Diabetes is a disease that cares little about your age, sex, or color of your skin. And there is no partisan bias when it comes to the ever-growing numbers of people with diabetes.

Diabetes is the biggest public health crisis of the 21st century, and diagnosis of the disease continues to rise. Between 2005 and 2007, the number of diabetes cases increased by 13.5 percent.

Today, nearly 24 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Of the 24 million, there are 600,000 residents in Georgia with this illness that puts them at an increased risk for a number of serious, even life-threatening, complications, such as heart disease and stroke, blindness, kidney disease and amputations.

Another 300,000 Georgians could have the disease and not know it. In Georgia, diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death.

Preventing diabetes is goal one, but if you have diabetes it is vital that you know it. Knowing that you have the illness is essential to treating it and preventing or delaying the onset of diabetic complications.

Unfortunately, the signs and symptoms of the disease often go undetected. So during November, Diabetes Awareness month, take a few minutes and ask yourself these important questions. Do you have blurred vision, extreme thirst, frequent trips to the bathroom, a slow healing cut or wound, or tingling and numbness in your hands or feet?

If you have any of these symptoms, see your physician and get screened for diabetes.

The bottom line is diabetes is a serious health issue and if we want to avoid this illness and manage it we must give more attention to eating healthy and to getting regular exercise.

Cynthia Jennings, RN

Diabetes Coordinator, Doctors Hospital

Augusta