Diabetes care worse than the illness?
Would you be willing to give up some of your life to avoid treatments?
According to a short article in yesterday's Washington Post that's how some folks with Type 2 diabetes feel about their illness.
Those of us with Type 1 don't have that luxury. Giving up insulin for even a short amount of time could literally be deadly. And maybe that's something else to be thankful about. Reading this article reinforces my belief that Type 2 is a much harder disease to live with than Type 1. And I know just how difficult Type 1 is to deal with.
I completely agree with this quote from the article:
The study findings show "that we need to find better, more convenient ways to treat chronic illness," Huang said. "It is hard to convince some patients to invest their time and effort now in rigorous adherence to a complex regimen with no immediate reward, just the promise of better health years from now."
Type 1 diabetes treatment is 'easier' than in the good old days. But then the 'experts' go and change the rules on us, so I feel like I have to work harder at better control. No wonder taking care of diabetes is so tiring!
Labels: care, challenge, diabetes
posted by Bernard @ 8:57 AM
6 Comments:
Wow. I just blogged about my frustration on Wednesday night...and now this!
Bernard,
The HUGE problem with Type 2 care is that what patients are told to do DOESN'T WORK.
Doctors still promote the very low fat diet. They still prescribe drugs that provide more side effects than blood sugar control.
A Type 2 who does what the doctor tells them to do is likely to have an A1c over 7%, drug caused edema, stomach distress, mental confusion, muscle pain, and exhaustion.
Patients given effective treatments are more likely to comply.
The state of treatment for Type 2 will only change when a majority of practicing doctors get it, which probably is only a matter of time.
I think with Type 2 the biggest challenge is a complete lifestyle change. The majority (not all) Type 2s had lived a somewhat unhealthy lifestyle and would completly need to change eating and exercise patterns to combat the disease effectivley. Since they in essence built up a tolerance for insulin. Since the symptoms of Type 2 aren't as severe as Type 1 it is hard to convince someone that a complete change is necessary.
The reality is that the burden of ongoing treatment is greatly underestimated by the medical profession, yet these factors to go into patients' daily decisions regarding their care. Add to that the complexity and expense, and you have strong disincentives to proper care. It also doesn't help that no current treatments offer a guarantee of avoiding complications, it merely reduces the likelihood, so some patients feel screwed when they end up with complications in spite of being "compliant" with their treatment.
The fixation on A1c alone is really only 1 piece of the equation, but its the only thing medicine looks at right now. That needs to change!
It sometimes wears me out just thinking about it!
People just don't believe that the complication will really happen to THEM! We think we are invincible! We only wake up when it is too late...... or almost too late. A very good quote!
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