The NY Times’ WELL blog published an article today on diabetes. It’s prevalent in my family tree, and one of the most underrated, unknown, and under-appreciated diseases. My father’s been diabetic for years, and watching him learn to change his lifestyle and adjust to living with a disease that is literally eating him alive as been trying, frightening, and down-right impressive. I’m very happy to report he’s happy, healthy, underweight, not smoking or drinking, and therefore surviving.Â
Diabetes is treatable with the proper medication, but you cannot beat it nor can you erase the effects it has on your body.
Diabetes is anything but minor. It wreaks havoc on the entire body, affecting everything from hearing and vision to sexual function, mental health and sleep. It is the leading cause of blindness, amputations and kidney failure, and it can triple the risk for heart attack and stroke.
“It is a disease that does have the ability to eat you alive,� said Dr. John B. Buse, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine who is the diabetes association’s president for medicine and science. “It can be just awful — it’s almost unimaginable how bad it can be.�
More at well.blogs.nytimes.com.
No comments
Jump to comment form | Comments RSS | Trackback URI