The Illness Experience Of Patients Suffering From Type 2 Diabetes

This essay will focus on type 2 diabetes, which is becoming one of the fast growing chronic health conditions in the United Kingdom (UK). Approximately 700 people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes each day in the UK (Diabetes Uk, (2014)a). It is costing the NHS about £10billion pounds each year to treat diabetes along with its complication and it is expected to rise in the next couple of years (Diabetes UK, (2014)b).

Type 2 diabetes is a very serious disease with many life threatening consequences, but if it is manage properly through preventative measures, diabetics can live a normal life.

Type 2 diabetes is a polygenic, complex disease that has become a worldwide health crisis. According to the World Health Organization over 422 million people in the world had this disease in 2014 (1), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that in the United States alone 29 million people had diabetes in 2014 (2). While the genetic predisposition contributing to the diabetes phenotype is not fully understood to date it still remains an area of active research. There are also various environmental factors that contribute stress to the glucose homeostasis system that provide a different approach in understanding this disease. Comprehending the pathogenesis of the disease has been an area of constant research for decades. There is hope that pharmaceutical developments can follow along and find medical treatments that can target the key pathogenic elements of this disease.

First, he was in shock. He could not believe that something that “happens only to other people”, was actually happening to him, who was invincible. Bob felt upset and thought “"why me, why am I getting it". He became depressed because his doctor told him he had to be on a new, healthy diet. When he heard that word “diet”, it elicited the images of hunger, miserable calorie counting, fatigue, frustration, sprouts and lettuce. Bob also felt a sense of loss, because he was no longer allowed to eat fast-food or chocolate, his favorite “junk food”. “Why not?” he could not understand. It was a real grief. He had to drastically change his eating habits and his relationship with certain types of food. Additionally, when his doctor announced he had to lose some weight, it sounded like a “death sentenced” to him. Physically, Bob was experiencing the classic symptoms of type 2 diabetes: severe thirst, excess urination, and constant fatigue.

This paper was prepared as part of course requirements for the subject PSY353 Health Psychology Section 1.

The purpose of my research on type 2 diabetes is to make people more aware of this disease. I have found that many people only know the simplest information pertaining to type 2 diabetes. Throughout my report I hope to educate you on the specifics of this disease, such as

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

As a patient, coping with being newly diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, can be very stressful for the patient and family members involved in the patient plan of care. The patient will have to make drastic lifestyle changes in order to be in compliance with the recommended treatment by the members of the health care team. Being a patient, making the necessary lifestyle adjustment will assist with management of the newly diagnosed illness. This essay will discuss a family member who was recently diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type II and has to take insulin. The family member is trying to gain knowledge in order to have a clear understanding of this illness. A questionnaire has been created for the family member regarding being diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. The results from the questionnaire will be discussed and further analyzed. There will be a discussion on how the patient, family and friends are accepting and their impact on the patient being diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Finally an analysis of the care plan developed for diabetes mellitus will be discussed. The purpose of this essay is to help facilitate the patient and family members involved in the patient plan of care with education and management of diabetes mellitus.

There were events in my life that impact my career in a good way. During my childhood I was living with my grandfather, he was raising me along with my mother and my other cousins. We used to be a very close family, but it was a time were my grandfather started to get very sick. Of course, since I was a child, I remembered I was never enough years old. My mother did not want to let me know that my grandfather had diabetes, and due to all the complications that diabetes causes a dialysis should be done prompted.

It is no secret that Diabetes type II is rapidly becoming a public health problem that is attacking epidemic proportions worldwide. In fact, according to an online article by the Washington post titled, “CDC Says Diabetes Numbers Increasing,” Author Stein, Rob claims that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that as of the year 2012, approximately 26 million Americans were clinically diagnosed with type II diabetes. Not to be confused type I diabetes however. Type I diabetes is where the body is typically insulin-dependent as beta cells are constantly attacked and destroyed by the immune system. Type II diabetes on the other hand, is where the body, may or may not make enough insulin; a hormone that serves to regulate the movement of sugars into the cells, and if it does make enough insulin, the body tends to not respond to it properly. In other words, one suffering from type II diabetes does not convert sugar into energy, but rather stores it in their bloodstream. This has caused type II diabetes to be the most common form of its type. As a result, those who suffer from type II Diabetes normally result in extra body-fat, hypertension, and high cholesterol.

Type 1 diabetes is difficult to live with, which can cause emotional ramifications to be heightened. Younger children may not understand why blood samples and insulin injections are essential to their well being. In turn, they may become scared, angry, and uncooperative. Teens on the other hand may feel different from everyone else and want to live a more carefree lifestyle than their diabetes allows them to have. Even while being dedicated to their treatment routine, teens can get very frustrated and even depressed, especially when going through puberty since their diabetes gets harder to control. Often people who have just been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes ask themselves,

Type 2 Diabetes is a continuing epidemic in the United States, particularly among African Americans. According to the American Diabetes Association (n.d.): "African Americans are 70% more likely to have diagnosed diabetes compared to Non-Hispanic Caucasians." The two most prominent health disparities implicated in Type 2 Diabetes with African Americans are: proportionally higher rates of diagnosis and disease-related complications (Byers et al, 2016). Notably, "ineffective patient-provider communication" and "disconnection" between a patient's diagnosis and their culture/lifestyle are thought to contribute to these disparities (Kirk et al, 2014). This disconnect between biological and social reality is likely due to ineffectual patient-provider

People are consuming large amounts of soda in the United states. This increase of soda consumption was significant enough that in 2010 the state of New York proposed to tax soda. The one cent per ounce in taxes was intended to help generate government revenue and to discourage soda consumption but the proposal did not pass (Desantis 2012). The average individual in America consumes 44.7 gallons of carbonated soft drinks in one year (Desantis 2012). If the proposal would have passed the state would have made $5, 721.60 in revenue per soda drinker. The increase of soda consumption continuing to rise, there has also been an increase of type two diabetes diagnosis in America. It is projected that 552 million people will be diagnosed with diabetes by 2030 (Harris, Oldmeadow, Hure, Luu, Loxton, & Attia 2017).

Mr. NX is a 35-year-old-male with complaint of back pain and not feeling well. He reports he has chronic back pain that is a constant tight, dull ache in which he has experienced over the past 10 years, without loss of function. He has a prior history of Type II diabetes, hypertension, and recurring deep vein thrombosis in which he routinely takes Glyburide, Lisinopril, and Coumadin for these disorders. Mr. NX reports he started a workout program three weeks prior in which he started two complementary alternative medications (CAMs) of Creatine and Coenzyme Q10. Other CAMs he reports taking is Kava Kava for anxiety and Garlic for his hypertension.

Type 2 diabetes is a very well known disease throughout the US. There are about 27 million people in the US with the disease and 86 million others have prediabetes which means their blood glucose is not right but also not high enough to be diabetes yet. 208,000 people under the age of twenty have been diagnosed with either Type 1 or 2 Diabetes.