How did you react when you were told you have diabetes? Were you shocked? Did the stress level head for the stratosphere? If you did not have these reactions, then you were probably one of the minority who was able to take it in stride and step right in to managing diabetes.
Many people are not prepared, not even wanting to accept the diagnosis and panic panels look out! These people are angry and often denial is next with possibly a dose of depression thrown in. These people are not ready to learn management techniques and make the changes necessary to manage diabetes so that they may live a healthy life.
Then there are the people that know diabetes is serious, but even though they are not prepared, dive into the education, adapt to the lifestyle changes that must become permanently part of their lives. They search out sources of reliable information, glean everything they can from the educators and dietitians, and adapt the information to their lives to be able to successfully manage diabetes.
Then we come to those that ignore what the doctor, educators, and dietitians tell them and search out the nearest health food store for answers. They will try anything to return to the life, as they knew it. If they are early in the diagnosis stage or have prediabetes, they may not have severe problems for a few years, but eventually if they don't change their lifestyle, they will either be back in the doctors office, or in the emergency room and possibly admitted to the hospital. They will wonder what went wrong and will be blaming everyone but themselves.
If they haven't been convinced about the seriousness of diabetes, they will again head for the holistic healers looking for the non-existent cure, convinced that they can be healed without the medications from the doctor. Some will take up exercise and may get by for a few more years before the complications start to take their toll and put them back in the doctor’s office. Then they will wonder from doctor to doctor trying to find the cure they know has to be out there.
Since they are people with Type 2 diabetes, they will continue to look for the cure and become more and more depressed when they cannot find it. I know one of these people, I am constantly being asked who to see, and who has the cure because they see me living a life as I go about my business. I am not running from doctor to doctor looking for the cure, but taking my medications and managing my diabetes to the best of my abilities. I have explained that I am on medications and that there is no cure, but they do not believe me. They say that there has to be a pill that will cure their diabetes and allow them to live a normal life.
I can only tell them that I wish this was so, but until there is a cure, they had better learn how to manage diabetes. Then they trot out that this is the twenty-first century and there has to be a cure. I finally say that the only cure I am aware of may be when I am put six feet underground, but until then, I will continue to read, research, and look for things that I can do to improve my management of diabetes.
I am very disappointed for this person, as this person now has chronic kidney disease and has been denied a place on the kidney transplant list. This alone should be a lesson that you need to manage your diabetes to the best of your abilities. There are other types that chose to ignore diabetes and they all have their motives.
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