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Diabetes in the media

Do you think diabetes is accurately portrayed in the media?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No

    Votes: 68 100.0%
  • Total voters
    68
I was lead to believe that I could have been diabetic for up to ten years before my diagnosis but did not show symptoms.
Mind you that was a GP who wouldn't send me to a specialist until I had a hypo in front of her. Even though I had complained about feeling dreadful for the past nine months!
Go figure!
 
nosher8355 said:
I was lead to believe that I could have been diabetic for up to ten years before my diagnosis but did not show symptoms.
Mind you that was a GP who wouldn't send me to a specialist until I had a hypo in front of her. Even though I had complained about feeling dreadful for the past nine months!
Go figure!
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Bloody hell, that's shocking.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
You sound surprised! My wife who has T2, cannot have a meter or strips, yet because of my diagnosis I have unlimited access to them. We live in the same house!
 
Now that is the sort of stuff that should be exposed by the media. The old fashioned view that T2s should not test because it's no use.

Actually my partner is T2 as well. I primed him with what he should ask for and key words (some from this site thanks). He did get a tester and strips though he is considered a bit of a novelty.

Again, a lot of T2s just accept what they are told trusting their GPs and DSN nurses (there are some excellent ones out there) and don't realise to ask. Then this helps perpetuate T2s don't want to look after themselves.

I was diagnosed before access to the internet. I've learned so much in the last couple of years from googling, more than I was told in the 23 years of having diabetes.

Am I shocked? Yes, but I shouldn't be really I suppose.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation within the NHS, (have a look on my stay in hospital thread).the education is there, but they neglect to teach it. My consultant told me that his mentor would never agree that the condition I have, is what I have. And that it doesn't exist!
My wife goes for her yearly tests in the next few days,and I have tried to give her the questions she should ask.
 
Spiker said:
Wasn't Skurge a character on He Man and The Masters of The Universe? Mates with Skeletor?
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Lol. I don't know that one... But there are obvious similarities with the cop in the Masters of the universe movie & the teacher that shouts "eat lead slackers" while shooting a double barrel shotgun in Back to the future 2??
 
Spiker said:
I think we have to be very careful about saying "lifestyle choice". It's a lifestyle choice to avoid the lifestyle that contributes to T2 diabetes risk. But that lifestyle itself is more of a default, not a choice. Just doing what everyone else does would stretch the definition of "making a choice" and also implies more blame than is really warranted. The T2-prone lifestyle is not a "lifestyle choice" than individuals have made. It's more that they could have made a lifestyle choice to not follow the normal lifestyle.
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I don't fully follow the above but I think our society has become way too careful about saying a lot of things and actually needs to go the other way a bit. We know the World has shifted and we now have a tractor doing the job of 20 men and cars doing the jobs of feet and bikes. We also know more than ever the perils of poor lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking too much, not exercising etc. We are far more educated than we have ever been. And yet we are so much unhealthier. Genetics can't be blamed for everything and whilst there are always significant factors that influence peoples lifestyle choices (such as poverty, mental health) it is still, for the vast majority, a choice.
 
What annoys me the most is people who should know about diabetes, i.e., doctors, in the media who say some outrageous things. A couple of years ago I was watching a medical documentary aimed for a general public audience. The doctor was a heart specialist, who started out by saying that 45% of his work came from diabetes and how it was preventable if only…

He went on to say that sugar was like shards of glass in the blood stream and that they scratched the wall of arteries causing damage. There is no truth in it. It is utterly unscientific. IMO this sort of thing unforgivable. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect from a journalist with no medical knowledge. I don’t know if he is ignorant of basic sugar chemistry or physiology or both!
 
Scardoc said:
This is never a popular opinion but one I've expressed many times before. Lifestyle choice is a huge factor in T2 diabetes. Not every case obviously but the parallel between the rise of T2, obesity and urbanization is undeniable. In that respect the media can sometimes be accurate BUT to me there is a complete lack of balance in the media coverage of the other causes and far too much sensationalism..........although, if you want to avoid that then don't read certain newspapers!
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I think we need to be very careful with all descriptions of disease and apportioning blame. When I said to my DN at my first meeting 'I suppose you will say that it is my fault' she replied with, 'Diabetes is a disease of the endocrine system and as many people within a normal weight range die from related complications of the endocrine system as do diabetics'. Recently there has been a culmination of many different studies that show that diabetes is not caused by obesity, but that obesity can be a marker for diabetes and therefore other issues relating to the endocrine system. A dietitian told me last year that roughly 20% of obese people will never have elevated cholesterol or develop diabetes and that figure has apparently remained stable over the last 3 decades. More evidence shows that the main cause of the endocrine system breaking down is sugar which may be the reason why diabetes takes so long to show its self in some people. Many people who use this site are following the LCHF diet which effectively reduces your sugar intake via carbs. This may not be right for some people but it has helped me, although I haven't lost weight, I haven't put any on and my average BG since I was diagnosed in November is 6.7.

On the subject of how 'we' are portrayed in the media, quite frankly it stinks. We are lazy, sad, lonely and weak willed individuals who are inconsiderately wasting the whole of the NHS budget. 'We' of course know this is not true, but if newspapers only printed the truth then they would be blank sheets of paper!
 
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