Monthly Archives: March 2017

Diabetes mellitus is a huge concern in Lancaster County and the surrounding areas; roughly 15 percent of people in Lancaster have diabetes. Diabetes is a multifocal problem. Patients are more likely to have high blood pressure, a stroke, heart disease, blindness, poor circulation to the lower extremities, and even mortality.

Per 100,000 people in Lancaster, 362 will die as a result of diabetes. When diabetes is poorly managed, the risks for complications greatly increase. It is extremely important for diabetics to always have the supplies they need to control their blood sugars.

As your article mentioned, supplies are often too costly to buy. This leaves patients buying cheaper, expired supplies that may be faulty.

Nationally, we spend $174 billion annually on diabetic care. This number will continue to rise as more people are diagnosed with diabetes. I urge you to continue to write well-informed articles on diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. We can bring more awareness to the disease by sharing these alarming statistics.

Rather then just writing on the cost of the disease, I encourage you to increase the knowledge of Lancaster residents. The newspaper is a prime opportunity to educate people who are at high risk for diabetes and how they can decrease their risk. We must try to decrease our rates of countywide diabetes or we will continue to see these problems.

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Educate the public about diabetes - LancasterOnline

Positive Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Intensification Endocrinology Advisor HealthDay News For patients with type 2 diabetes, not delaying intensification of oral antidiabetic drugs is associated with greater reductions in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and with reduced risks of cardiovascular events and amputations, according to ...

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Positive Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Intensification - Endocrinology Advisor

Lisa Miller and Sanford Miller enrolled in a Methodist Hospital's diabetes prevention program each loosing over 20 pounds after Sanford was diagnosed prediabetic and both registered high cholesterol.(Photo: Jim Weber, The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

Construction worker Sanford Miller rarely ate a midday mealthat didn't include a fast-food burger andfries because, as he says, "that's what you did for lunch."

Not any more.

With his weight, cholesteroland blood-sugar levels surging, Miller, 56, decided to make a change. He and his wife Lisa joined a diabetes-prevention class at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospitaland began taking walks and eatinga more healthful diet. TheMemphis native and Olive Branch resident not only shed nearly 30 pounds, but lowered hisblood-sugar levels from the pre-diabetes range to normal.

Much like Miller, Michelle Norman says she was"absolutely" destined fordiabetes, what with her family history and struggles to manage weight. But that was before she became an exercise devotee, bicycling up to 150 miles at a time and leading a regular Zumba class.Although still considered pre-diabetic, the 49-year-old Whitehaven resident has reversed the steady increase in her glucose levels, which now are dropping toward the normal range.

Miller and Norman are among a growing number of people acrossGreater Memphis and Tennessee who are eludingone of the region's most widespread and devastatinghealth problems diabetes without prescription drugs.Under the National Diabetes Prevention Program, local hospitals and healthcare providers are targeting pre-diabetic residents for intervention efforts focused mostly on diet, exercise and behavioral changes.

There are early, but tantalizing signs that the effort is helpingbluntwhat area health officials have described as an epidemic. The number of new diabetes cases diagnosed in Shelby County fell nearly 19 percent, from a peak of 7,918 in 2008 to 6,439 in 2013, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has statistics.

Other urban counties in Tennessee have experienced similar drops. In Davidson County, new cases fell from a high of 5,201 in 2007 to 4,032 in 2013, while Knox County experienced a decline from 3,964 to 2,642 during the same period.

Not eventhose declines, however, change the fact that Type 2 or "adult" diabetes remains a major scourge. Greater Memphis,along with most of Tennessee, lies within what the CDC calls the "diabetes belt,"a 644-county region stretching from eastern Texas to West Virginia and the Carolinas in which 11 percent or more of the adult population has been diagnosed with the disease.

In Shelby County alone, more than 82,000 people, or 12.2 percent of the adult population, had diabetes in 2013, according to CDC data. Although thatfigurerepresentsa leveling-off from the previous twoyears, it'ssignificantly higher than2004, when fewer than 60,000residents, 9.4 percent of the adult population, had the disease. In Davidson and Knox counties, the percentage of adults with diabetes in 2013 was 10.6 and 11.2, respectively.

Characterized by an excess of glucose in the blood, diabetes is an incurable disease that can lead to nerve damage, blindness, kidney disease, heart trouble and death. It kills nearly 250 people in Shelby County each year.

The disease also presents a crushing cost burden. People diagnosed with diabetes at age 50 will spend up to $135,600 more in lifetime medical costs than those without it, according to a 2014 study.Nationally, the disease produces an annual$245billion drain on the economy, including$5.8 billion in Tennessee.

But while it may not be curable, diabetes is clearly preventable, even among those who are especially at-risk because theirblood-sugar levels have reached the pre-diabetic stage.

Dr. Sam Dagogo-Jack, professor of medicine and chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, helped lead a major studyshowing that lifestyleand diet changes can reduce by up to 58 percent the occurrence of diabetes amongpeople who are pre-diabetic. Lifestyle and diet, the study showed, wasalmost twice as effective as medication in preventing the transition from pre-diabetes to diabetes.

"We can prevent the progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes, and even sweeter still, we can observe remission from pre-diabetes back to normal glucose levels," Dagogo-Jack told The Commercial Appeal in a 2015 interview.

