Part I
Dealing with the Diagnosis of Diabetes
In this part . . .
You have found out that you or a loved one has diabetes. What do you do now? This part looks at the cause of your diabetes and how it can make you feel â both mentally and physically.
Chapter 1
Membership in a Club You Didnât Ask to Join
In This Chapter
Understanding what diabetes is
Meeting others with diabetes
Coping with diabetes
As a person with diabetes, you already know that diabetes isnât âjust a sugar problem.â In fact, the moment you were told you had diabetes, many different thoughts may have run through your mind. You have feelings, and you have your own personal story. Youâre not the same person as your next-door neighbour or your sister or your friend, and your diabetes and the way that you respond to its challenges are unique to you.
And unless you live alone on a desert island, your diabetes doesnât affect just you. Your family, friends, and co-workers are influenced by your diabetes and by their desire to help you.
In this chapter we consider how you might feel after you first find out you have diabetes, and we also look at some coping strategies to help you deal with this unwelcome news.
Figuring Out What Diabetes Is
Because we spend so much time discussing diabetes in this book, we want to start by defining the condition. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder (a problem with the bodyâs internal chemistry) characterized by the presence of high blood glucose because the pancreas is unable to make enough insulin hormone or because the insulin the pancreas makes is not working properly, or both. (We take a closer look at glucose in Chapter 2.)
That may be the technically correct definition of diabetes, but to leave it at that would be akin to defining Paris as âa city with a metal tower located in France.â France does indeed have a metal tower â and diabetes does indeed have high blood glucose â but to limit your perspective to such simple definitions would be to miss out on so, so much. Diabetes isnât just a sugar problem; itâs a whole body problem. To make this point, Ian made up his own definition of diabetes: âA disease that involves high blood glucose levels and an increased risk of damage to the body, much of which is preventable.â
Diabetes is actually the short form for diabetes mellitus. The Romans noticed that the urine of certain people was mellitus, the Latin word for âsweet.â The Greeks noticed that when people with sweet urine drank, fluids came out in the urine almost as fast as they went in the mouth, like a siphon. They called this by the Greek word for âsiphonâ â diabetes. Hence diabetes mellitus, but we think this is much better captured by the 17th-century definition of diabetes: âthe pissing evil.â Talk about calling it the way you see it! You may have done some searching in books or on the Internet and come across another form of diabetes called diabetes insipidus. This term refers to an entirely different condition than diabetes mellitus. The only thing they have in common is a tendency to pass lots of urine. And now that weâve clarified that, you wonât see diabetes insipidus mentioned again in this book (unless you count the index at the back!).
Youâre Not Alone
Hardly a day goes by when a person with diabetes isnât in the news. Years ago, such appearances were often of heartbreak or loss. Nowadays itâs more likely to celebrate an achievement. On May 25, 2008, Sebastien Sasseville (www.sebinspires.com) became the first Canadian with type 1 diabetes to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 2007, Chris Jarvis (www.ichallengediabetes.org), a resident of Victoria, B.C., won a rowing gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. And in that same year Scott Verplank, insulin pump and all, won the EDS Byron Nelson Championship (and the US$1,134,000 that went with it!).
Away from the sports arena, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Edison, Jack Benny, Elizabeth Taylor, and â Ianâs all-time favourite piece of diabetes lore â Elvis Presley all lived with diabetes.
You may not have spoken to Stephen Steele, but it is quite possible he has spoken to you. Stephen is a commercial pilot with a major Canadian airline. (You get to know Stephen better in Chapter 18.) And in the event that you had the bad luck to be in dire straits on some sinking vessel off the Atlantic coast, it is quite possible that the hero that plucked you from the ocean was none other than Major Chuck Grenkow, a Medal of Braveryâwinning Canadian Forces pilot and aircraft commander performing search and rescue operations with the Canadian military. Oh, by the way, they both have diabetes.
Diabetes is a common disease, so itâs bound to occur in some very uncommon people. But you donât have to be famous to be considered exceptional. Indeed, every day of the week in our practices we see special people, people who have diabetes yet look after families, work in automotive plants or office buildings, write exams, go to movies, and do their best to live life to the fullest â people, perhaps, just like you.
The point is, diabetes shouldnât define your life. Youâre the same person the day after you found out you had diabetes as you were the day before. It just happens that youâve been given an additional issue to deal with. Diabetes shouldnât stop you from doing what you want to do with your life. Certainly, it does complicate things in some ways, but if you follow the principles of good diabetes care that we discuss in this book, you may actually be healthier than people without diabetes who smoke, overeat, underexercise, or engage in other unhealthy activities.
Handling the News
Do you remember what you were doing when you found out that you or a loved one had diabetes? Unless you were too young to understand, the news was likely quite a shock. Suddenly you had a condition from which people get sick and can die. The following sections describe the normal stages of reacting to a diagnosis of a major medical condition such as diabetes.
Experiencing denial
You may have begun by denying that you had diabetes, despite all the evidence to the contrary. You probably looked for any evidence that the whole thing was a mistake, and you may not have followed the advice you were given. But ultimately, you had to accept the diagnosis and begin to gather the information needed to start to help yourself.
Hopefully, you not only came to accept the diabetes diagnosis yourself, but also shared the news with your family and other people close to you. Having diabetes isnât something to be ashamed of, and it isnât something that you should have to hide from anyone.
Your diabetes isnât your fault. You didnât want to have diabetes. You didnât try to get diabetes. And no one can catch it from you. There are over 2 million Canadians living with diabetes. You have joined a very, very large club!
When you and others are accepting and open about having diabetes, youâll find that youâre far from alone in your situation. (If you donât believe us, read the section âYouâre Not Aloneâ earlier in this chapter.) And you will likely find it comforting to know there are others you can relate to and draw support from. For example, a number of years ago, one of Ianâs patients, newly diagnosed with diabetes, was buying her diabetes supplies at the pharmacy and mentioned to the person beside her in line how worried she was about her health. Turns out this other person also had diabetes and was able to provide lots of reassurance. Well, more than just reassurance as it turns out â they got married a year later! Feeling anger
When youâve...
