Nurse Practitioner Lindsay Rucinsky spoke to Cancer Support Group

Nurse Practitioner Lindsay Rucinsky spoke to the April gathering of the Cancer Support Group in Chinook. Rucinsky's topic was about diabetes and how certain cancers may be connected to conditions related to diabetes. She added, "I'm passionate about diabetes because it's affected multiple members of my family."

A native of Havre, Rucinsky still lives there with her family. She joined Sweet Medical Center (SMC) fulltime in 2017. First earning a degree in criminal justice "back east" she realized that was "not where I needed to be." She completed a bachelors of nursing at Montana State University and her Master of Science in Nursing at Maryville University. Rucinsky told she was excited to be working at SMC because "I got to come back to the group of people I felt were like family when doing my clinical rotation."

Four types of diabetes are

widespread among adults

Rucinsky first described diabetes and the main types of the disease. It's the 7th leading killer of adults in the U.S. and is diagnosed in about 29 million Americans-that's just about 10% of the adult population. The number of people with diabetes seems to be on a serious upswing and many people who study the disease believe the increased number of sufferers is related to obesity, poor diet and lack of physical activity.

Diabetes is a group of diseases that result in too much sugar in the blood. About 95% of diagnosed cases of diabetes are Type II, often referred to as "adult onset diabetes." It's a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar (glucose). A main sign associated with the potential for Type II diabetes is obesity.

Type I affects about 5% of diagnosed sufferers of diabetes. It more typically occurs in young people and is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Gestational diabetes, a third type, occurs only in pregnant women and is less common than the three other types of diabetes.

Prediabetes is the fourth type of diabetes and, in many ways, the most scary. Rucinsky described prediabetes as "a condition in which blood sugar is high, but not high enough to be treated as Type II diabetes." It's believed that 86 million adult Americans, more than one in three, have prediabetes. Unfortunately, many adults have prediabetes but don't realize it so it goes untreated. Health researchers have found, "Without weight loss and moderate physical activity 15 percent to 30 percent of people with prediabetes will develop Type II diabetes within five years."

Some good news about prediabetes:

Modifiable risk factors

Rucinsky said, "Fortunately, adults with prediabetes have some control over whether they develop full blown Type II diabetes. There are things adults can do to reduce the potential for diabetes. These are activities called 'modifiable risk factors.'" These individual risk factors can be controlled by adults with prediabetes.

Getting to a healthy body weight and eating healthy foods in the right amounts are at the top of the list to avoid diabetes. Rucinsky said a health professional can recommend a target healthy weight for most people based on the patient's size and level of physical activity. The diet aspect is pretty straightforward, eat healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains instead of foods with a lot of added sugars. Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is intentional and takes planning. Avoid foods solely on how they taste and read labels to see what you are eating.

Exercise is another controllable risk factor to avoid diabetes. Even a brisk 30-minute walk at least five days a week has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease as well. Stress is another precursor to diabetes, and other diseases, and stress is typically reduced by exercise.

Two biggies: quite smoking and limit your alcohol intake. The intake level of alcohol affects the pancreas' ability to produce the proper amount of insulin. Excessive alcohol use can also cause liver damage which can add more sugar and starch to your diet...also contributing factors to diabetes.

Research has also shown that high cholesterol and high blood pressure are related to prediabetes and the prospects for an adult developing Type II diabetes. Even seeking treatment for insomnia or other sleeping problems can make a difference in one's chances of developing diabetes.

Cancer and diabetes

Rucinsky said, "I realize this audience is a cancer support group so I want to talk briefly about the connection between cancer and diabetes. Unfortunately, the relationship between the two diseases is not well understood." Research has shown that people with diabetes have a higher prevalence of these types of cancers: bladder; breast cancer in women (postmenopausal); colorectal, endometrial (the lining of the uterus in women); liver and pancreatic (thought to be a risk factor for diabetes).

There is some research that suggested high insulin levels may increase the growth of cancer cells. And overweight people have been shown to secrete lower levels of a hormone that can accelerate cancer growth.

Rucinsky closed with the observation that as a health care professional one very big challenge with diabetic and prediabetic patients is "teaching diabetes patients how diabetes really damages their health. Diabetes is not like a broken leg, you can't see the problem and directly feel the effects." Patients with diabetes can suffer outward effects of the disease from gum disease and loose teeth to nerve pain in their extremities.

If you think you might be prediabetic or have symptoms of diabetes, you need to seek immediate help from a health care professional. Diabetes can ruin your health in a whole multitude of ways.