While 29.1 million Americans have been diagnosed with the disease, 86 million others have pre-diabetes. Because it typically takes five to 10 years for pre-diabetes to turn intoto diabetes, specialattention should be focused on that lattergroup, Dagogo-Jack said.

"Very few diseases give you that much of a window of opportunity for intervention."

People at-risk for diabetes include those who are obese, overweight and sedentary, orhave a family history of the disease. Also, certain ethnic groups, including African-Americans, are more predisposed to diabetes.

Jennifer Reed, diabetes program manager at the Baptist Medical Group Outpatient Care Center, said just the loss of 5-10 percent of body weight can have a "tremendous effect" on blood-sugar levels. She citessugary drinks, particularly thatSouthern favorite, sweet tea, asa good place to start cutting back.

Kristy Merritt,diabetes education coordinator, Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown, instructs at-risk people how to eat healthier, become more active and manage their stress. She said that among arecent class of nine participants, the average weight loss was 7.65 percent, and, by the end of the program,all had reduced blood-sugar levels to the point they were no longer pre-diabetic.

At Church Health, at-risk patients are assigned health coaches help thembecome more active and improve their diets and behavior. It's led to significant reductions in blood-sugar levels, said Dr. Scott Morris, CEO, and the effort should become even more successful with the organization's imminent move to Crosstown Concourse, where the Church Health YMCA is opening.

Preventing diabetes has become a major focus of private-practice physicians in the city. Patients of Dr. Beverly Williams-Cleaves benefit fromthe workout room and learning kitchen at her practice on Lamar. "Between the exercise and nutrition, I have several (pre-diabetic patients)who have totally corrected" their blood-sugar levels, she said.

David Sweat, chief of epidemiology for the Shelby County Health Department, said the key to controlling diabetes is reducing the area's high rate of obesity. There are some hopeful signs in that regard, as well. CDC figures show a slight dip in the county's obesity rate, from 34.7 percent in 2011 to 32.3 percent two years later.

Sweat said the recent addition of walking and bicycling trails is having an effect.

"It's very heartening. If you're out on the (Shelby Farms) Greenline, or atShelby Farms, you see a lot of people walking, biking and hiking," he said.

Reach Tom Charlier by email at thomas.charlier@commercialappeal.com, by phone at (901) 529-2572, or on Twitter at @thomasrcharlier.

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Programs help blunt Memphis' diabetes epidemic - The Commercial Appeal

Mike Golic was 42 years old when he first learned he had Type 2 diabetes, the same age his father was diagnosed with the disease. Thats where the similarity of their experience ended.

The way he chose to deal with it is to keep it to himself, Golic, the former NFL defensive lineman who has become a signature voice on ESPNs morning radio show, Mike & Mike. When I was diagnosed with it, I decided Im not going to go down that road. Im going to include everybody.

Golic likened it to playing on a football team.

My coach is going to be my doctor, and hes going to game plan what Im going to do, said Golic, whose father lived until age 84. My wife and my three kids are going to be my teammates.

Golic, now 54, has gotten his condition under control and has now become a spokesman for a pharmaceutical manufacturer which manufactures the diabetes drug, Invokana, that Golic uses. I want to be very public with this and help other people. If this is what youre diagnosed with, you need to get your family involved and see what game plan with your doctor works.

Golic, who played nine NFL seasons, including six with the Eagles, is especially interested in making sure other former players who may be diagnosed with the disease are made aware of treatment options.

I catch up to a lot of my former teammates at Super Bowls, and I see what guys are dealing with, said Golic. Were used to dealing with sprains, breaks and strains, but Type 2 diabetes is something different. We all need an education on it. I think in this day and age, Im happy to find out in talking to guys that Ive played with and against is that theyre communicating and its not something thats hidden. Today, people are so much more open, and Im happy to see that . . .

My whole thing is to get out there and be a voice and say, Listen, this is what youve been diagnosed with. Get your game plan down, and get your teammates involves.

Golic has lost weight in recent years, even before being diagnosed with the disease.

When I was finished playing (in 1993), I was 300 pounds, he said. I hated working out so I stopped. One day, I literally walked out of the shower and caught my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a vanilla milkshake. I was probably 320. I lost weight over the years, and I dropped down to about 260. Now Im about 240. Between the meds that are working incredibly well and exercising, I feel as good as Ive felt in years.

Golic plans to continue doing his morning show, despite reports that co-host Mike Greenberg is about to leave for a new television venture at ESPN. He hopes his son, Mike Jr., who has been a regular on the show, will continue to have a major role.

Nothing is in stone at this point, but I would imagine I will continue doing this show, whoever it would be with, Golic said. Im been doing the show forever. Greenie is looking to do something else. Its been a long time with the show. Everything changes. Its been fun working with my son. Just to continue possibly doing something with him would be good.

Golic, who started the show in 1998 and has been with Greenberg since 2000, isnt worried about any potential lack of chemistry once Greenberg leaves.

We went through 13 different people from October of 1999 and January of 2000, Golic said. Greeny wasnt even a candidate at that point, but it all worked out. Now we move on.

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Mike Golic tackles Type 2 diabetes issue | Newsday - Newsday