Diabetes and metabolic syndrome are two age-related chronic diseases that decrease quality of life and increase mortality. People with diabetes live with high blood sugar levels. People with metabolic syndrome have diabetes plus high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels and increased body fat around the waist. Most people with diabetes ultimately develop metabolic syndrome.
Our approach to treating diabetes and metabolic syndrome empowers patients to take control of their health and their diagnosis. For some this means their diagnosis resolves. For others it means living with the condition and optimizing the risks linked to the diagnosis.
What is prediabetes?
Pre-diabetes marks a stage in the diabetes spectrum when blood sugar levels are elevated but not yet high enough to trigger the diagnosis of diabetes. Pre-diabetic individuals may be referred to as “insulin resistant.”
If you are pre-diabetic, now is the best time to optimize the lifestyle habits that feed your diagnosis and get you into a safer space. It’s actually easier than you think!
What are the health risks associated with diabetes and metabolic syndrome?
Diabetes wreaks havoc on your blood vessels. All of the complications associated with the diagnosis – heart disease, stroke, premature death, kidney failure, loss of vision, and some forms of cancer and dementia – can be linked to a damaged blood vessels. And the same exact issue applies if you’re diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, only moreso, since there are multiple insults hitting the blood vessels at the same time – elevated blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.
The damage that we’re talking about is along the lining of the blood vessels, called the endothelium, which is actually the largest organ system in your body. Promoting endothelial health by controlling your sugar peaks and tightening up on glycemic variability, or the range between the highs and lows, is key to getting control and influencing metabolism in the right direction.
What drives the evolution of prediabetes and diabetes?
To understand the evolution of diabetes, you first need to separate insulin-dependent diabetes, also known as Type I diabetes, from non-insulin dependent diabetes, or Type II diabetes.
Type I diabetics have lost the ability to produce the hormone insulin. Insulin performs two major functions: it drives sugar into cells and it stops the liver from releasing sugar into the bloodstream. Most Type I diabetics present as children or young adults, and they must use insulin to stay alive. Genetics, autoimmune disorders and even infections are thought to cause Type I diabetes.
Type II diabetics have become resistant to insulin.
Most Type II diabetics and pre-diabetics can trace their problem to a blend of poor nutrition, inactivity, and/or weight management problems. Others are predisposed to developing the condition because of undiagnosed hormonal imbalances.
Dr. Socol specializes in defining the root-causes of diabetes and empowering his patients to either control the diagnosis or resolve it using a realistic and outcome-driven approach to health.
What distinguishes our approach to diabetes and metabolic syndrome at SocolMD?
We know we get results, and many of our patients tell us that we’re ahead of the curve.
The distinguishing factor for most patients at SocolMD is our strong clinical background in nutrition and lifestyle, plus Dr. Socol’s understanding that there are often secondary metabolic and hormonal problems that entrench each problem, which makes getting results that much more elusive.
For the vast majority of patients coming into the practice with a prior diagnosis, our evidence-based approach using the tools of Performance Medicine is often a new direction that gets immediate results for our diabetic patients and our patients with metabolic syndrome.
Our approach to metabolic syndrome and diabetes works with the individual patient to rein in the forces that promote disease and blends in novel therapies that improve long-term outcome.
Recommended conference for diabetics:
Taking Control of Your Diabetes, TCOYD. Education. Motivation. Empowerment.