Could you be this woman’s husband?

This week I will attend the World Dia­betes Sum­mit in Colum­bus. Lead­ing researchers in the field of dia­betes will be pre­sent­ing their find­ings. The new data is exten­sive and exciting.

The med­ical research that has been devel­oped in the past 40 years on dia­betes is amaz­ing. When I started study­ing dietet­ics there were few med­ica­tions and the treat­ment options were lim­ited. Back in the 1980’s very insight­ful med­ical researchers embarked on a study on dia­betes. The sta­tis­tics that evolved from these tri­als changed the lives of those deal­ing with this dis­ease forever.

Con­sider the woman in the back row of one of my recent lec­tures. As I talked about the sta­bi­liza­tion of daily blood sug­ars and the inte­gra­tion of diet, med­ica­tion, exer­cise and stress relief, her head bobbed up and down in agree­ment. Her arms were folded, and she had an “I told you so” look on her face. I tried to ignore her, but she con­tin­ued to stare at me.

She avoided me dur­ing the break, but as I con­tin­ued my talk, her focus was riv­eted on every word and action. I went on to dis­cuss the con­clu­sions of the research. In the past, the com­pli­ca­tions of dia­betes were a death sen­tence and diet became a neg­a­tive four let­ter word because it restricted a person’s eat­ing free­dom. Research has proven than improved meal plan­ning and new med­ica­tions can change all of that.

At my talk I dis­cussed the com­pli­ca­tions of dia­betes. With sta­ble blood sug­ars blind­ness related to dia­betes can be decreased by more than 80 per­cent. Heart dis­ease can be con­sid­er­ably reduced; the risk of kid­ney prob­lems was cut in half. Ampu­ta­tions related to poor wound heal­ing and nerve dam­age can also be decreased. Good blood sugar con­trol is the key to pre­vent­ing seri­ous health prob­lems in diabetes.

The woman so intent on lis­ten­ing to me bowed her head and soon after­ward shot up her hand to ask a ques­tion. She blurted, “How do you know so much about my hus­band?” I gave her a ques­tion­ing look and she con­tin­ued. “I’ve been try­ing to tell him every­thing that you just told me for years and he just won’t lis­ten to me. It’s too late for him, he’s got every­thing that you just talked about but I’m not ready for him to die. Will you come home with me?”

Novem­ber is National Dia­betes Month. Nov. 14 is World Dia­betes Day. I am sure that many wives would like to take a dietit­ian or a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor home with them to care for their spouse. This month is a good time to begin to learn more about this dis­ease together.

Dia­betes does not have a one size fits all treat­ment for every­one. It is a silent dis­ease that sneaks up on a per­son with­out indi­vid­ual treat­ment. Don’t believe the myths and data from the past. Take time to learn more. The life that is affected may be your own.

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor and a reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Nov 14 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.