Your doctor will choose the best treatment based on the type of diabetes you have, your everyday routine, and other health problems. There are many kinds of medication available. Once you have been told you have type 2 diabetes, the doctor may prescribe diabetes medicines to help control blood glucose levels. If you are interested in more information, please click here: or call the Research Center for more information and to set up a confidential screening phone interview: Lina D’Orazio, Ph.D. We can measure hundreds of proteins, including insulin, insulin growth factor, beta-amyloid, tau proteins, omega-3-fatty acids from samples of cerebrospinal fluid. We have developed a new method of assessing capillary integrity using contrast MRI. We perform state of the art, high resolution MRI images of the brain and blood vessels. USC is the home to the Stevens Institute of Neuroimaging and Informatics. Helena Chui and the research team at the USC ADRCare conducting a study to determine how early diabetes affects capillaries, brain cells and cognitive abilities. The USC Healthier Vessels, Healthier Brain Study: Research to Understand How Early Diabetes Affects Capillaries, Brain Cells, and Memory Functionĭr. The risk of dementia is higher when diabetes is poorly controlled, so good management of diabetes and blood sugar is important, and may help prevent serious memory loss. Also, while it is relatively easy to measure brain shrinkage (atrophy), MRI and CT scans cannot show plaques and tangles, which are the microscopic hallmarks of Alzheimer disease, or damage to capillaries that can result from diabetes. While it is relatively easy to measure glucose and insulin in the blood, we hardly ever measure glucose and insulin in the brain. It is also possible that diabetes may cause memory loss through silent damage to the capillaries (tiny blood vessels that form the network for glucose and oxygen exchange between blood vessels and tissue cells). There are many causes of dementia, including Alzheimer disease and stroke. Research has shown that having Type 2 diabetes may double the risk of developing a slowly progressive dementia. Higher than normal blood glucose levels can damage nerve cells, supportive glial cells, and blood vessels in both peripheral nerves of the body and the brain.

Uncontrolled diabetes may increase the risk of experiencing cognitive problems, such as memory loss. Your doctor may want you to be tested for diabetes twice before making a diagnosis. A1C blood test – gives an indication of your average glucose level for the past 2-3 months.Oral glucose tolerance test – taken after fasting overnight and then again 2 hours after having a sugary drink.Fasting glucose test – taken after you have gone without food for at least 8 hours.Random glucose tests – given at any time during the day.There are several blood tests doctors can use to help diagnosis of diabetes: People who are pre-diabetic are asked to watch their sugar intake and how they eat, but not necessarily take any medications. Pre-diabetes is an important warning signal because people with pre-diabetes are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Many people have “pre-diabetes” this means their glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes have a greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s important to keep type 2 diabetes under control. Your chance of getting type 2 diabetes is higher if you are overweight, inactive, or have a family history of diabetes.ĭiabetes can affect many parts of your body. You may have heard it called adult-onset diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, the body makes insulin, but doesn’t use it the right way. This type of diabetes develops most often in children and young adults. In type 1 diabetes, the body makes little or no insulin. There are two kinds of diabetes that can happen at any age. Your family doctor may refer you to a doctor who specializes in taking care of people with diabetes, called an endocrinologist. That may cause too much glucose in the blood. If you have diabetes, your body may not make enough insulin, may not use insulin in the right way, or both. Insulin helps glucose get into our cells where it can be used to make energy. Our bodies change the food we eat into glucose. And, if you are worried about getting diabetes, there are things you can do to lower your risk. The good news is that there are things you can do to take control of diabetes and prevent its problems. Diabetes can lead to dangerous health problems, such as having a heart attack or stroke.

People get diabetes when their blood glucose level, sometimes called blood sugar, is too high.

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