Article in the Daily mirror.

Saw this on the TV news yesterday. I have to say I found it extremely irritating and assumed that some box-tickers were afraid of losing their jobs.

I don't think improving diabetes "care and suppport " is rocket science. I personally don't feel that I have ANy care or support and I am not alone.

If diabetics can't , for some reason, be treated as individuals then their care and support should not be subject to a postcode lottery.

The statistics reflect the national situation but the care and suppport varies from doctor's practice to doctor's practice let alone PCT areas.

Some get checks , others do not. Some are prescribed test strips others are not. Some are able to consult a Dr about the condition others are fobbed off with a nurse.
Some nurses are well qualified and trained , others are not. Some patients can be referred to consultants others may find it well nigh impossible.

The only check on diabetes treatment in individual practices appears to
be the percentage of patients with an acceptable HBA1C and the frequency of these tests are also variable.I srongly suspect the Diabetic Nurses in my practice of good ,old- fashioned Empire Buiding.
Not for the benefit of the patients either! hardly surprising considering the system.

The whole tenor of the article reminded me of the howls of outrage whenever anyone suggests cuting back on cancer screening of any kind. Unfortunately , early detection does not always guarantee beter outcomes. Sometimest he money could be better spent on treating those who actually have the disease rather than identifying thiose who might be at risk. What is the point of knowing you have a risk of one day developing a disease which is at present almost untreatable.

As for the comments about unhealthy lifestye and obesity Malc, well I too am a slim T2 but I am afraid you just have to roll with it.
Many T2 s are overweight but I often feel offended on behalf of all diabetics when I read these ignorant ill-informed comments in the press.

Some diabetics I am sure do lead an unhealthy lifestyle but just look at the general population!
As for the obesity, I think this is a very arrogant assumption. We still know so little about diabetes that noone knows whether his is a cause or a symptom of T" or of any of the conditions currently grouped under the T" umbrella.

I received a link for this article from DUK today. When i followed it , I was linked to the page about NICEs rejection of Lucentis for sufferers of diabetic macular oedema. Another organisation was very upset on behalf of all T1 s whose sight would be put at risk by this decision. So its Ok for T2 suffferers from this condition. like myself is it?

Until we all learn to stand together as DIABETICS we will be subject to stupid generalisations in the press. There is a fair amount of blame apportioned to diabetics in that article . We are not taking care of ourselves etc. Well maybe we could be told how to do so and given the tools to do it.
More young people with diabetes die do they? Amazing! Dealing with a chronic disease which is not apparent to the casual observer and coping with all the usual pressures? I am amazed so many manage to survive . Grrrrr. helping diabetics? helping themseves more like. We sometimes have HCPs on here to "help" don't we?

Usual newspaper reporters drivel Malc I particularly like this quote "The alarming figures showed diabetic women aged 15 to 34 are nine times more likely to die than those without the disease.

The truth of course is everyone is going to die whether they have diabetes or not, they just spout this rubbish that they find (research) on the internet some of it true and some of it not true, then they put their own spin on it so it almost always comes out totally wrong like the quote above :lol:

As for T2 being linked to obesity it is a fact that over 80% of T2's are obese at diagnosis which doesn't help the 20% that aren't but it is still a factual statistic (see my signature) of course what they forget to say is that 80% of obese people do not get diabetes, confusing isnt it????? :crazy:

There are many reasons that we get to become diabetics regardless of our weight, and most of those reasons are not yet understood but being overweight does tend to increase insulin resistance due to excess body fat, but that doesnt explain the cause of diabetes it is just an observation that papers like to print. Hitlers propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is quoted as saying "if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth", thats how propaganda works.

The alarming figures showed diabetic women aged 15 to 34 are nine times more likely to die than those without the disease
The truth of course is everyone is going to die whether they have diabetes or not, they just spout this rubbish that they find (research) on the internet some of it true and some of it not true, then they put their own spin on it so it almost always comes out totally wrong like the quote above

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Sorry Sid but this is exactly what the UK data shows:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/news-and-events/ne ... -each-year

About one in 3,300 women in England will die between the ages of 15 to 34; but this risk increases nine-fold among women with type 1 diabetes to one in 360, and six-fold among women with type 2 diabetes to one in 520.

