KINGSPORT, Tenn. — Wellmont Diabetes Treatment Centers hosted a Diabetes Alert Day Health Fair today in the Kingsport Town Center.
Wellmont says diabetes affects about 16 million Americans each year and only four states have more cases than Tennessee.
Some people can prevent or reduce their chances of getting diabetes, and those who have it can live a fairly normal life if they control the disease.
One of the problems is that a lot of people don’t know they have it.
Rich Hidalgo has been living with diabetes for more than 30 years. He was diagnosed with the disease at age 10 and has had to take insulin shots every day to keep it under control.
But he now wears an insulin pump.
“I was forced to make decisions at an early age that most of my friends and relatives didn’t have to do. It’s helped me lead a lot more productive and more responsible life over the last 30 years that I’ve had it,” said Hidaglo.
Diabetes occurs when the body fails to produce enough insulin. When insulin is absent, high levels of glucose appear in the blood which can lead to both short and long term complications.
There are some symptoms you might not know about. Patients will experience frequent urination. Drinking more fluids and eating more are also common signs. You can also have unusual weight loss, blurred vision and cuts heal slowly.
Finding out if you have the disease is the first step.
“Trying to get people that may have some risk factors for diabetes to come out and get screened. Do a risk test and see maybe we need to send you to a doctor or maybe you need to take diabetes a little seriously to see if that’s what is going on in your body,” said Jim Perkins with Wellmont Health System.
There is no cure for diabetes, but with proper diet and exercise doctors say patients can live a fairly normal life.
“It’s not a lot of fun some days are worst than others and not a lot of fun at all. But if you got to have diabetes there’s not a better time than today. The sad part, patients who are diagnosed too late with type two sometimes already have complications established,” said Hidaglo.
“Most rapidly growing segment age-wise for type two diabetes is adolescence. We are seeing children that are getting type two diabetes where ten to fifteen years ago you only saw it in senior adults. It’s getting younger and younger,” said Jim Perkins with Wellmont.
According to Jim Perkins with Wellmont Health System, more than 12,000 adults lose their sight each year due to diabetes.
Those with diabetes are two times more likely to die of heart disease and three times more likely to die from a stroke.
Each year, about 67,000 leg and foot amputations are due to uncontrolled diabetes.
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