Photo By Sgt. Wesley Landrum | Capt. Brian Couter, the Third Army/U.S. Army Central G-4 battle captain, was diagnosed...... read more read more
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Capt. Brian Courter thought it was nothing. The pain he had been experiencing would go away in time. A trip to the hospital confirmed that he had a kidney stone. However, something else worried the doctors even more – elevated sugar levels in Courter's urine samples. Further tests confirmed his worst fears. Courter had diabetes.
"Shock," Courter, the Third Army/U.S. Army Central G-4 battle captain, said of his initial reaction to the news. "My dad has diabetes so I kind of knew it could happen to me but, at the age of 28, I did not think it would happen that soon."
Diabetes is a disease that attacks the human pancreas. Diabetes prevents insulin, the hormone secreted by the pancreas to break down glucose produced by food in the body.
Currently in the United States, there are more than 20 million people with diabetes. While the number of diabetes cases are high, more than 6 million people, one-third of that total, do not know they have the disease.
According to the Web site www.diabetes.org, the cause of the disease is a mystery.
Many factors such as genetics and environmental factors contribute to the onset of diabetes. Diabetes is associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes, impaired glucose metabolism, physical inactivity and race/ethnicity.
"Diabetes is a disease where your body is not producing enough insulin or the insulin that is being produced is not being used properly," said Lt. Betty Ulmer, health promotion and wellness nurse for the Navy's Expeditionary Medical Facility – Kuwait serving in the Third Army/U.S. Army Central area of operations at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.
After the initial shock wore off, his life changed, Courter said.
"Initially it was a complete 180 degree turnaround. I was used to eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted," said the Oscoda, Mich. "Because my dad was a diabetic, I kind of had an idea of the things I needed to do and not do."
A trip to Walter Reed Medical Center, Md., got Courter on the right track. He received information on things he could do and could not do.
"For instance, at the time, I thought I had to cut out sweets all together. So I did that. I tried to stay away from the carbohydrates as much as possible," he said. "After the visit to Walter Reed's Diabetes Institute, I got some education on dieting and how to take better care of myself. After that, the initial fear went away."
Being deployed, Courter said that his control of his disease has gotten better.
"I'm regimented and a lot of control is regimentation – taking your medications at the same time, eating at approximately the same time," he said. "I became more focused on physical training, running, cardiovascular exercise, because they truly do help control your blood sugar."
Courter said if you show any of the symptoms, it is best if you go ahead and get checked out.
"(Diabetes) will kill you if it goes unchecked," Courter said. "It's best to know you do have diabetes than to not know. In this case, ignorance is not bliss."
Editor's note: This is the second in a two-part series on Diabetes in November which is Diabetes Awareness Month.
| Date Taken: | 11.25.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 11.25.2007 07:00 |
| Story ID: | 14104 |
| Location: | KW |
| Web Views: | 707 |
| Downloads: | 602 |
This work, Soldier serves in Kuwait, deals with diabetes daily, by SGT Wesley Landrum, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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