World Diabetes Day, celebrated by The American Diabetes Association and The International Diabetes Federation, was yesterday.

Diabetes affects many college students on this campus every day. So the question is why even be concerned about this disease if you do not have it?

Many students are either affected directly or indireclty with this diease.

It is not merely a “no sugar” lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that the person must be aware of all food, activity and stress levels at all times. These things can and will effect blood glucose levels of the body.

The first thing to be concerned about are the long-term complications. These include retinopathy, kidney failure, high risk for amputation and heart diease.

There are 2,200 people diagnosed with diabetes every day.

You now know what the disease effects and that a lot of people have it, but what now?

There are many ways to treat diabetes. Through oral medications, injected medications, insulin pump and , for some, even diet and exercise.

The newest and fastest growing treatment is the insulin pump therapy. This is a device that infuses insulin into the body. It acts as an artificial pancreas. It gives insulin to the patient 24 hours a day at a basel rate.

This is a rate set on by health care professionals as to what the patients body should be producing.

Also, the patients use the pump to do a bolus everytime they eat or their blood sugar rises.

A bolus is a given amount of insulin to act as the body would, when food is eaten or things in the body that cause the glucose levels to rise.

The pump therapy is more regulated than injection therapy. It has to be monitored three to six times daily. It has been proven to keep the levels to a more stable level.

Many of you wonder what is the normal blood glucose level. Normal blood glucose levels are 80-120. Greater or lower than this should be cause for alarm for a physician to do futher testing.

So, now we know many things about diabetes, but you need to be aware of the signs to look for to spot the diease.

The signs are: • excessive urination • intense thirst and hunger • severe fatigue • dry skin • blurred vision • unexplained weight loss • thin and malnourished appearance

If you seem to have all the symptoms of diabetes, your doctor should perform the tests that will determine whether you have it—and what type it is.

Even if you don’t appear to be at risk, knowing diabetes symptoms and causes may help you or a loved one make the lifestyle changes that will decrease the risk further.

The last topic that needs to be covered is the high risk groups that are affected by diabetes. They are: •African-Americans • Alaska Native • American Indian • Asian •Hispanic •Pacific Islander descent •Women who have given birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds • Women who have had diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes).

This diease is one that must be diagnosed by a series of tests by a health care professional.