Epidemic

Diabetes Horror Stories in the Media

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Last night’s episode of 7.30 was rather confronting with some of the harsh realities of diabetes in Australia. We were introduced to one of Australia’s many diabetes “hotspots,” Blacktown in New South Wales. We were told that 40% of patient blood tests in the Blacktown Hospital emergency room showed diabetes. One third of those patients were unaware that they had diabetes, and another third were pre-diabetic.

We were introduced to a woman who ate her way to type 2 diabetes with junk food. We were told by the CEO of Diabetes Australia that one quarter to one third of hospital beds in Australia were filled with people suffering from diabetes complications. And we were introduced to an elderly woman who thought she had reasonable control of her blood sugar levels, only to be told by doctors that she needed to have her foot amputated.

Honestly, I just feel torn when I see these diabetes horror stories in the media.

Yesterday I wrote about how strongly I feel about not seeing the people around me develop diabetes. And how I am all for doing my bit to help prevent new cases of diabetes.

And then I see stories in the media like the one I saw last night. Stories that leave me stunned. Stories that leave me fearful. Stories that make me want to find a corner and curl up into a ball.

It doesn’t matter how average, how decent or how good of a job I feel like I’m doing. I see stories like these and all of that work is reduced to shreds. I’m beating myself up again. I’m thinking about all of the bad decisions I’ve made. I’m thinking about all of the potential damage I’ve done to my body. I wonder if I will be one of those diabetes horror stories, one day. And I wonder if there’s any point in trying.

But these stories are true. They do happen. Is it fair for me to attack them, or to pretend that they don’t happen in real life? I don’t know.

I guess all I’m trying to say is that there are people watching these stories who are already living with diabetes. Some of the people seeing these stories are trying their very hardest to manage, and stay on top of this rollercoaster of a disease. And horror stories like these don’t give them much of an outlook, or motivation to keep going.

Prevention is important. But support and encouragement for those already living with this disease is equally important, too.

The transcript from last night’s report on the 7.30 program is here. You might be able to watch the report too, depending on geography restrictions.

What’s the Point of Telling Me About Diabetes “Epidemics?”

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What’s the point of telling me that more people are getting diabetes? Do you want me to feel guilty for this? Do you want me to take the blame for this? Do you want me to go out and tell people to stop getting diabetes? Do you want me to jump in my time machine and stop diabetes from happening?

What’s the point of telling me that I’m going to live a life of suffering? Do you want me to lose motivation to get out of bed in the morning? Do you want me to stop looking after myself? Do you want me to give up on all of my hopes and dreams? Do you want me to stop living as normal a life as I can? Do you want me to stop trying to be healthy and happy?

What’s the point of telling me that I’m going to develop diabetes complications? Do you want me to be scared awake from a terrible nightmare? Do you want me to chant these negative affirmations over and over in the morning? Do you want me to be too scared to walk out of the house? Do you want me to be too scared to cross the street?

What’s the point of telling me that my diabetes is costing the government money? Do you want me to feel ashamed of the disease that I live with? Do you want me to feel sorry for the politician that can’t go on holiday next year? Do you want me to stop testing my blood sugar levels? Do you want me to stop taking the insulin that keeps me alive and breathing?

I already have diabetes. I already live with diabetes day in, day out. And that’s not going to change anytime soon. I certainly didn’t ask for diabetes. And I certainly didn’t do anything to deserve my diabetes.

But I’m stuck with diabetes for the rest of my life. And so are the millions of other people out there in the world, with ALL types of diabetes. And while these messages may benefit the rest of the non diabetic population of the world, they do absolutely nothing for the people who have to live and breathe with this miserable disease every single day of their lives.

There are human bodies, human thoughts, human faces and human feelings behind this disease. Why not empower them?

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One of those “top of the world” moments on the rooftop of Parliament House in July.