Dear Ann Landers,
excessive thirst-YES 30 frequent urination-YES 30 extreme fatigue-YES 10 unexplained weight loss-YES 30 blurry vision from time to time-YES 10 I am over 40 years old.-YES 10 I am at least 20 percent over my ideal weight.-YES 20 I am a woman who has had more than one baby weighing over 9 pounds at birth.-YES 20 I am of American Indian descent.-YES 10 I am of Hispanic or black descent.-YES 10 I have a parent with diabetes.-YES 10 I have a brother or sister with diabetes.-YES 20 If you scored 30 to 50 points, you probably are at low risk for dia-betes. But don't just forget about it. Especially if you're over 40, over-weight or of black, Hispanic, or American Indian descent. If you scored over 50 points, you may be at high risk for diabetes. You even may already have diabetes. This test is meant to educate and make you aware of the serious risks of diabetes. Only a medical doctor can determine if you have diabetes. Want more information about diabetes? Contact your local American Diabetes Association. Thanks, Ann, for helping us alert Americans to the risks and dangers of diabetes. It is vital that we get the word out, and you are the one who can do it. -Sterling Tucker, chairman of the board, and Sherman M. Holvey, M.D., president, American Diabetes Association Dear Mr. Tucker and Dr. Holvey: Glad to help. Now let's hope the readers will follow through. In 1973,1 suggested that my readers send for a booklet on hypertension. One reader wrote, "That column accomplished something I'd been trying to do for The Rest iii Ah Laniim I 8 .1 years-get my husband to have his blood pressure checked. Thanks to that col

dear friends, here it is,
Dear Readers: This month marks the 18th year of my career as Ann Landers, We've gotten to know each other pretty well. You've blessed me, damned me, been delighted with some of my answers and disgusted with others. When you've cried on my shoulder, I've com-forted some of you and told others to turn off the waterworks and stop wasting the natural resources. On occasion, you've persuaded me that my advice was wrong and I've reversed myself. But I've been right more than I've been wrong-and with good reason. I tap the best brains in the country for my answers. Since a great many physical complaints are closely related to emo-tional problems, I've prevailed upon some of the country's most distin-guished physicians to be my consultants. With the help of these specialists, I've been able to alert 54 million daily readers to what's new in health care. Some of you have written to say I may have saved your lives. When I ran the column urging you to send for the American Cancer Society's free booklet on breast self-examination, nearly half a million women wrote to the national headquarters in New York or to their local Cancer Society offices. Thousands of women did find lumps. Most of them were benign, but some were malignant. Because they were discovered early, hundreds, maybe thousands, of women will live another 40 years and dance at the weddings of their grandchildren. I am going to ask you again to send for a free booklet that could save your life. It deals with a disease that most of you will be shocked to learn strikes one out of every 10 Americans. I am talking about hyper-tension-commonly known as high blood pressure. Over 23 million Americans have high blood pressure. Half of these sick people don't know it because usually there are no symptoms. The person who does have symptoms-headaches, dizziness, fatigue, low sex drive in the prime of life-is lucky because he just might go to a doctor before he suffers a stroke, gets a heart attack or is stricken with blindness or kidney failure. High blood pressure strikes the rich and the poor, the tense and the relaxed, the old and the young. If you are black, you are twice as likely 1 a 4 ANN LANDERS to have it, and more susceptible to the consequences than if you are Caucasian or Asian. If you are a woman on the Pill, you run a greater risk of developing high blood pressure than if you used some other method of birth control. How can you protect yourself against this killer disease or deal with it if you do have it? The first step is to educate yourself, and that's why I am urging you to write for the free booklet. It not only will tell you what to do, but it will give you assurance that almost every case of high blood pressure can be controlled with medication. What you read here today might save your life or the life of some-one dear to you. So move already-and God bless. -Ann Landers For the latest information on high blood pressure, contact: Citizens for Public Action on Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Inc. P.O. Box 30374 Bethesda, MD 20824 Cancer is one of the most frightening words in the English language. Over the years, I have written several columns about this devastating illness. Here are a few that my readers considered the most helpful.