March is National Kidney Month — and the number one cause of kidney disease is diabetes. With that relationship in mind, the American Diabetes Association schedules a one-day national event every March to draw attention to the serious health threats posed by diabetes and to the importance of understanding your risk.

In 2023, the American Diabetes Association Alert Day falls on March 28. We encourage you to recognize this day by taking the National Institutes of Health Online Diabetes Risk Test — and by making sure that your senior loved ones take the test as well.

Diabetes is a group of endocrine diseases that affect the way the body processes blood sugar, the main source of energy for cells. When we eat, our body breaks down food into glucose, a simple form of sugar, which enters the bloodstream. With the assistance of the hormone insulin, that glucose passes from the blood into our cells, where it can be used for energy.

For people with diabetes, the body either doesn't produce enough insulin (Type 1 diabetes) or develops a resistance to insulin (Type 2 diabetes). As a result, glucose builds up in the bloodstream instead of being absorbed into the cells, leading to high blood sugar levels.

Over time, those high levels can cause damage to numerous organs and systems in the body, including the kidneys, eyes, nerves, and blood vessels. A range of complications can result, including kidney disease, blindness, nerve damage and cardiovascular disease.

Though most cases of diabetes cannot be cured, the effects of the disease can be controlled through a careful combination of diet, exercise, monitoring of blood sugar levels and medication. Left untreated though, the disease is deadly. Diabetes is currently one of the leading causes of death in the United States and worldwide.

Of course, you need to know you have diabetes to treat diabetes — and there are some risk factors for developing diabetes (weight, lack of physical activity, poor diet and high stress) that you can proactively avoid. Again, we urge you to take the NIH Online Diabetes Risk Test to determine your risk factors before diabetes becomes an issue for your family.

If you are currently struggling to manage diabetes treatments for your senior loved ones, please call us 24/7 for a free consultation at (817) 887-9401 or (214) 887-9401. Our compassionate caregivers can provide RN-managed care, including the administration of insulin and other injectable medications, for serious chronic conditions like diabetes.