Diabetic Patients and Doctors Spread Messages of Diabetes Awareness Month

Diabetic Patients and Doctors Spread Messages of Diabetes Awareness Month

Patients of all ages and health professionals gathered at the Frederick Memorial Crestwood Center to address the importance of keeping diabetes under control.

FREDERICK, Md. - Every community struggles with diabetes. It is a disease that can affect people of all ages and backgrounds.

In Frederick County there are more than 600,000 diagnosed with the disease and more than 200,000 who do not know they have it.

Those who have been diagnosed say the disease is not something they can just forget about.

"I have been literally spending my time taking a lot of blood sugar tests just to know the impact of what specifically food is going to impact me by raising my blood sugar," said 47-year old diabetic patient, Candace Wilson.

Once Wilson was diagnosed, she said major lifestyle changes were made.

"I began to eat not how I normally ate. I used to be a vegetarian. I'm now a happy carnivore but I ate more. I became more sedentary," said Wilson.

Now, Wilson is hoping her success with managining life with diabetes can help others. She shared her experience with dozens of other diabetics and health professionals at the diatetes seminar Thursday evening.

Doctors also encouraged patients to make healthy lifestyle changes to better arm their bodies against the disease.

"Patients have to eat healthier. They have to avoid the high rich food with the fat. They have to be eating lower carbohydrate diets. They need to be exercising regularly," said Majd Hakim, endocrinologist of Frederick Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Hakim says 85 percent of her diabetic patients are obese.

"What we've seen is that diabetes is trending the obesity rate so we see more and more patients getting obese," said Hakim.

The symptoms generally all happen at once and cause enough discomfort that people usually see a doctor right away.

"We have increased thirst, people feel thirsty, people urinate frequently, they feel fatigued, they have weight loss and nauseated," said Hakim.

With a careful diet and regular doctor visits, diabetes can be a mangeable disease.

November is also Lung Cancer Awareness Month. The Frederick Memorial Hospital will hold a symposium on November 20, 2013 to discuss the importance of keeping your lungs healthy.







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