Borderline Diabetes

What You Need To Know About Borderline Diabetes

Oh, we've come so far in diabetes research and treatments over the
years. Just about ten or twenty years ago, you could be diagnosed
as being "borderline diabetes" or "pre-diabetes". This gave a false
level of reassurance. Treatment for diabetes usually wasn't started,
as it wasn't thought of as being necessary, since you were still in a
grace period. Then, the patient usually
got worse.


Surprise, Surprise

Why did the patient get worse? Because there is no such condition
as "borderline diabetes". It's like being pregnant – there is no such
thing as being only a little bit pregnant. You are either pregnant or
you are not. It's the same with diabetes.  You either have it or you
don't. There are no known symptoms or signs that point to you
having "borderline diabetes".

Unfortunately, decades ago, it was thought that the body put of
signs and symptoms that cried out that it was developing diabetes.
This is what "borderline diabetes" was called. However, that hope
has died. The body does not give off any warning signs before you
have to start managing your insulin and diet. You just fall head over
heels right into being a diabetic.

However, you can show worse symptoms with your diabetes than
the next diabetic. Blood sugar levels differ and symptoms differ.
This is kind of like where the myth of "borderline diabetes" got
started. The ones who weren't too affected in their everyday life
and didn't go easily into comas must be only have
"borderline diabetes". No, it was because they managed their health
better.

It also parallels the myth of being only a little bit pregnant.  In the
first trimester, you don’t look pregnant, you usually don't start
morning sickness and you feel normal, even though you are pregnant.
But by the eighth month you wish you could explode and get it over
with already. By the ninth month, you are ready to bite off heads
with your bare teeth. That was probably what our ancestors
thought of as being "a lot pregnant".


Don't Believe The Hype

This writer heard the term "borderline diabetes" being used by
medical professionals in the early 1990's, so this is one medical
myth that defiantly refuses to die.  If a senior relative or friend
insists that they have only "borderline diabetes", don't argue.
This is probably what they were told years ago and it's stuck in
their heads.  In time, the terms "borderline diabetes" and "pre-
diabetes" can be put to rest.