Reflection About Diabetes

Life sometimes presents us with events that frame our futures. For me, that event was the diagnosis of type one diabetes. I have always been a goal-oriented person, but faced with type one at an early age taught me the importance of goal setting, perseverance, and hard work. Diabetes has been a battle that has forced me to perform well under high-pressure circumstances; it has pushed me to become a stronger person. As a type one, I have learned how to successfully balance and excel as a student, employee, athlete, and leader. My diagnosis is, in fact, what has inspired me to become a doctor.

Diabetes is a disease where the body is unable to produce or use insulin effectively. Insulin is needed for proper storage and use of carbohydrates. Without it, blood sugar levels can become too high or too low, resulting in a diabetic emergency. It affects about 7.8% of the population. The incidence of diabetes is known to increase with age. It’s the leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the US, and is the primary cause of blindness and foot and leg amputation. It is known to cause neuropathy in up to 70% of diabetic patients. Individuals with diabetes are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.

I know that you are trying to help, but I need you to know that my life is much more complicated than the aspects that I let you see. Diabetes can be a very degenerative disease. Insulin helps us survive, but it doesn’t cure us. If we don’t live the textbook (nearly impossible, saintly) life of a diabetic, the consequences can be devastating. One-third of our lives could be cut-off. We can lose circulation in our feet and hands. Our organs can slowly corrode, and blindness is an imminent dread for 1 in 10 diabetics who don’t keep their blood-sugar under constant control.

Once I left the office I would need to spend the next three days in the hospital to get my blood sugar levels back to normal. From then on the only difference in my life would be at meal times, I would need to check my blood sugar before meals, calculate all the carbs I ate, and take an insulin shot after every meal and at bedtime. All of this sounded like of work but my parents did it for me for a while and eventually it became a habit and I did it without thinking about it. The biggest problem was the one no one prepared me for: many people don’t understand diabetes and try to tell me how to take care of myself. Many years after my diagnosis I experienced this at a school play. During an intermission I went to the concession stand with my friend, where I asked for a diet soda the woman behind the counter gave me an odd look and said “You know those are no better than regular soda right?” in a half joking tone. I blew it off and told her that I needed a diet one because I was diabetic, thinking that she would drop it. She then got a disgusted look on her face and exclaimed “Well then maybe I shouldn’t sell you a soda at all!” I didn’t want to get into an argument and she was making a scene so I dropped it, paid for my soda and went back to my seat, I spent the rest of the night ranting with my friends about it trying to calm

need for increased understanding of the economic, and societal seriousness of diabetes and its complications, and of the escalating costs to individuals, families, workplaces, society and governments.

The summer of 2004 is when I got diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, it was very shocking for my family except for me, I still didn’t completely understand what I had. All I knew was that the poking and pricking with different sized needles was painful. Eventually I began to learn what Type 1 Diabetes really was, and even though i had it, it didn’t slow me down, I focused on my academics and when it affected me I addressed and fixed the problem and went back to work. I also didn’t let it slow down my physical activities either, I would be outside every single day as kid non-stop, also in middle school I joined gymnastics as well and pursued it until the start of my junior year of high school. Diabetes affected my way of life, it made me different than everyone else and could’ve slowed me down but I didn’t let it, I still participated in different activities that everyone else did.

There are many individuals who are diagnosed with type two diabetes who do not truly know what it is, or chooses not to take it seriously. My grandmother is someone who has suffered with this for over twenty years, and still fails to realize how important it is to maintain good habits to stay healthy and alive. The cause of this disease is from being obese, and for my Nanny that was a hard thing to accept. Although she was married and seemed to be happy to others, that was far from the truth. She suffered from many years due to an emotionally abusive relationship. When she was diagnosed with diabetes the struggles and abuse seemed to grow worse. She found out that my grandfather had been cheating on her with various women and divorced him immediately. A few years after she was diagnosed with diabetes, she allowed her blood sugar to get dangerously high and ended up in the hospital. Since then she has been obsessive with keeping it low, and sometimes too low. She also became obsessive with losing extra weight she had, but did not handle it in the proper way. Instead of problems with high blood sugar she now has problems with low blood sugar, and we have almost lost her several times. This is an example of someone who is not properly educated on the many factors that come along with type two diabetes and how to cope with it appropriately. It is our job to inform those who suffer from this life changing disease on proper ways to deal with type two diabetes before

