Marla Ahlgrimm | Women And Diabetes

A metabolic disease, diabetes is a condition that results in high blood sugar. This, according to Marla Ahlgrimm, can happen when a person cannot produce or accurately process insulin. And while diabetes can affect people of all ages and sexes, women tend to fare worse than their male counterparts after diagnosis.

Marla Ahlgrimm explains that men have historically been diagnosed and treated for diabetes more often than women. However, for a multitude of reasons, including less aggressive treatment and hormones, diabetes has a death rate twice as high for women when compared to men.

Symptoms

Many people associate diabetes with weight gain and thirst. And while Marla Ahlgrimm says these are a few universal symptoms, women have a unique set of indicators that might point to diabetes.

Marla Ahlgrimm explains that women with diabetes may experience symptoms in the reproductive system, including vaginal yeast infections or urinary tract infections. Diabetic neuropathy is also common, and can affect the legs, feet, and hands. Another common condition in women with diabetes is polycystic ovary syndrome, which can result in weight gain, depression, and infertility. PCOS can also lead to insulin resistance.

Diabetes and pregnancy

Marla Ahlgrimm explains that many women are at risk of diabetes when they become pregnant. Fortunately, diabetes does not necessarily result in an unhealthy gestation. But some women may experience gestational diabetes, which, fortunately, goes away shortly after birth. Potential complications of passing high blood sugar to a fetus are fetal high blood pressure, cognitive impairments, and mild to severe developmental delays. Gestational diabetes affects approximately 9% of all pregnancies.

Risk factors

There is no one stereotype of a person with diabetes. It does not necessarily affect those who are overweight or have a genetic predisposition to the condition. However, women who are obese, older than age 45 with a family history of diabetes, and who have had a baby that weighed more than 9 pounds at birth are considered in a riskier group than others.