Coming up in November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and with that in mind, the Stuart Public Library is bringing in a speaker tomorrow evening at 6 o’clock to discuss diabetes and how to go about preventing the disease.

Nearly 25 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes according to Guthrie County Hospital Dietician Carol Laughery, and another 79 million Americans have prediabetes, many of whom don’t even know it. Laughery says much of her presentation tomorrow will center around helping people better recognize diabetic symptoms.

“Some of the main ones that people often have is increased thirst, increased hunger.  Unexplained weight loss can be a sign of Type II or Type I diabetes.  Increased urination, infections that don’t want to heal, sores on your body that don’t want to heal.  And sometimes those symptoms are subtle and they go on for a few months,” says Laughery.

Laughery asks that local residents listen to their bodies if they aren’t feeling the way they should be feeling, and consider visiting a family physician to have labs drawn to check for diabetes.

For more about diabetes prevention and National Diabetes Awareness Month, tune in to today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County for our full conversation with Laughery during the 9am, noon and 5 o’clock hours.