Learning to comfortably manage your diabetes can be a difficult path to navigate. While technology and healthcare advances every year, sometimes the way you manage your diabetes does not. Fortunately for Cheri Winegardner, she has found success in insulin intake and diabetes management using Omnipod.

For most patients, their first questions after a doctor diagnoses them with type 2 diabetes are: “What can I do about this? What happens next?”

An estimated 30.3 million people in the United States (9.4 percent of the population) have diabetes, including 7.2 million who are unaware they are living with the disease. The percentage of adults with diabetes increases with age, reaching a high of 25.2 percent among those aged 65 years or older. In addition to age, risk factors for diabetes also include diet, activity level, obesity and heredity.

Type 2 diabetes is often preceded by prediabetes. Prediabetes occurs when your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but they are still too low to be flagged as full-blown diabetes. By knowing what symptoms come with prediabetes indicators, you can make lifestyle changes to significantly reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

Charcot foot, pronounced "shar-kō," is a condition where your foot becomes red, then swells, and turns painful. It is not exclusive to diabetic patients, but its effects can be worse if you have metabolic disease. That's why when you have common diabetic symptoms such as loss of sensation and numbness, it's crucial to check your feet daily to lower the risk of complications, such as Charcot foot.