Realized that a few diabetes related thoughts have been rolling around in my head lately, and it might do some good to write them out in view of the OC, because I know you understand.
New Endoc
First, I have an appointment scheduled with an new endoc in Feb that is starting to wig me out a bit. I put a lot of thought into considering a change. My current endoc (of 11 + years) is not giving me much input, the dietitian/educator I really liked has moved to an industry position, it takes forever to get my A1C results, current doc is affiliated with a hospital that I will likely never go to (too far), the office is not keeping up with technology...I have to show them how to download my meter readings at times, and the office staff is consistently rude. The new doctor is only 10 minutes away, affiliated with my hospital of choice, and comes well recommended. What I'm wigged out about, deep down, is that he might actually want me to....gasp....change something! Hmmm, that's part of the reason I'm going is that I SAID I wanted more input than I'm getting from my current team. Now the thought of more input, or specificially more expectations for me, is somehow offputting. He might want me to keep logs like Scott does (great job by the way....your records and consistency in keeping them over time are superb).
The Common Cold vs. Diabetes
I've been fighting a cold, and started thinking about the smiliarities between colds and diabetes. They both strike otherwise "healthy" people without warning, affect young and old, and we cannot prevent them even when we take precautions. So why is it that people jump to such conclusions about how we got diabetes but now about how we contracted the common cold? You know what I mean...."Oh, so you ate to much sugar", or "I guess you didn't exercise enough", etc. I guess it's the fact that most everyone has personally experienced a cold, but not personally experienced diabetes.
Perhaps these thoughs are the result of the cold and accompanying fight to keep my BG's in line. Just tested, 339, yuck! Correction boluses are my specialty of late.
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5 comments:
Hehe! Thanks Carol!
Good luck with your new endo - I'm sure it will be exciting and encouraging to make some changes.
Please keep us posted!
There are probably a number of factors involved why people don't wonder what a person could have done to catch a common cold, and then why a person might wonder what a person might have done to "get diabetes."
Just the fact that the common cold is common, far more common than type 1 or type 2 diabetes means people just expect that everyone is going to catch a cold. Rhinoviruses are darn near omnipresent and in enough strains that we're all pretty well doomed to be sniffling, congested and sneezing. Looking at it that way, there is really no reason to wonder why a person got a cold, they're just inevitable.
Now as for the second part of things, why would people wonder why a person got diabetes, there are at least a couple of factors at work there. First, I think that people are more likely to wonder that about things which are obviously more serious than a common cold. A common cold, generally you feel miserable for a while and get better. But while a non-diabetic may not appreciate what it is like to live, eat, and breathe as a diabetic, they are at least aware that it's pretty serious. There is a tendency in humnan thought and behavior to want to attribute what may just be bad luck to some sort of controllable cause and effect. If only you had eaten properly, if only you had taken your vitamins, etc. Human beings like to speculate about causes and effects, no matter how lacking in facts there might be to support the hypothesis of cause and effect. It also serves to give the non-diabetic some feeling of control, that they're aware and intelligent enough to prevent themselves from "getting diabetes."
The second part of it, as it relates to those of us with type 1 diabetes, is much of the public awareness of diabetes is towards type 2 diabetes, which is increasingly prevalent in our society, and the educational material put out does carry a theme of "you can prevent type 2 diabetes." That's not such a bad theme, actually, if you ask me because the rising rates of obesity and the concurrent rising rate of type 2 diabetes is a serious health concern.
Man Endo's drive me nuts!!! I have a low T problem and a thyroid issue and ahhhh some of the visits can be so frustrating.
Hi Carol,
This is my first time visiting your blog. I saw what you wrote on Scott's blog about what is annoying about having diabetes. I just wanted to let you know that I saw the same news report about the pharmacists that you referenced in the comment and that story really bugged me. Not once did they ever mention the phrase "Type 2" in any part of that story to distinguish between the types, specifically when they said that the disease was not curable but it was preventable. That drives me insane.
Hi Carol,
I read your post on Scott's blog and I agree with what both you and Nina said. I am in pharmacy school right now in Florida and all they stress is Type 2 diabetes. I have type 1 (almost 15 yrs now, A1c of 5.4% Yay!) and it just seems like no one even thinks of type 1. They mentioned it in my classes for like 10 minutes. I agree that type 2 is a huge public health problem and that is probably why it gets so much attention. I just wish people didn't lump us in with the type 2's. Diabetes is a very different animal for us!
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