Nick Jonas Names the Four Major Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes You Should Be on the Lookout For

Nick Jonas took to Instagram on Monday to educate fans about his journey with Type 1 diabetes. He urged his 35.5 million followers to be on the lookout for the four major symptoms that helped him and his family identify the disease.

Jonas appeared with his mother, Denise Jonas, in the PSA. This November marks exactly 18 years since the musician was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. “I was experiencing all the symptoms we know you should look for,” Jonas said. “The signs are very simple.”

He listed the four major symptoms of Type 1 diabetes as follows.

1. Frequent urination

2. Excessive thirst

3. Exhaustion

4. Unexplained weight loss

Jonas reported that his diagnosis wouldn’t have been possible without intervention from his family. “I was lucky enough to have this incredible support system around me that noticed these signs, helped me make the decision to get checked, and ultimately saved my life,” the singer wrote in the caption.

“Nick was very enthusiastic as a child, he was very driven,” Denise said in the video. “So when this started happening I was alarmed, but I think I was in denial.”

Nick reflected that when he was diagnosed at the age of 13, “we didn’t really know a lot about diabetes…The conversation around diabetes really didn’t feel as, thankfully, prevalent as it is now.”

The Jonas family is getting the message out in conjunction with Beyond Type 1, a nonprofit support community. Their annual #SeetheSigns campaign promotes Type 1 diabetes symptom awareness. This year, the organization is expanding its messaging beyond just patients to their relatives and friends, with the hope that more people can be diagnosed and treated for the disease.

“I think it’s so important for us to see the signs, educate ourselves, [and] educate others,” Denise said. “Remember to be a student of your children in every way—emotionally, mentally, and physically.”

Diabetes is rapidly becoming one of the country’s biggest concerns. A 2022 report from the Diabetes Research Institute determined that the disease is “increasing at an alarming rate in the United States.” The CDC’s 2022 National Diabetes Statistics Report found that 37.3 million Americans, roughly 11.3 percent of the country’s population, had some type of diabetes. Those numbers represented an astonishing incline from the CDC’s crude estimates for 2021, which determined that 29.7 million Americans, roughly 8.9 percent of the country, had a form of the disease.