Will your doctor spot the red flags that signal prediabetes?

If you’ve recently been diagnosed with prediabetes, don’t panic. But don’t simply shrug it off, either.

Instead, consider it both a warning sign and your golden opportunity to avoid a much more serious diagnosis: type 2 diabetes. A diagnosis that will change your life forever and put you at risk for many other serious chronic diseases.

And now, it’s more important than ever to be aware of the warning signs of prediabetes and how to reverse it—especially since a new study revealed that your doctor might not know enough about prediabetes to correctly diagnose it.

Even if your doctor does spot signs of prediabetes, they’ll most likely try to treat it immediately—rather than recommend a course of action to reverse it and steer clear of the danger zone.

Considering that approximately 1 in 3 U.S. adults have prediabetes, this is a very serious health crisis that’s been flying under the medical mainstream’s radar for too long.

This safety net is full of holes

Recently, researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine surveyed a random sample of nearly 300 primary care physicians in the U.S.

The Hopkins team’s survey covered a full range of prediabetes details, asking doctors about risk factors, criteria for diagnosis, and ways to manage the condition in order to prevent full-blown diabetes.

The results were pretty unsettling, to say the least:

• Just 42 percent of the physicians were able to identify the fasting blood sugar level that designates prediabetes.

• Less than one-third knew the upper acceptable limit of HbA1c (a measure that reveals blood sugar control for the three months prior to the blood test).

• More than 20 percent admitted that they ignored screening and management practices for prediabetes.

• Not even half of respondents recognized the laboratory metrics that define prediabetes.

• Of 15 risk factors that should serve as an alert to screen for prediabetes, doctors recognized 10, on average.

• Only 15 percent could identify all the risk factors for prediabetes that would prompt a doctor to begin screening for the condition.

And perhaps the most troubling result was this one: About 25 percent of doctors appear to be identifying patients only as prediabetic, even when the patients have already passed the threshold for diabetes.

In short, we have a crisis on top of a crisis—rates of type 2 diabetes are exploding, while far too many primary care doctors are in the dark about the warning signs that could save their patients from a type 2 diagnosis.

When the prescription pad isn’t your friend

As revealing as the Hopkins survey is, it doesn’t show the way a correct prediabetes diagnosis should be monitored and treated.

As you can imagine, the typical response often errs on the side of overkill with powerful drugs— which is a typical approach for conventional doctors.

Dr. Fred Pescatore emphasizes this issue in his Metabolic Repair Protocol, noting that most conventional doctors immediately prescribe one specific type 2 diabetes drug, even if the patient is only still prediabetic.

And this epidemic is further amplified by the American Diabetes Association guidelines that lower the bar for appropriate blood sugar levels. Dr. Pescatore notes that these newer guidelines “opened the door for millions of previously ‘healthy’ people to start taking long-term, heavy-duty drugs.”

This is highly concerning for two major reasons. Dr. Pescatore explains:

1. The drugs can be dangerous.

Dr. Pescatore points to the examples of Actos® and Avandia®. Both of these diabetes drugs were proven helpful for prediabetes, but Actos® has been found to be a potential trigger for bladder cancer, and Avandia® was linked to so many heart attacks that its use is now highly restricted and is outright banned in Europe.

2. Most patients don’t need the drugs.

Dr. Pescatore cites a New England Journal of Medicine study that compared lifestyle changes to metformin (a popular type 2 diabetes drug) in the prevention of the disease. After three years, those in the lifestyle group were almost twice as likely to avoid type 2 diabetes.

A pill-free way to rescue your metabolic health

Dr. Pescatore notes that when you take a proactive approach to repairing your metabolic health —as opposed to the reactive approach of resorting to prescription drugs—you’ll encounter a few challenges…

Know that transforming your health and reversing your chances for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis doesn’t work overnight. But a few simple changes in your diet can work wonders in the long run.

Fortunately, with Dr. Pescatore’s Metabolic Repair Protocol, you have a step-by-step blueprint to turn those challenges into successful strategies.

Click here to explore more details about this unique online learning tool to prevent or reverse prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, or metabolic syndrome. Or simply click here to get started right away.

SOURCES

“Diabetes Drug Avandia: Heart Risk?” WebMD, 5/21/07. (webmd.com/diabetes/news/20070521/diabetes-drug-avandia-heart-risk#1)

“Diabetes drug ‘that raises risk of heart disease’ is banned.” DailyMail, 9/24/10. (dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1314714/Avandia-Diabetes-drug-raises-risk-heart-disease-banned.html)

“National Survey of Primary Care Physicians’ Knowledge, Practices, and Perceptions of Prediabetes.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 2019; 34(11): 2475-2481. doi: 10.1007/s11606-019-05245-7

“Pioglitazone and Bladder Cancer: An Increased Risk.” Cancer Therapy Advisor, 12/15/16. (cancertherapyadvisor.com/home/cancer-topics/bladder-cancer/pioglitazone-and-bladder-cancer-an-increased-risk/)