A study was released Monday that displays a direct relationship between intensive insulin therapy and a better long term outlook for diabetics. Researchers found that when patients with Type 1 Diabetes maintained better blood sugar levels (below 6.0 A1C) they were much less likely to lose their vision, have kidney failure, heart disease, or amputations. Researchers say that "intensive therapy" when the study began is now seen as standard diabetes care.
Hopefully this does not come as a surprise to anyone. It is information that we knew, but is now backed by years of research. One of my favorite quotes from the
CNN Article is: "However, for some patients, intensive therapy may be easier said than done."
This is an unfortunate fact but a true fact. There are many reasons for letting your diabetes get out of control:
- Cost - Can't afford testing supplies, medicine, or doctor visits.
- Care - Not concerned because you don't feel bad now.
- Knowledge - Uneducated on the effects of Diabetes.
- Time - Overbook the rest of your life to leave no room for exercise or eating properly.
Two of these are personal problems (Care & Time) and two are social problems (Cost & Knowledge). Hopefully this study can shed
some light on Diabetes Care and lower the presence of these 4 reasons to lose control.
4 comments:
Some are taking advantage of people who face issue #1. Christiandiabetics.org is a prime example. Check them out at google.
Among the reasons you cite for letting your diabetes get out of control, you fail to include the biggest (at last among type 1s), which is that even when following the "rules" of good care, results do not necessarily work out as predicted. Author Deb Butterfield ("Showdown with Diabetes") once eloquantly wrote http://bit.ly/VoVDS: Intensive therapy is a lofty theory that fails abysmally in practice. The two most significant points of failure in these programs are (1) human behavior, and (2) severe hypoglycemia. Ironically, for technological developments that could help address some these issues, such as continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMS), the medical insurance industry has consistently fought to avoid coverage, instead forcing non-profits like the JDRF to pay for the studies to justify coverage that the manufacturers themselves should be covering. There are many faults, but often, the patient is only a small reason for these issues.
I would categorize (1) human behavior into "care". I assume the human behavior you are talking about is either not taking an injection or not checking your blood sugar. This falls into care because of the lack of concern.
You are correct that I did not address hypoglycemia. But it think this would also fall into the "care" category again. Hypoglycemia can be deadly but does not have to be. If you check your blood sugar often and look for signs of hypoglycemia this will help keep you at a stable level.
Signs of hypoglycemia include:
hunger
shakiness
nervousness
sweating
dizziness or feeling light-headed
sleepiness
confusion
difficulty speaking
anxiety
weakness
There is more information on insulin therapy in this post: Intensive vs Conventional Insulin Therapy
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