For me, the most difficult part of having the disease is accepting the fact that my body will never be perfect; I will always have bad days, and worse days, and there is no way for me to “win.” Like everyone with diabetes, I will have to keep it—every second, minute, hour, day, until a cure is found. Over the past 14 years I’ve learned to control my diabetes without allowing it to control me, and to not let the attack on my pancreas become an emotional attack on myself. As I begin to mature, so does my understanding of my diabetes. For now, instead of focusing on what I don’t have, I focus on what I do have.Also, of course, I dream of a day where I can once again think of food as simple

Since diabetes is a chronic disease, it is vital that diabetic patients make a multitude of daily self-management decisions and to perform complex care activities (Powers et al., 2015). Diabetes self-management education and support provides the foundation to help people with diabetes to navigate these decisions and activities and has been shown to improve health outcomes. The initial diagnosis of diabetes is considered a critical time to provide diabetes education and support. The diagnosis of diabetes is often overwhelming to the patient and this strong emotional response can be a significant

Nearly 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, the disease classified as a problem with insulin. The problem could be that your body does not make insulin, does not make enough, or it simply does not know how to use it properly. Diabetes is also known as "diabetes mellitus".

Diabetes is a disease that can be devastating to some families, but it is not that bad as it seems. With the correct amount of exercise and moderation, it can be maintained with several different methods. A large part of the United States population has a form of diabetes. Today, there are many treatments that improve the lives of those living with this disease. With the correct understanding, it can be manageable and change the lives of the diabetic and his/her family. Some people may think of this as a bad thing for children to have but with the proper management and exercise, it can be maintained as well as bring a family closer to one another. As a brother of a type 1 diabetic, I know how hard it is to live with it and how to

Diabetes is associated with wide range of complications such as chronic renal failure, blindness, amputations, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and neuropathy (Alotabi, A., et al., 2016). There is no known cure for diabetes, but the disease can be controlled through health management that includes multiple perspectives of care such as medications, blood glucose monitoring, diet, nutrition, screening for long-term complications and regular physical activity (Alotabi, A., et al., 2016). Managing diabetes may be complicated and requires the knowledge and skills of both healthcare providers and the clients. Studies have shown that to prevent or delay diabetic complications due to diabetes, counseling and other lifestyle interventions are the effective therapy. Even with many policies set up for diabetes, 8.1 million Americans are undiagnosed with diabetes mellitus, and approximately 86 million Americans ages 20 and older have blood glucose levels that considerably increase their risk of developing Diabetes Mellitus in the next several years (CDC, 2015). For diabetes care to be successful there needs to be a good understanding of the disease and management by both patients and healthcare providers,

In today’s world, parents have an abundance of worries when it comes to their children. Drugs, bad grades, and pre marital sex are just some things that may plague a parent with sleepless nights. But even on the worst of those nights of worry, most parents can’t imagine that their child could face an illness. Not just a runny nose or seasonal flu, but an illness that would affect their child throughout his or her entire life. Diabetes is a disease without a cure, and one that more, and more children have to live with.

On November 15, 2017, I attended a professional meeting called “Think Like A Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin.” The sponsors for this meeting were SNDA and CVD. The speaker who presented at the meeting was Gary Scheiner Ms, CDE. He is an author of the book “Think Like A Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin.” The general objective for this meeting helped people gain more knowledge about diabetes, and learned more from author personal experiences with type I diabetes. After I attended this meeting, I become more knowledgeable about diabetes. I have a chance to learn more about diabetes nutrition, different type of medications, and many tools that are available for diabetes patients to keep track on the blood glucose.

     Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body produces too little insulin (Type One Diabetes) or can’t use available insulin efficiently ( Type Two Diabetes). Insulin is a hormone vital to helping the body use digested food for growth and energy.