Some years ago, when my patient, Mrs. Price, heard me say that her blood sugar measurement had come back from the lab at 204, a single tear ran down her cheek as she said, “My eldest granddaughter is getting married next year.” A blood sugar measurement over 200 is one way to confirm a diagnosis of diabetes. Both of Mrs. Price’s parents had died in their 60’s from complications of uncontrolled diabetes, or chronically elevated high blood sugars. This is what I told her. Continue reading
Category Archives: Diabetes
Learning to Keep Your Blood Sugars Normal
As a doctor, it’s easy enough for me to think I understand a disease state, and then to know how to manage it with medication to be taken two or three times daily. I spent hours and hours studying that problem. I talked with patients who were diagnosed with that illness, and learned how it changed their lives. But it’s still not the same as having someone close to you diagnosed with it. Continue reading
Defining Diabetes
Diabetes is a complex disease whose hallmark is elevated blood sugars. Persistently uncontrolled diabetes causes devastating and costly complications. My former patients knew that I would pay any price, whether it involved medication or not, to keep their blood sugars in the normal range. No matter what it costs to keep blood sugars normal, let’s be honest: It costs a lot more not to. We continue to see skyrocketing costs of medical care for patients with diabetes and associated complications. But prevention is not just the most economical approach; it’s also the most humane one. Continue reading