Support group provides help for Mississippians living with diabetes
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – About one in seven Mississippians is living with diabetes, placing the state in the top five for diabetes rates. It is a life-changing diagnosis, which is why it’s important to have support.
Being diagnosed with Type one or type two diabetes is far too common in Mississippi.
Angela Buress-Stewart has been living with type two diabetes since the early 90s.
“Things started happening, the body started changing, and I went into renal failure,” Buress-Stewart said.
After going into renal failure, she received a kidney transplant from her sister. Her kidney function is better, but she has to manage her diabetes every day.
“I managing it much better because of the new meds they have out and eat better and exercise and fit it all into our busy schedule,” Buress-Stewart said.
Nicky Yeatman is a registered Dietician and diabetes educator with OCH Regional Medical Center. She says that living with diabetes can feel isolating, and it’s important for people to be educated, but they also need support.
“Sometimes when they get the diagnosis it’s a little scary for a lot of people because they can think of someone who hasn’t done well with that diagnosis, and they immediately go to ‘oh no’ and you do not have to do everything perfectly if there’s such a thing overnight,” Yeatman said. “You can just go – this is the first thing I can do that is easy for me.”
Through fellowship with other diabetics, Stewart can share experiences, exercises, and recipes that make life a little easier when living with diabetes.
“When I came to the support group, I met a young lady,” Buress-Stewart said. “She talked about how being a diabetic the nanoscopy affected her feet she could not feel. but when you looked at the young lady, and how she was still working, she was vibrant, she didn’t look like anything was wrong. So, that told me, if she can do it, I can do it too.”
Yeatman says the baby steps lead to improvements and help enhance life.
“Whatever you can do first and implement first, start there.”
The diabetes support group at OCH meets every third Tuesday of the month, and the next one is February 20.
