Diabetes Specialist
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Ben Kermani, MD
Primary Care Doctor located in Las Vegas – Southern Highlands area
As of 2014, the World Health Organization estimates that 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, a disease that causes severe health consequences, including limb loss and early death. As a Primary Care Physician, Dr. Kermani specializes in treating the most common form of diabetes — type 2 — with medications and lifestyle recommendations. Men, women, teens, and children who would like to improve or reverse their type 2 diabetes can contact Dr. Kermani and his caring staff by phone or with the online booking form.
Diabetes Q&A
What is diabetes?
Diabetes mellitus is a disease that prevents your pancreas — a 6”-long organ situated behind your stomach — from producing the chemical insulin or may cause cell receptors to lose sensitivity to insulin.
In a healthy body, your digestive system breaks down food into a pure sugar called glucose, which powers your cells. Glucose requires insulin to pass into the cells and fuel them.
Without insulin, glucose is shut out from the cells and remains circulating in your bloodstream — a condition known as hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), or diabetes.
The types of diabetes include:
Type 1
Your immune system attacks the pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin. Treatment is daily insulin injections for life.
Type 2
When your pancreas can’t produce and release insulin because of excess weight and lack of activity, you may become insulin-resistant. Treatments are insulin injections, glucose-lowering drugs, and lifestyle modifications. Type 2 is the most common type, affecting 9 out of 10 people with diabetes.
Gestational
Hormonal changes during pregnancy subdue the production of insulin, leading to high blood-glucose levels.
What are the risk factors for diabetes?
The following increase your risk of developing diabetes:
- Lifestyle choices (being overweight and inactive, smoking, or drinking alcohol)
- A family history of diabetes
- Having an autoimmune disease, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol
- Being over age 40
- Pancreatic stress, surgery, or injury
- Pregnancy, especially when carrying a heavy baby
- Having a history of gestational diabetes
What are the symptoms of diabetes?
Here are some common symptoms of diabetes:
- Increased thirst or urination
- Unexplained weight loss
- Fatigue
- Slow-healing wounds or sores
- Numbness or tingling in hands or feet
- Dry mouth or dry skin
- Frequent urination or yeast infections
How is diabetes diagnosed and treated?
The best way to diagnose or rule out diabetes with a simple blood test that measures your levels of circulating glucose. Managing diabetes may involve insulin injections or medications to lower your blood sugar, and diet and lifestyle modifications.
What happens if I do not treat my diabetes?
The consequences of untreated diabetes can include:
- Blindness
- Kidney failure
- Nerve damage
- Limb amputation
- Increased risk of heart attack and stroke ( 4 times that of the general population)
- Erectile Dysfunction
When you notice the signs or symptoms of diabetes, contact Dr. Kermani right away for a consultation and blood test. He and his caring staff can be reached by phone.
