This week I’ll be participating
in D Blog week. Today’s topic: “Let’s
kick off Diabetes Blog Week by talking about the diabetes causes and issues
that really get us fired up.”
There are a lot of things to be
passionate about...things that directly
affect our diabetic life and
My home. My soapbox.
But the one thing that bothers me
the most, is that people are still dying from
misdiagnoses. Adults and children alike.
Children are (barely) walking
into Doctor’s offices and are being told they have the flu.
Adults are told they have high
blood sugar and are given pills, on the assumption that they must have Type 2
Diabetes.
People with sudden onset Type 1
are rushed to hospitals, and instead of getting the care they need,
they are getting medicines to mask the symptoms…and once it’s all figured
out? Sometimes it’s too late.
What is the answer?
Education.
If I could wish a wish, (and that
wish couldn’t be for a cure,) I would wish that there was a program for people
like you, and people like me (us) to go and speak at continuing education
events for Pediatricians, General Physicians, Emergency Room Doctors and Nurses
alike.
I would tell them our story. How my baby was almost lost, even though I
brought him into the doctor 4 times preceding his diagnosis.
I would tell them that we were in
the Emergency Room for over 6 hours before anyone even suggested that he had
Type 1 Diabetes.
I would tell them in that six
hours my child had seizures and his body was shutting down from severe DKA…that
he almost died because no one could even fathom that a tiny 14lb eight month old
could have diabetes.
I would tell them how Type 1
Diabetes is on the rise…startlingly so.
Scarily so. Devastatingly so.
I would tell them one blood sugar
stick could save a life. And I would beg
them not to label an adult or child Type 2 until the proper blood tests have
been done.
If I could have a soapbox in
every hospital, in every doctor’s office…I would gladly take it.
There are people dying that don’t
have to die.
There are families in complete
devastation that didn't have to be devastated.
One finger stick. Followed by a blood test if the blood sugar
number is not in normal range.
Simple things change everything.
We need a venue to tell
physicians our story.
And we need one now.
Couldn't agree more, Meri. There are so many important D-issues, but that one is - or should be - somewhere near the top of that list. I really am a fan of what NY D-Dad Tom Karlya and Texas D-Mom Kim May are doing on that advocacy front, trying to create these grassroots public awareness campaigns that can be taken into local communities -- schools, doc offices, governments, and so on. Hope many in our community latch on and help carry that message. Thanks so much for writing this.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes! There are lots of d-issues to deal with, but none get me more angry and upset than this one! It's such a simple test. Such a simple test....
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to get this culture of mis- or non-diagnoses to change, but whatever it is -- I'm fully behind you 100%.
Change the world, woman. You can do this.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I got sent away from the doctors office sooo many times when we were trying to figure out what was wrong with my daughter. They did do a simple finger stick but she was in range the two times they did the test. It wasn't until my sister-in-law who has a type 1 son who suggested I had her A1c ran. The doctor thought I was nuts for asking because the finger pricks were in range when he checked. He ran in anyways and that's when it confirmed she did have type 1 diabetes. This was a 4 month process of trying to figure out what was wrong with her. It was frustrating. I realize doctors are human and they don't always know what to do, but there has to be a better way to diagnose type 1 diabetics quickly. 1 year later my 4 year son was diagnosed with T1D. We caught his diabetes really fast just because I knew what to look for.
ReplyDeleteSold!
ReplyDeleteHow do we do it?