Personal Narrative: My Glucose Ad

n Mendenhall et al.’s, Speaking Through Diabetes, the authors examine how social suffering may be embodied in diabetes using Kleinman’s concept of cultural narrative. They consider how epidemics achieve social significance, through patient experience and symbolism in everyday narrative. Patients tell their illness narratives to explain their suffering to others but also use narratives to make sense of illness experience for themselves. The use of explanatory models and beliefs about an illness helps patients makes sense of the illness in a particular context. As Mendenhall et al. highlight, Mexican explanatory models often identify stress and extreme emotion as the main cause of diabetes.

eflective Account 3 : Blood glucose monitoring Description During my placement I was asked by my mentor to perform a blood glucose reading . The patient was a 78 year old gentleman Mr P with diabetes type 2. I have introduced myself , checked the patient's identity and asked for permission to perform the blood glucose reading and explained the procedure prior to insulin administration and obtained a valid consent. I washed my hands and put on gloves ; Mr P refused to washed his hands saying that he washed them before my arrival.

Do you know someone who is or was gravely affected by a disease? I do. My brother, Billy, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) when I was 10 years old. When we first realized that he was not feeling okay, we were at school when one of my friends’ mom noticed and told my mom. Before this incident, I was irresponsible and did not pay much attention to anyone other than myself.

My life wouldn’t be considered normal. My parents were immigrants from Pakistan trying to create a better life for them and their children, and they’re the only ones from their families to move to America. They moved from New York, to Richardson, and lastly to Rockwall, Texas in 2005. I was born in 2000 but when events in my life truly started shaping me was in the summer of 2004.

When my husband was first diagnosed with Type Two Diabetes, I was extremely overwhelmed. There were visits to his doctor, a nutritionist, and Diabegtes classes. he had to take medication, and also give himself insulin injections twice a day.

Very true. What was my little jolt? Yes, I know I’m 56 and it has me take a while to figure things out also appreciate them. The depression likes to take over, however I’ve made a decision to change for good. I’ve lost from my family so much that enough is enough. Not be able to assist to my granddaughter’s baptism, it has been the little jolt I need. I’m not at the family picture from that special day. I broke into tears.

I had finished my chemistry course when I found out my father had diabetes. Diabestes is a disease that is caused by a body that can not produce insulin, or the resulting insulin is inadequate so that its performance is limited. Therefore, blood sugar will increase. Diabetes is a disease passed down from one generation to the next. Since I am at risk of developing diabetes, I want with the abilities and knowledge I already have in the field of chemical science, I want to develop drugs that can cure diabetes.

On July 14th 2010, when I was twelve years old, I was rushed to the hospital because my blood sugar levels were 407. Before my mom had observed that I was rapidly losing weight, drinking a great amount of water, and was continuously tired. My mom was worried that I had type one diabetes because others in my family has diabetes.

I remember it like it was yesterday. The horror of it. She’s gone. I never thought in a million years it’d end like that. A stroke? After beating cancer, not once, but twice. Seriously? The doctors said she’d never wake up, never talk, never recognize me. Why bother keeping her on life support? It’s not her. My dad told us “she’s not going to make it.” My brother, dropping, fell to his knees. A guy 6’2” 220, lost it. That day ruined our family. Mom was the glue, the one who intervened when my dad went military on us. The one who always had your back and took care of us. But now, because of a nation’s lackadaisical attitude towards type two diabetes, she’s dead.

During the sugar experiment, my eyes were opened to how much sugar is in the foods I eat every day. My family is lactose intolerant, food preservative sensitive and I personally do not eat beef or pork of health reason, so going sugar-free was a little easier than expected. However, due to all the food restrictions, many of my substitutes had some form of sugar in them. For example, the sweetened almond milk as a substitute contained added sugar. Throughout the day, I realized exactly how much sugar I put into my body with my regular eating habits.

Diabetes is a lifelong disease that can affect both children and adults. This disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. It claims about 178,000 lives each year. Type one diabetes, also known as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, usually occurs in people less than thirty years of age, but it also may appear at any age. Diabetes is a very serious disease with many life threatening consequences, but if it is taken care of properly, diabetics can live a normal life.

Hello Carla! I grew up with similar background. My parents both developed diabetes mellitus type 2 and therefore suffered a premature death. I was diagnosed with diabetes pretty early in my life but didn’t think that it would affect me as much as it has. You would have thought I would change my life and attend my doctor’s appointments but I didn’t. I dreaded going to the doctor because I knew I hadn’t followed his regimen and it made me feel bad, you know? I was also always on the road traveling so I had to take time off of work to make those appointments.

The sun was out and beating down on us already, it seemed as we had been out there for hours but really only minutes. Yet somehow I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else on this day except the baseball field. Little did I know what would happen that day. It was a Friday too, but for this game I felt good and knew something good would happen or bad. Either way i was prepared for the game. This was a game that would determine if I would start the last home game, so I had to do better.

It was the end of my first year of medical school, as I sat beside my grandmother I realized a lot had changed from my last visit. My grandmother, the woman who came to Canada to help raise me, who was once strong and full of energy, was now frail, with blisters all over her skin and unable to sit upright without help. Reading about Diabetes is one aspect of learning, but actually seeing its effects gave me a whole new perspective about what it means to be a doctor.

I could feel the acid in my throat; I desperately needed water and couldn’t keep any food down. I had felt like this for the last three months but no one believed me. I started to doubt it myself, my mom said I was fine so why wouldn’t I be?