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Diabetes is a serious condition caused by your blood glucose level being too high. It can happen when your body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the insulin it produces isn’t effective, writes Dr Rahul Mohan, Notts GP and diabetes specialist.

There are two main types of diabetes: type one and type two – type two being the most common.

In Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, there are more than 73,000 registered diabetics aged 17 and over, which accounts for around 7.2 per cent of the population.

This is continuing to rise sharply and if the current rate of increase is maintained, it’s expected that one in 10 people will be diabetic by 2035.

Dr Rahul Mohan is a Notts-based GP and diabetes specialist.

Yet, while diabetes is a serious condition, with the right support, around three in five cases of type two diabetes can be prevented or delayed by maintaining a healthy weight, eating well and being active.

To support this, the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) empowers people with the knowledge, ability and confidence to make better lifestyle choices and helping them towards:

A healthier diet; Better exercise; Emotional wellbeing and ways to manage stress; Weight management

If you are referred onto the NDPP, it’s a potentially life-changing opportunity.

“While diabetes is a serious condition, with the right support around three in five cases of type two diabetes can be prevented or delayed by maintaining a healthy weight, eating well and being active.says Dr Rahul Mohan, Notts-based GP and diabetes specialist.

Diabetes can lead to a wide range of other serious health conditions, including strokes, nerve damage, foot problems, loss of vision, miscarriage and kidney problems. So, it’s vital that people living with diabetes take extra care to manage their condition.

Our new website is a good starting point for discovering lots of useful information about local diabetes support services via notts.icb.nhs.uk/diabetes

Worryingly, it’s estimated that nearly a million people in the UK have undiagnosed diabetes, while those with damage caused by high cholesterol may not show any symptoms until later stages.

Health, age and ethnicity can all impact someone’s risk of contracting diabetes. You can check if you’re at risk of type two diabetes by taking a simple online test on the Diabetes UK website at riskscore.diabetes.org.uk

The main symptoms of diabetes include:

Feeling very thirsty; Peeing more frequently than usual, particularly at night; Feeling very tired; Weight loss and loss of muscle bulk; Itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush; Blurred vision.

If you are experiencing these symptoms, please contact your GP.

Column: ​Plenty of ways we can support people in Notts with diabetes

Column: Plenty of ways we can support people in Notts with diabetes