More People Have Diabetes | Video

Michelle San Miguel | 11/16/2012

Chances are you probably know someone who has diabetes. Nearly eight percent of adults in North Dakota do. That number has been steadily increasing for about 20 years and the state is working to manage the disease.

Numbers from the CDC show that diabetes cases are going up. And health professionals say, unfortunately, they`re not surprised to hear that, given that obesity numbers are also on the rise.

Native Americans are some of the most at risk for being diagnosed with diabetes. Nation End of Horn knows too many people who have the disease.

"My boyfriend. My father. My mother recently and just other family members."

"Of the 7.5 percent of North Dakotans who have diabetes, 85 percent of those are overweight and obese," said dietician Megan Myrdal.

Diabetes is a physical and financial burden. In 2007, it cost health care providers in North Dakota $400 million to treat patients with diabetes. You can`t reverse diabetes, but you can reduce the complications that come with it, like kidney disease and eye problems.

Others are working to prevent it altogether, including Sanford Medical Center and Fort Berthold. Health care providers there are in the beginning stages of offering a diabetes prevention program.

"People who complete the program, it`s 16 weeks, who complete the program, they have a 58 percent lower risk of getting type 2 diabetes or at least delaying it until later in life," said Diabetes Prevention & Control Program Director Tera Miller.

Nation End of Horn doesn`t have diabetes and she`s working to make sure she never does by exercising daily.

"People are embarrassed about it I think because it`s a lifelong thing. Once you get it you have it for the rest of your life," she said.

If you don`t have diabetes, you could be at an increased risk if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or if you`re a smoker.

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