CKM Syndrome Guide- What Stage Are You?

The American Heart Association created a guide to help everyone understand their health and to work with their physician to be as healthy as possible. 

They try to show the correlation between obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease.  They describe how having one disorder opens the door to the other disorders and what you can expect from your physician at each stage. 

They describe the metabolic disorders in 5 stages and invite everyone to understand the stage they are currently in and how to get to stage 0.  

It starts with Stage 0.

In Stage 0- This is the optimal stage.  You are healthy.  Your lab work show no irregular results.  You can maintain status in Stage 0 by doing the following:

• get enough sleep
• eating a diet that works for your body
• exercising regularly
• work with your doctor to get lab work and understand your results

In Stage 1- You are starting to show signs of metabolic disorders.  Your lab work will show that you are overweight and that you are showing markers of prediabetes.  What I love is that the American Heart Association is giving recommendations of what to do in order to move to optimal health.  You want to make these lifestyle changes to move down to Stage 0:

• get enough sleep
• eating a diet that works for your body- at this stage, you need to cut calories
• exercising regularly
• work with your doctor to get lab work and understand your results

In Stage 2- You have high blood pressure, diabetes, you may be clinically obese and you may start to have kidney problems.  You want to make these lifestyle changes to move down to Stage 1:  

• get enough sleep
• eating a diet that works for your body- at this stage, your doctor may prescribe medications to help you lose weight
• exercising regularly
• work with your doctor to get lab work and understand your results

your doctor will prescribe medications to control and lower your blood pressure and blood sugar

In Stage 3- You have been diagnosed with heart disease and you may have chronic kidney disease.  This is a very serious stage.  You want to make these lifestyle changes to move down to Stage 2:  

• get enough sleep
• eating a diet that works for your body- at this stage, your doctor may want you to lose between 5%-10% of your body weight
• exercising regularly
• work with your doctor to get lab work and understand your results
• your doctor may prescribe medications like statins in hopes of stopping the progression to stage 4. 

The last stage is Stage 4- You may have heart attacks, strokes, severe kidney disease, heart failure, coronary heart disease and you may or may not have kidney failure.  This is the most serious stage.  You will want to do everything you can to move down to Stage 3.  You want to make these lifestyle changes to move down to Stage 3:  

• Get enough sleep- Your body needs sleep to renew and heal. 
• eating a diet that works for your body- weight loss will help your body to heal
• exercise as you are able
• work with your doctor to get lab work and understand your results
• your will have several doctors who specialize in working with your specific disorders and they will tailor your treatment to meet your needs

Can you pinpoint the stage in which you are in now?  If so, are you doing the appropriate things at that stage to be healthy?  Are you recognizing how serious Stage 1 where the biggest issue could be a few extra pounds?  Those extra pounds may be indicative that other things are happening in your body like insulin resistance that may lead to diabetes.  Diabetes causes damage to your blood vessels and inflammation.  You could develop cardiovascular disease from the damaged vessels.  Cardiovascular disease could impact your ability to exercise regularly which could impact your ability to gain weight.  All of these conditions are inter-related and this guide demonstrates that and the importance of lifestyle changes to address each stage. 

Take this information to your next annual doctor's visit.  See if your doctor agrees with your assessment of the stage at which you are in and if they have specific recommendations on getting you to Stage 0 and keeping you there.