Re: Diabetes Criteria

kohlrabi_croce@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
: On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:49:49 -0400, Priscilla Ballou
: <vze23t8n@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


: >
: >But that would be what intervening earlier would involve! Since there's
: >so little attention given to diabetics before diagnosis, in order to get
: >them the attention (intervention) needed, the criteria would have to be
: >lowered. It's exactly what they'd be talking about.

: HI Priscilla,

: Ok first I want to put in a disclaimer that is not in answer to you:

: It seems I've been called something of an upstart, I guess because
: of what I said on this thread about suggesting people calm down
: about the diagnostic criteria, just within this ng. I can see how
: it would be taken that way. I wasn;t really telling everybody what to
: do, just expressing my dismay overall at the work I went to, to ferret
: out that all the major medical org's agree on what the criteria
: are, all across the board. I could have been more specific
: about it, perhaps.

: Ok, Priscilla, maybe we jsut have to agree to disagree.
: That might be the best thing.

: There are a lot of issues here, and I doubt that changing the
: criteria would really be as beneficial as getting the physicians
: to do a better job in educating patients. There are also
: major advantages, health insurance advanages, to not
: being officially diagnosed at the pre-diabetic stage.

You mean tht the doctors are not the experts? I thought that is what you
had been saying earlier when people complained about their doctors. As it
is a failure of gettign good treatment or of being unable to gain control
over their blood sugars when following medical and diatician advice , that
brought peole to this group looking for help, it is not surprising that
many don't want to go along with the credentialed "experts.

" : I mean,
how many physicians
really do a good job at : treating and educating patients even after they
: reach full blown diabetes? That's a real question,
: not rhetorical.

That , certainly is ture. I am fortunate to have a very good endo, but
many are not so lucky.

: Even if they did change the criteria, there would still
: have to be a lot of doctor re-education. Either way,
: there would have to be a lot of re-education.

Very true, but the earlier start might help prevent some of the later
problems at least in the pro-active patient. If such a patient, like, say
Chris malcom, is assured by his MD that he does not have diabtes, because
h is in the early "pre-diabetic" stages, damage that Chris woudl have
prevented occurs. Earlier criterion woudl alert people sooner, so they
could be pro-active.

: The impression I have of things is
that doctors love : to give out prescriptions for drugs. If there's a
: drug prescription involved, that's profitable
: and glamorous. This involves nutrition, until
: things really get bad. Doctors don't know about
: nutrition, and they don't care about it. It doesn't
: make them money. I think that's the big problem
: with this disease, and it can't be helped.


Many doctors don't want to give prescriptions and advise exercise and diet
first, but the patients are not happy. they want a pill and then they
feel they can ignore all this testing stuff. Some doctors just tell peole
ot wtch their sugar and eave it at that, even with the diagnsis. As for
watching their sugar, tht woudl be good advice in teh eary pre-diabetic
stages, but is not offered as advice.

: This would still be the problem even after a
: diagnosis of full-blown diabetes. Most people
: would rather not have to start on medication,
: but that's exaclty the thing that gets doctor's
: interest.

I don't know if "most people" really feel that way. Many want the pill so
it can do the job for them. the education involves making them strongly
aware tht it takes their effort to exercise, loose weight, eat lower carb,
etc, rather than relying on a pill. you cannot gggeneralize from youself
as the normaal, nor can any of us.

: Also, I don't know, I'm not exaclty an establishment : kind of person,
I'm not sure it's a great idea to scare : people into getting treatment,
and scare their doctors : inot treating them (even though doctor education
in : nutrition is abysmal) while in the process scaring them : more than
may be necessary either. I udnerstand that : the reverse problem if more
often the case, but do you : see what I' m saying?

Unfortunately, for many the scare is what gets their attention and gives
them the motivation to start changing their woe and exercise. since the
disease works slowly and the complications don't all appesr early on, many
think they are immune to them and just have to "watch it a little." For
younger people it all looks liek, weill that is something that old folks
have to worry about. I can always give up xxxxlater.

Wendy


.

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