By Meg Kennedy<\/p>\n
Ballan resident Ian Dobson was first diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes almost 12-years ago.
\n\u201cI was a farmer and I used to eat like a horse, and always busy,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThen I didn\u2019t stop eating, my wife didn\u2019t stop cooking like she was cooking, and I didn\u2019t like waste, so I\u2019d eat it,\u201d he said.
\nNational Diabetes Week, held 14-20 July 2019, aims to grow awareness about the early warning signs of type 1 diabetes and the dangers of type 2 diabetes, if not detected early.
\nType 2 diabetes is often caused by genetics and an unhealthy lifestyle, with possible dangers including blindness, kidney damage, heart attack, and amputation.
\nMr Dobson said his first signs of Type 2 diabetes were \u201calmost invisible\u201d.
\nHe also suffers from Trigeminal neuralgia \u2013 also known as \u2018suicide disease\u2019 \u2013 which Mr Dobson described \u201cas one of the worst pains you can imagine\u2026like an electric shock that goes in your brain\u201d.
\nA change in medication for the disease saw Mr Dobson feel pains in his chest, and was warned by his doctor that if they continued to ring triple-000.
\nOne night of pains saw Mr Dobson\u2019s wife call the ambulance after he went to bed, leaving Mr Dobson receiving the shock of his life.
\nHe was rushed to hospital in Geelong with doctors discovering 99 percent of the right side of his heart blocked.
\nAlthough a stent was successfully put in, that wasn\u2019t the end of Mr Dobson\u2019s health scare: he found himself back in hospital again after falling in his garden, being knocked unconscious for around 45 minutes.
\nLucky enough his wife and son were home to find Mr Dobson, and it was discovered during a three-day stay in ICU in Ballarat that the left side of his heart was 75 percent blocked.
\nMr Dobson was rushed back to Geelong for a quadruple bypass surgery, with veins removed from his arms and left leg.
\nNow free of diabetes, Mr Dobson attributes a change in lifestyle to his health improvements.
\n\u201cIt was a blessing I think,\u201d he said.
\nFor what people should be more aware of, Mr Dobson said more people need to know \u201chow insidious the disease is and how dangerous it is\u201d and that nobody is invincible.
\n\u201cI could have been not ever having diabetes if I had of done what [my doctor] said\u2026that\u2019s the thing I can\u2019t stress enough, really,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for my wife, I would\u2019ve probably died in bloody bed.\u201d
\nIf not diagnosed in time, diabetes can be fatal.
\nSigns that require immediate attention for diabetes include the \u2018four Ts\u2019 \u2013 frequent toilet use, tired, thirst, and thinness (weight loss).
\nBallan District Health & Care\u2019s new Diabetes Educator, Anne Harvey, said \u201ca diabetes diagnosis is certainly a life change.\u201d
\n\u201cI am passionate about educating the newly-diagnosed on type 1 and type 2 diabetes, including on day-to-day management, healthy eating options, physical activity and how to prevent the complications of diabetes,\u201d she said.
\nAs well as diabetes education, Ballan District Health & Care also offers care planning for community members living with a chronic disease such as diabetes.
\nFor more information on Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, visit www.diabetesaustralia.com.au.
\nTo book an appointment with BDHC, call 5366 7999.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Meg Kennedy Ballan resident Ian Dobson was first diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes almost 12-years ago. \u201cI was a farmer and I used to eat like a horse, and always busy,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I didn\u2019t stop eating, my wife didn\u2019t stop cooking like she was cooking, and I didn\u2019t like waste, so I\u2019d […]<\/p>\n