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The Impact of Diabetes

Diabetes impacts diabetics and their families in several ways:

Physically
Financially
Emotionally
Family
Work
Day-to-Day Life

Hopefully, one of these areas of impacts will motivate you to begin making the necessary changes to stop the disease from destroying your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Impact of Diabetes: Physically

Unfortunately, some diabetics believe that they will not face blindness, amputation, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke, gum disease, high blood pressure, or some of the other complications of having diabetes. This is called denial.

After several years of being diabetic, most diabetics become comfortable living with diabetes. And, because there is no discomfort, diabetics fall into a false sense of security that everything is okay. But everything is not okay!

Unfortunately, most diabetics discover that everything is not okay after their doctor tells them that they have to go on insulin, or that their kidneys are failing or that their eyesight is failing, or some other health issue is occurring.

Foot Ulcer: Beat & Reverse Your Diabetes Today!

Foot Ulcer: Beat & Reverse Your Diabetes Today!

Kidney Dialysis (Due to Kidney Failure): Beat Diabetes

Blindness: Beat & Reverse Your Diabetes Today!

Gum Disease: Reverse & Cure Your Diabetes

Heart Attack: Beat, Reverse & Cure Your Diabetes!

Warning! These videos may be upsetting to watch. Do not watch if you are upset easily by rotting flesh.

Diabetic Complications
Diabetes and the drugs don't kill you (directly) -- they rot out your body from the inside out one organ at a time.

Diabetes gradually deteriorates the body over a period of years as the glucose clogs and damages the small capillaries that feed the kidneys, eyes, feet, and heart. As a result, at least 4 out of every 5 diabetics develop one or more of the following long term diseases and complications:

Kidney disease (Nephropathy)
Eye disease (Retinopathy)
Nerve disease (Neuropathy)
Cardiovascular disease (CVD)

Other Complications
They include excessive weight gain, high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, depression, gum disease, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high inflammation, fatigue, and Alzheimer's.

Impact of Diabetes: Financially

Unfortunately, most diabetics don't realize that diabetes will have a major impact on their finances, especially if they have good healthcare coverage.

But, as the author discovered, even if you have great healthcare coverage, it doesn't cover the extra test strips, the extra medical tests, the extra drugs, some aspects of intensive care, post-op care, hospice care, etc.

Over a period of 25 years, diabetes will cost the average diabetic $175,000 to $250,000. Although 50%-67% of the costs may be covered by healthcare insurance, diabetes is a very expensive disease to have. And, with each passing year, health insurance companies are covering less while charging more for their services and drugs. But, the cost is even more if there are major complications (such as amputation) that leads to post-op care or hospice care.

For some people $175,000 may not seem like a lot of money spread out over 20-25 years. But, imagine if you could have avoided those costs and saved that money for your family, your wife, your husband, your partner, your loved ones, your children ...

Unless you are a millionaire, you will feel the impact of the rising costs associated with diabetes, including the drugs, glucose monitors, glucose test strips, glucose lancets, doctor visits, hospital stays, surgeries, and rehab.

Just as there are lifestyle steps that diabetics can take to manage their diabetes, there are steps that diabetics can take to prepare for the impact of diabetes on their financial security.

It is important to understand that complications from diabetes may hinder your ability to earn a living, jeopardizing your present and future financial security. As wage-earners for your family, you should be thinking about the financial measures you need to have in place to protect your financial lifestyle.

Financial preparedness in case a disability happens is a critical responsibility for all wage-earners, particularly as disabilities among the work force continues to grow. A good starting point in the planning process is to estimate the monthly living expenses that would continue during an income limiting disability and determine your potential sources of income. From there you can develop your own plan for protecting your financial lifestyle.

Keep in mind that as a diabetic, you may miss days of work or be forced to find a lower-paying but less stressful or less labor-intensive job, creating further financial distress. Planning a smaller budget that eliminates extra spending may help reduce the impact of diabetes on the family finances.

In addition, please keep in mind that most of us are just one major hospital bill away from financial duress. Also keep in mind that Medical debt is the Number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. Medical debt is also the primary cause of becoming homeless.

