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Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health Professional
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Are vitamins and supplements really necessary for people with diabetes? John White discusses the nature and eff ects of the most common ones people take in addition to their medications.
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- Sweeter (and Better) Than Sugar?
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- Belly Busters for Beginners
Out of shape? Want to get better? Well, working your abdominals to get them into fi ghting trim is the classic way to start an exercise program. Ann Swank tells you how.
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Latest Professional Issues Articles
The Burden of Self-Care is a Heavy Burden Indeed
19 October 2007
Recently, researchers from the University of Chicago interviewed 701 adults with diabetes in order to quantify and rank their feelings about diabetes-related complications and about the self-care necessary to avoid those complications.
They wanted, for example, to find out which is worse: having to manage years of intensive treatment, or ending up living a few years less.
When it came to the burden of diabetes control, people rated intensive glucose control as worse than conventional glucose control. Worst of all was intensive control with multiple therapies, such as medications and insulin. In fact, intensive comprehensive control was rated as just as destructive to quality of life as intermediate complications.
Not surprisingly, people rated end-stage complications like blindness and kidney failure as the very worst. But short of those drastic outcomes, they were willing to make some major trade-offs to avoid the exhausting routine of taking care of themselves in the here and now. In fact, they ranked the burden of comprehensive diabetes care as just as bad as developing angina, diabetic nerve damage, and moderate kidney damage.
It's not surprising that while caregivers are focused solely on preventing long-term complications, patients are preoccupied with the daily pain in the neck, right here and now, that it takes to prevent those far-off outcomes.
Between ten and eighteen percent of patients were willing to give up eight to ten years of future healthy life in order to avoid managing their diabetes intensively right now. It's a telling testimonial to exactly how debilitating diabetes self-care can be.
Sources: EurekAlert; Diabetes Care, October 2007
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Protecting the gift of life includes doing our very best to utilize all the tools at hand. The greatest problem to me is to not appear self-centered from all the attention given to myself. However, I would like to see the sun rise and set on most days for many, many years to come. Proper rest, exercise, diet and trained accuracy in insulin usage are all very important to get those extra years of life!
I've been intensely managing my type 1 diabtes successfully for 10 years now and I get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing that I'm doing everything I can to avoid getting those diabetes-related complications. In my mind, EVERY effort is worth avoiding the painful and debilitating effects of poorly controlled diabetes. And while I don't love giving myself shots, it sure beats the alternative. I honestly consider the time and effort I put forth in my own diabetes care well spent and more of a nuisance than anything else.
The days of people not wanting to manage their diabetes is waning. The internet and savvy patients will change that.
And for the people not wanting to do the effort, it has nothing to do with diabetes, they are that way about everything.
I have type 2 diabetes and my sister has type 1 . We are both in our 50s and have totally different views about our lifestyle. My sister is on an insulin regime of 6 injections per day and her life revolves around her Diabetes, with regular meals made from the same regular ingredients. She is practically house-bound, not from the disease but from the rigid regime of care which she chooses to do. I am on insulin morning and night , with a more flexible approach in that I am more concerned with having an enjoyable life , although probably over fewer years . Who's right ? We both approach it to suit ourselves
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