A small wound on my back wouldn’t heal for a week.

It sounds trivial, but it was the closest I’ve come to a wake-up call.

Fifteen years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at 33. There was no family history. I simply worked long hours, ate irregularly, and assumed the weight would sort itself out. My BMI peaked above 30. I started medication, then stopped on my own.

” I feel fine ,” I told myself.
That was the mistake.

Over the years, the silent damage piled up. Irritability. Fatigue. Blurred vision when my blood sugar spiked. Then came the wound on my back. A week of antibiotics made no difference. A simple blood test showed that my blood glucose had risen above 20 mmol/L. The doctor looked at me and said the quiet part out loud: this is dangerous, and it has been building for years.
I restarted treatment, properly this time. A newer regimen, including an SGLT2 inhibitor, reduced my daily medications from more than 10 pills to four, and my weight returned to a healthier range. I got a second chance that many patients never do.
And this is where my day job intersects with my health.

I work in AI, but for years I thought of it mainly as a tool for writing and analysis. Living with diabetes changed that. Today, I use AI tools to help me monitor my health, my body, and my daily habits. It has shown me something I now firmly believe, but rarely say out loud: AI isn’t only about producing text.
With today’s vision models, AI can help us observe changes that we might otherwise miss. It can identify patterns in our daily lives, capture our thoughts and help us make sense of them. Used well, it can nudge us toward healthier behaviours, not just help us produce a faster draft.

With today’s AI tools, we can do far more to manage and protect our health than we could just a few years ago.
I’m sharing this because I’m one of the lucky ones. As Diabetes Hong Kong marks its 30th anniversary this year, the message feels as relevant as ever: diabetes often progresses silently until complications appear. Roughly 1 in 5 adults with diabetes in Hong Kong is diagnosed before the age of 40 . It is estimated that more than 200,000 people in our city are living with diabetes and quietly facing the risk of diabetic kidney disease . Most of them “feel fine” until they don’t.
Three things I wish I’d known at 33:

1. Don’t stop your medication just because you feel okay.
2. Get an annual blood (eGFR) and urine (UACR) check, even if your blood sugar appears to be under control.
3. Ask your doctor whether your treatment offers heart and kidney protective benefits. Earlier use of SGLT2 inhibitors and RAAS inhibitors may help delay progression to end-stage kidney disease.
   My sincere thanks to the endocrinology community and all healthcare professionals who help people with diabetes see beyond what they feel today and protect their health for the years ahead, and to Diabetes Hong Kong for 30 years of patient-first education.
   Please take 10 minutes to watch their 30th anniversary microfilm, Kidney Beans (《腰豆》) :
   👉 https://diabetes-hk.org/kidney-beans/
   If you’ve read this far and you’re over 30, working long hours, carry excess weight, or are unsure about your family history, please book a screening this week.

#Type2Diabetes #DiabetesAwareness #DiabeticKidneyDisease #HongKong #PatientStory #HealthLiteracy #PublicHealth