So, if you want to protect yourself and your family, then, you need to stop procrastinating and rationalizing and motivate yourself to get control of this disease before it destroys you and your family.

Impact of Diabetes: Emotionally

Having diabetes takes a major toll on you emotionally. Low blood sugar and unstable blood sugars can cause you to be irrational, angry, anxious, restless, impatient, etc.

This range of emotions also affects your partner and family. There is more stress and unhappiness in the family; and, a lot of denial and neglect.

Neglect is like an infection -- left unchecked it will spread throughout your entire being and your family. When you neglect your health, this may cause you to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of your self-confidence. As your self-confidence diminishes, so does your activity level (of trying to get healthy). And as your activity level diminishes, your results inevitably decline. And as your results suffer, your attitude begins to weaken. And as your attitude begins the gradual shift from positive to negative, your self-confidence diminishes even more . . . and this downward spiral continues as your health suffers.

And, as you suffer, so do the people around you. You may not see it. They may not tell you, but it's there.

Please make sure you get the emotional help that you so need and deserve. It's absolutely a necessity. You may have to live with diabetes, but make sure you have it under control, and that it does not control you.

Psychological Effects of Diabetes

Being diabetic not only changes someone's lifestyle, it also brings about a myriad of feelings and emotions that can be difficult to express or deal with. The key is understanding that these feelings are normal and they generally get better as a diabetic becomes more aware of how to deal with the disease and its effects.

Denial

One major psychological effect of diabetes is experiencing denial. Denial generally forms when the patient is first diagnosed. At first, someone may be overwhelmed with how the disease will affect their life. They are told by their doctor that they may have to take insulin shots, pills and poke their finger several times a day to test blood glucose levels. This can be overwhelming for anyone -- just ask the author of "Death to Diabetes".

They may also be told that they need to completely change their diet and eat healthier. A physician may also say that other health complications could arise such as heart disease, stroke, blindness and amputation as a result from diabetes. They could be in denial about both short term care such as injections and long term aspects such as disease complications. They could temporarily give up in caring for their diabetes and go into denial about having the illness. This can cause serious effects on the body.

(Luckily, the author had his mother and daughter taking care of him).

Fear

A diagnosis of diabetes can induce fear in the diabetic leading to poor food and lifestyle choices, or just giving up because you believe there is no hope.

Having a diabetic in the family can also induce fear in the family members who worry the diabetic may die or become disabled. They may be concerned about the individual having a heart attack, going blind or needing dialysis, if they have witnessed these complications of diabetes in others. Blood relatives may be concerned that they will also develop the illness. Family members may also worry that significant changes may alter their home life due to the diabetes. To alleviate fears, frank conversations should be held about the diabetic's health -- the whole truth is usually less scary than facing the unknown.

Depression

Depression is a common psychological effect of diabetes. primarily due to the low levels of serotonin This means that the diabetic is sad, confused and may feel helpless about their disease diagnosis. Depression can be a very serious effect and may lead to professional counseling and assistance to help deal with the effects of the disease. Medical help should be sought immediately as depression should not be ignored. Prolonged depression can lead to weakened immunity and lack of physical activity---two main factors that could further affect diabetes.

Anger

Anger is common in many newly diagnosed diabetics -- due to the fear of the unknown. They may hold resentment against others who freely eat sweets and junk food. They may find it unfair that they are stuck having to make such drastic lifestyle choices when others lead the same lifestyle as them and are perfectly healthy. Anger may manifest against others who do not have to follow the same lifestyle changes and habits as they do.

Embarrassment

Some people who are affected by diabetes may experience periods of embarrassment. This a common psychological effect of the disease. The reason for this may be they have to carry around insulin, blood monitoring equipment, syringes or wear an insulin pump. They may feel uncomfortable taking their blood sugar at a restaurant or at school. All of these factors can lead to embarrassment and shame.

Social Effects

Trying to follow a diabetic diet can be trying in social situations. Family or friends may appear offended by the person who will not eat a piece of homemade pie or other dessert. It can be difficult to avoid overindulging in the presence of people who eat large quantities of food. This can be especially troublesome for children and teens. People with diabetes may have to refrain from some group activities due to the need to monitor or maintain their blood sugar, leading to stigmatization or group isolation.

