Daddy what else did you leave for me?
A Painfully Sweet Inheritance
Inheritance for some of us is sweet, but painfully sweet for others. If your inheritance involves paying capital gains taxes or property taxes, then you are more or less well off. However, if you are paying visits to a doctor due to an unwelcome inheritance, it’s certainly injustice. Type 2 diabetes. is one such inheritance that is unfortunately being passed on to successive generations. The inheritance is high blood sugar levels!
The familial and genetic nature of type 2 diabetes was established long back. We are just realizing the true nature of this fact because of the humungous numbers. Right now, we have more than 74 million people with diabetes and it’s more when we combine those with prediabetes.
These people have gotten their condition due to environmental triggers and their genetics combined. Imagine, these people begetting children who are going to get type 2 diabetes!
Apathy in the Family
More often than not, when we see a member in a family with diabetes, we don’t see the family rallying around to help them out. Considering that it is a familial and genetic condition, there is a strange apathy when it comes to dealing with diabetes in the family.
A separate diabetes diet plan. is only a luxury! Most members of the family do not understand the meaning of hypoglycemia due to low blood sugar levels let alone the need for dietary changes.
All the aspects of diabetes management, in most cases, are taken care of by the patient. Diet, exercise, and medications – all three of them are the headache of the patient.
Common Behaviors of People with Diabetes
Interestingly, in our research, we have come across certain typical patient personalities and behaviors. Some of these behaviors are dangerous, while others are reckless.
In the case of women, most of them are reluctant to accept their condition and are not at ease talking about their diabetes. They put their husbands and children first and push their diabetes control to the hinterlands. These women are more likely to suffer complications of diabetes.
For some men, diabetes management through self-modification occurs sporadically. These people are not aware of their disease condition. They get motivated to change their predicament when their reports go wrong and slip down when things seem okay.
Most people receive total information regarding lifestyle modifications required to manage diabetes, but they are not able to implement it due to lack of will, occupational peculiarities, and lack of cooperation from the family.
Dealing with Diabetes as a Family
The modern family is like the joke of apartments. If they are together why are they called apartments?
The center of the house has shifted from the dining table to the television to the personal computer to the laptop and finally to the smartphone. Each member has a window to bury his/her head oblivious to the chaos around.
In such a scenario, how can a family deal with diabetes of a family member?
We are fortunately or unfortunately not like the family soaps aired on the television. They are huge joint families living in palatial houses, and dressed in party wear 24/7.
We are mostly nuclear families trying hard to find time to see each other’s faces let alone take an interest in their daily activities or health. Now, faced with diabetes of a family member, we have an issue at hand that can spiral out of control. And when something happens, it comes as a rude shock to us.
Diabetes and heart disease are quite synonymous. Diabetes also causes a lot many complications like diabetic eye problems, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic kidney disease, and many more. This can cause a huge loss to the family and dent its finances. The loss of a loved one is certainly not something anyone would like.
If your family can fight diabetes together, and ensure that your family member does not have out of range high blood sugar levels, you are out of danger.
Fighting Diabetes as a Family:
- Fighting diabetes as a family helps in improving both the short term and the long term outcomes in the person with diabetes.
- Dealing with diabetes alone is physically and emotionally tiresome. If you as a family member can help your mother or your father take pills on time, encourage them to go for a walk or avoid unhealthy food, it will increase their lifespan.
- If the entire family is aware and educated regarding the dangers of low blood sugar. levels leading to hypoglycemia, it can prevent dangerous episodes leading to hospitalization.
- If the family works toward managing the diabetes of its member, there is a marked improvement in the compliance in diet, exercise, and medication. This leads to reduced risk of complications of diabetes including diabetes and heart diseases.
- Accompany them to periodical diagnostic tests and doctor visits. By knowing their blood sugar levels* and by knowing their diabetes control, you can help them better.
- Diabetes can have psychological implications. Help them around when they have mood swings. It might most probably be due to erratic blood glucose levels.
*You can now monitor the blood sugar levels of your loved ones remotely with Apollo Sugar – Glucome, the connected glucometer that streams blood sugar values to your smartphone!
Families have their moments, good and bad. We celebrate together and get into bitter arguments for no obvious reason; however, blood is thicker than water!
Diabetes might be an unwelcome inheritance, but there are many other great things that you get from your family! So, deal with it together and work cohesively for better diabetes control.
