DIABETES - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!!

Hi everybody

Hope you all are having a sweet life..!

Today I am going to talk about some simple points which every Diabetic and care givers need to know.

Doctor selection

Diabetes as you all know is one topic which is widely spoken, discussed, researched and everyone tends to have their own views on Do’s and Dont’s. This happens among Physicians and Diabetologists as well. One doctor says “You can” and the other doctor says “It is bad”. So how to decide what to do??

Well the answer to this dilemma remains in you choosing your Doctor.

The normal pattern of Doctor Selection in India depends on where the Uncle, Aunty or Neighbour is consulting. If they say Dr.X is good then we start believing that and go ahead blindly with what he/she says. Worse scenario is when you go to pharmacy and ask the pharmacist who is the nearest good Doctor. Pharmacist doesn’t exactly know what you are having. End result is that  we see is that there are so many patients whose diabetes is managed by surgeons or gynaecologists. We do face this situation where the patient ends up with the Diabetologist only when the treating doctor says “You Need INSULIN”. By this time you have already wasted much valuable time experimenting on different types of medicines and your pancreas is too tired to take up any more experimentation/trial of tablets.

My suggestion would be - 

      1.Select a Doctor whose is ready to spend time during your first visit.

2.      See if he is asking you regarding details of your diet, exercise, regularity of medication & Timing of medication. 

      These are the points which help a Diabetologist select the best regimen for you.

      3.      Every Doctor needs time to bring your sugars down. Always assess 

      your progress by how you are feeling after starting the new medicines. Always report any kind of discomfort to your new Doctor.

      4.      Of Course .... Needless to say that you should never lie or hide some details from your doctor. The most common explanation given are “Oh ! That was done a long time back... Is it important” or “ I dint feel good with the earlier medicine, SO we will forget all old things and start treatment fresh” or “ We lost it all when we shifted from the old house, let’s start fresh”...... The fact remains that you Doctor knows best what is important and what is not so let him decide. Please don’t take decisions on your Doctor’s behalf. Secondly you and I can forget everything and start fresh but your body DOESNT follow the policy of FORGET & FORGIVE! It remembers all the trials, insults and experimentations done on it so instead of getting better you may feel WORSE.. Finally your old health records are not just papers... They hold so much of valuable information on what your body has gone through. They help the Doctor understand your body better and avoid unwanted drugs or drugs which may have some adverse effects on you..

      5.       Take all your old reports and prescriptions with you during your first visit. Make sure the Doctor goes through these during your first visit before prescribing medicine. If the Doctor is least interested to go through your old reports then you need to Think twice..

6.      Never ask us “Doctor , Can ayurveda or Siddha Cure Diabetes? Can I try?” It is not that we don’t like traditional medicine, the fact is we don’t know how it works. It is a undeniable fact that we do see lots of screw ups and lots of major organ damages so to be frank we would not like to comment on it.

Before you log out of my blog I must tell you that this post is not intended to criticise my colleagues or to form a generalised opinion. This is a result of experiences I have personally faced over the past 5 years as Diabetologist and 10years as a Doctor (There are worse ones which I feel should not be publicised in a public forum). Secondly I intend to cover some topics like timing of medicines- why follow them, Adverse effects of common medicines used in Diabetes etc. So please feel free to come back.. Finally before i say Bye I would be happy to see your comments and/or Constructive criticism..

Stay healthy...

See you Soon..

Dr.Riyaz Sheriff

                                                                                                                    (To be Continued..................)