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The figures for deaths for young men were similar but because more young men die in the general population it is 'only' a four fold increase.
Heres one of those statistics
She died at the end of September this year. Her story is not unique.
http://westminster.londoninformer.co.uk ... betes.html
She was a young woman who was 'in recovery' from diabulimia. As a volunteer with DWED*
she was working hard to help other young women with similar problems.
She was a beautiful young woman with a lot to live for.
She was one of the 2 unnecessary deaths in young people every week in the UK.

The UK stats didn't look at the causes of death. Studies in other countries show that the most frequent causesof deaths in young people(usually under 25) with diabetes are acute complications of diabetes; ie severe hypos, hyperglycaemia , DKA and sudden unexplained death(maybe hypo related), there are also some with heart problems (diabulimia may account for some of these cases). Some studies also find increased rates of alcohol and drug related deaths and those from suicide, I suggest that many of these are indirectly caused by diabetes.

In the UK a report this year, showed a very low percentage of of people below 24 having all 9 care processes, 33% of those in that age group with T1 have an HbA1c of above 10% . For young people with T2, less than 50% achieved and HbA1c of less than 7.5%, with T1 it was less than 20%.

I think It may not be a lack of available care, but perhaps not the right sort of care and not offered in the right way .
I don't know if you remember that ITV film about the Croydon hospital with empty young peoples clinics. There was care available but the young people rejected it. Why was that?
I'm very aware that it's really difficult to get good help for parents and young people to cope with the emotional issues of D. Certainly far too many young women, (and some young men) suffer from some degree of eating disorder and omit or manipulate insulin ( some US studies suggest as many as 1 in 3 type 1s,) T2 has less research but there is some that suggests a number of young T2s develop similar disorders.

*You might like to read more about DWED the organisation that Sian Howarth worked for here:
http://www.diabeticswitheatingdisorders ... /About-Us/

phoenix said:

The alarming figures showed diabetic women aged 15 to 34 are nine times more likely to die than those without the disease
The truth of course is everyone is going to die whether they have diabetes or not,

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Sorry Sid but this is exactly what the UK data shows:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/news-and-events/ne ... -each-year

About one in 3,300 women in England will die between the ages of 15 to 34; but this risk increases nine-fold among women with type 1 diabetes to one in 360, and six-fold among women with type 2 diabetes to one in 520.

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I understand what you mean Phoenix but the Mirror article does not say " will die between the ages of" and that omission proves exactly what I was saying about the tabloid press getting things wrong by saying "diabetic women aged 15 to 34 are nine times more likely to die than those without the disease" makes no sense what so ever, that was my point, It makes sense when you read the proper quote but not when you read the Mirrors quote.

Sian Howarth seems [mod edit at request of Sian's family]. Bulimia would probably respond to a low carbohydrate diet because it would even out blood glucose levels and help to normalise appetite. I wonder if Sian was following a low carb diet.

While I know that diabetes care varies greatly from practice to practice (I know I'm lucky), it is a two-way thing. A friend of mine works at a practice in Leeds, and their DSN sends out regular letters calling her patients for reviews. The majority never turn up!

I do think the transition from childhood to adult care for Type 1s could probably be managed better, though - but again it would be a two-way thing. On going to University, for instance, some sort of communication between home and University care teams could help? But they both have to know first, and only the 'patient' can tell them.

Diabetes UK have produced a 15-point care plan which they want the NHS to adopt. It involves (among other things) having one's waist measurement taken at annual review. Does anyone get that? I doubt if my practice nurse would dare even to try! :lol:

Viv 8)

Personally, I think this part says it all .. "The audit, which is managed by the NHS Information Centre and commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP)"
Those people have to justify their employment and to delve and fiddle with 'statistics' until something alarming is produced is what their purpose in life is. I'm with Sid in this and will remain so until until someone can stand in front of me with convincing evidence to the contrary .. Daily Mirror? Feh!!

