Found on a Surgery Facebook Page Today

A bit like a Far Side comic by Gary Larson

 

What about people who hv made life changes but still not enough!!! Dur.

 

Quite amusing but I get the feeling the undertone is that the fault lies entirely with the patients choosing pills and surgery over lifestyle change. Clearly there would be some truth in that, but there'd be an equal amount of truth in saying that most GPs are perfectly happy saving time by dishing out unnecessary prescriptions. The majority don't have a Scooby what constitutes a healthy lifestyle anyway.

 

Actually my doctor could stand in that queue and you would not be able to pick him out from the rest.

 

I'm guessing it's light hearted but actually it seems to be saying 'It's all your fault'. I am all for taking personal responsibility for what you do to live a healthy lifestyle but the general (medical) opinion of a healthy lifestyle probably got at least half of those in the queue there in the first place. Also many Drs seem intent on getting you onto as many pills as possible 'just in case'. Each time I have an appointment I am asked to list what medications I'm on, I say 'insulin', they say 'What else' and seem shocked that there is nothing else. It seems that once you are on one medication, 5 others follow for good measure.

 

and why are they all so fat, are they implying if you're fat then it's all your fault?

 

Yes. I think that's the general idea. As is tradition, of course.

 

The fact is that those on this forum are engaged and motivated. I'm sure most would agree that we are a minority?

I'm not surprised that people here don't identify with the stereotype, but the sad truth is that most people do take the easy option in preference . On that basis, like most stereotypes, there is a grain of truth here. I certainly know a number of people who acknowledge that their lives would be improved if they made lifestyle changes, but take the medication route instead. Humans by nature tend to take the path of least resistance - until forced to take another route.

Shiba.

 

Agree there is plainly some truth to it, but it’s not helped by the fact that lifestyle advice offered by the majority of GPs (if they can even be bothered) does nothing to improve outcomes. Then patients get blamed for non-conformity.

 

Tongue in cheek:

Those in the medication queue are the informed ones then!

Seriously, I don't disagree with what you say, the lifestyle 'advice' can be somewhat lacking at times...

Shiba.

 

When I told the nurse at the liver clinic that I had refused medication and opted to make lifestyle changes she said that I was in the minority. It's definitely working for me.

 

It is strange that although there is nothing in that picture that directly references diabetes we and I include myself in that all feel defensive we see a queue of fat people and automatically assume we are being targeted by it. Or am I making an unwarranted assumption also.

 

It's called subconscious bias, we all have it.

Shiba.

 

Exactly.

And why after all you are not born with it it is taught.

 

I was thinking the same as when I saw it (not being type 2), I just thought it was the cartoonist's unique way of drawing people although I don't agree with the sentiment of it. When Dr David Unwin asks people, in a neutral fashion as I understnad it, whether they want to try lifestyle vs. pills, it seems 100% of them want the former. This may well be because he is offering them a solution beyond 'eat less,move more' !

 

Personally speaking, not at all. This is modern medicine to the core. Pills and surgery over lifestyle. Not specific to diabetes.