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What is prediabetes?
Prediabetes means that your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. Glucose comes from the foods you eat. Too much glucose in your blood can damage your body over time.
If you have prediabetes, you are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. But if you make some lifestyle changes now, you may be able to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes.
What causes prediabetes?Prediabetes usually happens when your body has a problem with insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps the glucose get into your cells to give them energy. A problem with insulin could be:
Researchers think that being overweight and not getting regular physical activity are major factors in causing prediabetes.
Who is at risk for prediabetes?About 1 out of every 3 adults has prediabetes. It is more common in people who:
Most people don't know they have prediabetes because usually there are no symptoms.
Some people with prediabetes may have darkened skin in the armpit or on the back and sides of the neck. They may also have many small skin growths in those same areas.
How is prediabetes diagnosed?There are a few different blood tests that can diagnose prediabetes. The most common ones are:
If you have prediabetes, you may be able to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes:
In some cases, your health care provider may also recommend taking diabetes medicines.
Can prediabetes be prevented?If you are at risk for prediabetes, those same lifestyle changes (losing weight, regular physical activity, and a healthy eating plan) may prevent you from getting it.
NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
What is prenatal testing?
Prenatal testing provides information about the health of your fetus before the baby is born. Some routine tests during pregnancy also check your health. The prenatal test may use a sample of your blood, urine or fluid from your vagina, cervix, or rectum.
Since some health conditions can be treated before your baby is born, it's important to find them early. But even if they cannot be treated, it can still be helpful to know about the problem early on. This gives you time to learn about the condition and prepare for any challenges you may face after the baby is born.
What is prenatal testing used to diagnose?At your first prenatal visit, your health care provider will test for various conditions, including problems with your blood, signs of infections, and whether you are immune to rubella (German measles) and chickenpox.
Throughout your pregnancy, your provider may recommend additional tests as well. Some tests are suggested for all women, such as screenings for gestational diabetes, Down syndrome, and HIV.
Your provider might offer other tests based on your:
There are two types of tests:
It is your choice whether to get prenatal tests. You and your provider can talk about the risks and benefits of the tests, as well as the type of information they can give you. Then you can decide which ones are right for you.
National Women's Health Information Center
What are drugs?
Drugs are chemical substances that can change how your body and mind work. They include prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.
What is drug use?Drug use, or misuse, includes:
Drug use is dangerous. It can harm your brain and body, sometimes permanently. It can hurt the people around you, including friends, families, and kids. If you are pregnant, it can harm your fetus. Drug use can also lead to mild, moderate, or severe substance use disorders. Substance use disorders are sometimes called addiction.
What is drug addiction?Drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. It causes a person to take drugs repeatedly, despite the harm they cause. Repeated drug use can change the brain and lead to addiction.
The brain changes from addiction can be lasting, so drug addiction is considered a "relapsing" disease. This means that people in recovery are at risk for taking drugs again, even after years of not taking them.
Does everyone who takes drugs become addicted?Not everyone who uses drugs becomes addicted. Everyone's bodies and brains are different, so their reactions to drugs can also be different. Some people may become addicted quickly, or it may happen over time. Other people never become addicted. Whether or not someone becomes addicted depends on many factors. They include genetic, environmental, and developmental factors.
Who is at risk for drug addiction?Various risk factors can make you more likely to become addicted to drugs, including:
Signs that someone has a drug problem include:
Treatments for drug addiction include counseling, medicines, or both. Research shows that combining medicines with counseling gives most people the best chance of success.
The counseling may be individual, family, and/or group therapy. It can help you:
If you stop or cut back on drugs you've used for a while, you may display different symptoms for different drugs. This is called withdrawal. Medicines can help with the symptoms of withdrawal. For addiction to certain drugs, there are also medicines that can help you re-establish normal brain function and decrease your cravings.
If you have a mental disorder along with an addiction, it is known as a dual diagnosis. It is important to treat both problems. This will increase your chance of success.
If you have a severe addiction, you may need hospital-based or residential treatment. Residential treatment programs combine housing and treatment services.
Can drug use and addiction be prevented?Drug use and addiction are preventable. Prevention programs involving families, schools, communities, and the media may prevent or reduce drug use and addiction. These programs include education and outreach to help people understand the risks of drug use.
NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse
If you get very sick or badly hurt and need help right away, you should use emergency medical services. These services use specially trained people and specially equipped facilities.
You may need care in the hospital emergency room (ER). Doctors and nurses there treat emergencies, such as heart attacks and injuries. For some emergencies, you need help where you are. Emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, do specific rescue jobs. They answer emergency calls and give basic medical care. Some EMTs are paramedics - they have training to do medical procedures on site. They usually take you to the ER for more care.
If you or someone you know needs emergency care, go to your hospital's emergency room. If you think the problem is life-threatening, call 911.
Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website as of February 14, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate, and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it.
Health disparities are health differences between different groups of people. These health differences may include:
These groups of people may be based on:
NIH: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
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