Yes I am usually offered the waist measurement by the healthcare assistant at the hospital. I refuse...my tummy is far too tender than to have anyone touch me...and the healthcare assistants arent exactly featherweights (house sides..and I am not being catty)...and previous comments about my waist measurement having gone up...werent welcome. So now I an labelled as "difficult and non-compliant"....

I have now seen an assortment of 10 different Medics..and have 10 different views and instructions.
Dont know whether I am on this earth or fullers....and no one seems in the least bothered.

I am not a number...I am a free woman....(those that are old enough will remember where this comes from.....)

Old saying about an expert being ex = something that was...and a spert being a drip under pressure is about right.

Meanwhile...back at the ranch....

I am Type 2 and no longer live in the UK. The thing I find most frustrating about these and similar articles, they don't go on to specify the 15 tests !!

Etty said:

Sian Howarth seems [mod edit at request of Sian's family]. Bulimia would probably respond to a low carbohydrate diet because it would even out blood glucose levels and help to normalise appetite. I wonder if Sian was following a low carb diet.

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Perhaps you might like to read her story on the DWED site and also investigate Sudden unexplained death( ie the diabetic dead in bed syndrome,recorded by the pathologist) and autonomic neuropathy a complication which she suffered as a result of her diabetes/ diabulimia. The morphine she took was also because of her diabetic complications.

Diabulimia is a psychological problem, in part caused by the abnormal focus on food and eating necessary in T1; focusing even more will not help one iota. Some young women have documented how it exacerbated the condition. Sadly, the condition may lead to severe complications as here.

mrawfell, if you go on to the Diabetes UK site (as opposed to this one) you'll find the 15 points listed there. Sorry, but being a technowimp I can't give you the link :roll:

Viv 8)

In the UK a report this year, showed a very low percentage of of people below 24 having all 9 care processes, 33% of those in that age group with T1 have an HbA1c of above 10% . For young people with T2, less than 50% achieved and HbA1c of less than 7.5%, with T1 it was less than 20%.

I think It may not be a lack of available care, but perhaps not the right sort of care and not offered in the right way .
I don't know if you remember that ITV film about the Croydon hospital with empty young peoples clinics. There was care available but the young people rejected it. Why was that?

I think his is he crux of he matter Phoenix. I can understand these young people. I am far from young but find the "care " on offer totally irrelevant and much of the time counter-productive
Those ticking the boxes sruggle to justify ther own exisence.

There could be 100 checks but unless paients see he relevance or find the advice effective they
may as well no bother.

Perhaps if patients of any age are voing wih their fee in large numbers some enquiry should be made into the cause.
But then, we all know about these diabetics don't we?- its their own fault!

There could be 100 checks but unless paients see he relevance or find the advice effective they
may as well no bother

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.
absolutely agree!
It's not just the UK though, I don't think anywhere has managed to get it right. Surveys elsewhere show similar problems.

I was referred to a daibetes phone-in on Radio 2 lsat week. I listened again. It was all about the link between obesity & diabetes.

A T1 had the last word - "give T2 a different name, to stop T1s being accused of causing their diabetes by being lazy gluttons."

I can't believe people are getting paid for saying things like: woman with diabetes are more likely to die then those without diabetes..No i'm sorry, can I just disagree with that? haha :lol:
oh and they give you age as well..the age in which we are most healthy??who cares. Is it to make it sound more intelligent..
They say type 2 people are obese and lazy..there must be reason too why some people become obese and lazy..it is not just because they wanted to. I think everyone knows that.

Are you lazy and obese Ausra because I'm not?

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:



I do object when T1's peddle this ****?

NOT ALL FAT PEOPLE ARE DIABETICS

NOT ALL T2'sw ARE FAT

BEING FAT DOES NOT CAUSE DIABETES ( if it did all fat people would be diabetic)

Cant we just help each other and not pretend that we are better than other diabetics? Yes T1 and T2 do have differences but they also have many similarities, can we not build from that?

Ausra said:

I can't believe people are getting paid for saying things like: woman with diabetes are more likely to die then those without diabetes..

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The liklehood of women with diabetes dying is exactly the same as women without, i.e. they will both die at some stage.

+1 with Sid.