Measuring the sweet smell of success in diabetes management.

Abstract

Patients often bemoan about having to live with the daily disturbances and challenges required of diabetes self-management. Counting carbs, taking medications with names longer than Greek Gods none of which are covered by insurance, having to monitor blood glucose levels three to six times daily and even having to incorporate healthy foods and exercise into daily living can elicit a feeling of distress in most patients with diabetes. Those individuals who are suffering from diabetes are indeed living on the edge. When asked, “what is your biggest fear regarding your chronic disease” patients will universally respond that they do not want to lose their vision or their leg from a non-traumatic amputation. They want to live long enough to see their children graduate college or their grandchildren start a family. Thus, diabetes is considered by some patients to be a fatalistic disease which will result in devastating complications which are beyond their self-control.