower. Gibbons said 29 million Americans are diagnosed as diabetic, and another 8 million have the condition but don’t know it.<\/p>\n

“We have another 80 million people with prediabetes who can develop the complications, and foot ulcers are a significant complication,” Gibbons said. “About 25 percent of diabetics will have some type of foot problem or ulcer during their lifetime.”<\/p>\n

Anyone who has diabetes can develop a foot ulcer, but some patients are at greater risk than others. These include Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics and older men, as well as people who use insulin or have diabetes-related kidney, eye or heart disease.<\/p>\n

About 3 million Texans are diabetic, and another 7 million are at risk. According to public health officials, diabetes and related complications cost Texas $24 billion dollars a year in healthcare and related costs.<\/p>\n

Richard Kropp, manager for diabetes prevention and control with the Texas Diabetes Council, said the Lone Star State’s high rate of obesity is a major contributor to the problem.<\/p>\n

“Obesity rates are going to drive increasing numbers of people with diabetes,” Kropp said. “Because Texas is a growing state, there’s probably going to be a quadrupling of diabetes between now and the next 40 years.”<\/p>\n

As soon as someone is diagnosed with diabetes, they should be careful – in part, because foot ulcers can lead to amputations and even death, Gibbons said.<\/p>\n

“Yes, you can exercise and you certainly can diet, but it’s really looking at your feet, taking care of your feet and realizing that foot complications are a common occurrence,” he said.<\/p>\n

According to CDC data, diabetes kills nearly 80,000 Americans every year.<\/p>\n

More information on living with diabetes is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Richardson AUSTIN, Texas — November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and health professionals are getting the message out to Texans about a serious complication of the disease: diabetic foot ulcers. According to vascular surgeon Dr. Gary Gibbons, there are several causes of foot ulcers. One is diabetic neuropathy, when nerves are affected by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5963,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5961\/revisions\/5963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}