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By Mary Gynn - Diabetes Educator
Let me start with the reminder that Diabetes affects 25.8 million people. Those diagnosed are 18.8 million people and undiagnosed total 7.0 mil-lion people. Unfortunately, both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are affecting the younger generation, as well, the numbers being a staggering 215,000. (Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlantic, GA. www,cdc.com). Prediabetes and diabetes are now officially listed as an epidemic in the US. And, the numbers are growing. An epidemic? This is 2018. Ironically, diabetes was first described in an Egyptian manuscript from 1500 BC and the first cases were described by Indian physicians in 400-500 AD identified as Type 1 and Type 2. Then in 1776, a Dr. Matthew Dobson con-firmed an excess of a kind of sugar in the urine. (Dobson,M. 1776, Medical Observations and Inquiries 5:298-3Is it the 10). And in 1889, it was found that dogs whose pancreas was removed developed all the signs and symptoms of diabetes. So, considering these very early discoveries, why are we dealing today with Diabetes now an epidemic? Shouldn't the disease have been either controlled or eliminated all these years later? Does "It", the epidemic, have some-thing to do with the following questions? I ask: • Is it lack of community health and diabetes education? • Is it the abundance available and consumption of processed foods? • Is it lack of Americans knowing the existence of a gene somewhere in their ancestry that they may have inherited predisposing them to diabetes? Do most Americans have any idea of what a genetic inheritance (aka genome sequence) is? And all the variety of genes we all have predisposing us to health issues? • Is it because the majority of Americans are addicted to sugar and sugar is present in practically all our food? And, why is sugar in all of our food? • Is it the growing numbers of people who don't want to adapt a healthy life-style either early on or when diagnosed with a blood test they have prediabetes? • Is it because people aren't aware of their predisposition to the disease and have no knowledge of the metabolic syndrome? • Is it because Americans who if they do have some pre-diabetes symptoms just want a quick-fix pill to avoid facing reality and say nothing to or deny any symptoms to their physician? • Is it due to the insidious development of overweight and/or the obesity epidemic? • Is it in anyway connected to the in-activity or a "sitting" population in to-day's America? • Is it connected to stress in our lives in today's stressful world that we do nothing about? • Is it the multitude of pills or insulin pre-diabetics and diabetics ingest and inject and think they are the "cure"? • Is it the lack of diabetics not knowing how to self-manage their own dis-ease resulting in permanent sugar control? • Is it pre-diabetics and diabetics have no desire to self-manage or fearful of taking control of their disease? In my years of being a registered nurse and diabetes educator, I could go on and on identifying the multitude of questions. They help me arrange my diabetes self-management education programs and discuss your answers to the above questions. Your answers assist my effort to understanding why we now have a diabetes epidemic. Mary Gynn, RN, MSN/MS, MPH, CDE http://seniorvoiceamerica.org/ http://www.svatampabay.com/ http://seniorvoiceamerica.com/ http://www.getsva.com/ 813-693-5511
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 Choosing the right doctor is one of the most important decisions people can make for their health. If you are unsure who to turn to for your general care, experts point out that internal medicine specialists, or internists, specialize in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a broad spectrum of illnesses that affect adults through-out their lives, making them the right choice for many adults. Before selecting an internal medicine doctor, it’s helpful to learn a little bit more about their training and specialties. Trained to care for adults, many general internal medicine doctors, or general internists, practice in an office-based setting as primary care physicians for adults, following patients from their teens through their senior years for ongoing medical care. Other general internists spend the majority of their time caring for hospitalized patients in the role of a hospitalist. Due to the broad, intensive nature of core internal medicine training, which requires a three-year residency program after graduating from medical school, general internists aren’t limited to one type of medical problem or organ system, making them especially well-qualified to care for patients with complex conditions or multi-system diseases. “Comprehensive education and training make the internist particularly suited to care for the whole per-son,” says American College of Physicians (ACP) President Dr. Robert M. McLean. “Many patients appreciate the tailored prevention and treatment plans that internists can provide. From the internist’s perspective, we value long-term relationships with patients and working closely with them to pro- vide compassionate, quality care.” While training of general internists does not include pediatrics, obstetrics, or major surgery, patients requiring those services can turn to their general internist for recommendations and referrals. Internal medicine is a wide-ranging field, as many subspecialty areas of medicine require internal medicine training as a foundation, including allergists and immunologists, cardiologists, critical care doctors, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, geriatricians, hematologists, hepatologists, infectious disease doctors, nephrologists, oncologists, pulmonologists, rheumatologists, and sleep medicine physicians. Training to become an internal medicine subspecialist is both broad and deep, and includes a three-year residency program plus one to three years of fellowship training, depending on the subspecialty. General internists even receive some training in each internal medicine subspecialty during their three-year residency program. To learn more about internal medicine, visit acponline.org, the website of ACP, a membership organization rep-resenting internal medicine doctors, and the largest medical specialty organization in the U.S. “With such in-depth training in the complete care of adults, internal medicine specialists and subspecialists are excellent choices to help patients navigate the increasingly complex world of medical care,” says Dr. McLean, a rheumatologist. “Whether you are healthy or have a chronic illness such as diabetes, cancer or heart disease, an internist can provide comprehensive, coordinated care.”  |
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