A meeting at the pharmacy

[Cowboyjim]

I am always trying to chill out and maintain some kind of equilibrium but it doesn't get any easier. Stress inducing things seem to crop up every day with yesterday as no exception.
I went to the pharmacy to collect my ration of meds and was half-joking about the metformin and being stuck on that ad infinitum... when another person chimed in with "well, they have started me on insulin, I got diagnosed T2 a few years ago..." seems this person still cannot get enough weight off nor control BS levels. Family members also have DM.
Trying to be helpful I inquired about diet. The response was indeed puzzling. Suffice to say the person was not au fait with the perils of carbs. I suggested looking on the web for info but I fear it fell on deaf ears... as we were leaving the person told me another visit to the dentist was imminent with more teeth out.
As you can imagine I got in my car to drive home with very mixed emotions. Most of all I was appalled at what I thought must be a lack of proper dietary advice. This person could do with some help but I suspect it is of the wrong sort from the official line. Let alone the enormous cost DM is so obviously having on the NHS when at least some of this might be aleviated by better diet etc let alone persons' health and mental well-being.

 

[catherinecherub]

It is not always the fault of the professionals. My surgery try really hard to instill in people that whilst no food is forbidden, you have to be sensible about portion size. They also explain that some foods are best left alone and should only be an occasional treat. My surgery allows test strips for Type 2's. I go to meetings at my surgery and some people are just not happy to think that they may have to eat less of certain foods. I have heard them in the car park saying that nobody is going to tell them what they can and cannot eat. They compare bs numbers and the higher the better it seems.
People here are proactive but there is a large group of diabetics who will not listen to advice and prefer to go onto insulin in the belief that this will enable them to carry on their habits prior to diagnosis. They see it as inevitable that it is a progressive disease and most of them will tell of a friend/relative who got complications. They see this as the norm. They also do not go to their appointments as they see them as a "waste of time". I heard one gentleman say, "Why waste time at the Hospital when there is nothing that can be done. This will eventually kill me".
I am at a loss to know how to educate these people and am thankful that I was able to make adjustments to my diet with the help of the professionals.