Diabetes seen as ‘epidemic’ in state

WATERVILLE – Cheryl Johnston’s diabetes got so bad last fall she had to quit her job as a dialysis technician. Her vision deteriorated to the point where she could no longer drive or read normal-sized text.

Johnston, 55, is not alone. She is one of an estimated 73,000 Mainers who suffer from diabetes. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control says diabetes has reached “epidemic proportions.”

“I was going about my life and, all of a sudden, my whole life changed,” Johnston said. “I’m not working. I’m not driving. And I can’t see.”

Dr. Stephen Sears, chief medical officer of MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta and Waterville, said one of every five or six admissions is related to complications from diabetes. One in every seven dollars spent on health care nationwide is spent on diabetes, he added.

“It’s one of the major health issues of our time,” he said.

There are two major types of diabetes. In Type I diabetes, the body essentially does not produce insulin. In Type II diabetes, the body still produces insulin, but cannot use it properly.

Type II diabetes, officials said, has been linked to excessive weight and obesity. And as the number of people who are overweight has grown – obesity rates in Maine have grown 40 percent in the past decade – so have the cases of diabetes.

Maryann Zaremba, coordinator of the Maine Diabetes Control Project, said people can control diabetes by eating properly, exercising and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

In Johnston’s case, she was diagnosed with diabetes 15 years ago after going to a doctor because of blurry vision.

She attends a monthly diabetes support group, uses services at MaineGeneral’s Diabetes and Nutrition Center in Waterville, monitors her blood sugar and exercises.

“I’ve been instructed to do certain things and I follow those instructions,” she said. “It has to become part of your life. Like showering and so forth. It’s a necessary part of life if you want to control your diabetes.”

Officials said a disturbing trend is the rise of Type II diabetes in children.

“We used to go out and play as kids. Now they’re just not getting outside,” said Rosemary Caporale, a nurse care manager at MaineGeneral. “They’re watching television, playing games on the computer. And their meals are all supersized.”

To improve diabetes education and medical nutrition therapy to high-risk patients, MaineGeneral opened Diabetes and Nutrition Centers in Waterville and Augusta earlier this year.

“We’ve identified this as a major issue and have committed a significant amount of money to it – about a half-million,” Sears said.