It has been over 30 years since I was first diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and a lot has transpired for the better in diabetes care over the years. Diabetes is so much easier to manage now. We have CGM’s to tell us our glucose numbers in real time, enabling us to take immediate steps to correct our highs and lows. No more annoying finger pricks to cause us pain. Through education, we know preferable foods to eat and which foods to mostly avoid. The importance of exercise has been explained. Medications have evolved to help us with our weight as well as our diabetes. Another layer of protection are Diabetes Educators, a new class of personnel to assist doctors in helping to care for their diabetes patients.
I am so grateful to be alive today with today’s advancements in diabetes care, rather than the days of my ancestors who quickly succumbed to the ravages of diabetes, due to medical research that had not evolved yet, misinformation, willful and unwillful neglect by diabetes patients themselves.
There is enough information provided to us today that can enable us to live decent lives with diabetes, as long as we can afford proper medical care, medical prescriptions, and healthy foods. However, we do have to avail ourselves to the knowledge and information that is readily available to us through medical practitioners, valid research, books, websites, education, etc. Most importantly, we as individuals have to take personal responsibility by doing our part in practice what we have learned to be true in managing our own particular diabetes. We’ve got this!
