November is National Diabetes Month, and for those who aren’t diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, this could be a time to check if you have prediabetes.

On the surface prediabetes has no visible symptoms, but Washington County Hospitals and Clinics (WCHC) Diabetes Educator Amy Martin explains how prediabetes is detected, “Someone’s pancreas that’s working normally, the fasting blood sugar before you eat anything in the morning should be between 70 and 100. If you fall in the 101 to 125 category that’s considered to be prediabetes. And a fasting blood sugar of 126 or higher is a diagnosis of diabetes.”

Martin says about 50% of those with prediabetes will later be diagnosed with diabetes, “It’s actually looking at about 80 million Americans who have prediabetes and so our goal is to get the word out. Go out and find out if you have it because the sooner you know, the better job you can do of actually reversing things. And in many cases people can change their lifestyle and prevent getting diabetes.”

Annual blood sugar tests are recommended to monitor prediabetes, and lifestyle changes such as 30 minutes of exercise every day can help prevent the onset of diabetes. The public is welcome to attend an educational program about prediabetes led by Martin Tuesday at 12 p.m. at the Living Well Center at WCHC.