Acceptance

Acceptance is often the last phase of psychological distress that is associated with diabetes. The diabetic will eventually come to terms with their disease. They will realize that they have to make healthy lifestyle changes in order to lead a full and productive life. Knowing that they can change the way they eat and take care of themselves will help them live longer and be less likely to encounter diabetes-related health problems.

Family Impact Due to Diabetes

Family Dynamics

Family dynamics may change due to jealousy over one family member dominating the attention of the others. The person with diabetes may have special foods prepared for her or be allowed to avoid family chores, causing animosity. A parent with diabetes may require help from her children, upsetting the established family roles.

At times, the entire family's schedule may be changed by a diabetic's inability to attend or participate in a traditional family function. If the person diagnosed with diabetes type 2 refuses to care for herself properly, major power struggles may ensue as family members attempt to force her to stop overeating, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol or engaging in other unhealthy activities.

Emotional Stress

When a family member is diagnosed with diabetes, emotional stress impacts the whole family. Spouses may feel stressed as they assist with new meal planning and medication management. Children might feel anxious about changes in family routines including additional doctor visits, daily blood glucose monitoring and expanded exercise routines.

Families might find themselves faced with hospital stays, medication adjustments or more lifestyle changes in order to cope with health complications from diabetes.

Simple things such as going out, a picnic, a wedding, a vacation now become a little more complicated, leading to anger and resentment, and even more stress.

Communication Stress

Families dealing with diabetes can suffer from communication challenges. Parents whose adult children have diabetes may feel compelled to provide regular reminders about eating, exercise and medications, causing the diabetic sufferer to feel scolded or nagged. Communication sometimes disintegrates as family members struggle to find new ways to communicate about the ongoing issue of living with diabetes.

Mealtime Changes

The family member who prepares the meals may make significant changes to help the diabetic. Fried foods, greasy side dishes and sugary desserts may be replaced with baked foods, raw vegetables and fresh fruit, possibly causing dissent or confusion within the family. Servings may be smaller and snacks discouraged.

These changes may feel forced upon the family members who are not ill. However, most components of a diabetic diet are healthy for everyone, making the new meals plans a beneficial change for every family member. Open communication about how each person feels about mealtime changes can help everyone adjust.

In addition, where and how often you eat out will change, affecting those family members who love fast food places and eating out in general.

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Impact of the Diabetes Drugs

Diabetes Drug Causes Heart Attacks!

Heart Attack Drug May Cause Diabetes!

Most people are aware that the diabetes drug Avandia is linked with tens of thousands of heart attacks, and the drug company GlaxoSmithKline knew of the risks for years but worked to keep them from the public, according to a Senate committee report.

What is ironic is that the beloved and popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs — pretty much a guaranteed prescription if you have a heart attack — are increasingly being identified as a possible risk factor for diabetes (which is what happened to the author who took Lipitor for years). Not only that, if you already have diabetes, you’re almost certain to end up on a statin, as well as being at higher risk for a heart attack!

So now we have the possible scenario: patient has a heart attack. Heart attack leads to a statin drug. Statin drug leads to diabetes. Diabetes leads to diabetic drug. Diabetic drug leads to heart attack. Heart attack leads to … well, you get the picture.

So, what’s a diabetic to do? There is hope. You can break the cycle. You can step away from this absurd pharmaceutical-laden lifestyle. Proper diet and exercise does work. It requires discipline, to be sure. But if the alternative is a lifetime of medications that may turn out to be at odds with each other, which would you prefer?

Refer to this web page for more information about the side effects of these drugs.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC IMPACT of Diabetes

The global diabetes epidemic has devastating personal and social effects, far greater than most people imagine. Surprisingly, the highest costs of diabetes are not the hundreds of billions spent on complications that could have been prevented, although these expenditures are large, but the suffering imposed on families (death, disability and economic stress) and the resulting large annual losses in economic growth that harm everyone.

Diabetes harms all people in society, not just those who live with diabetes. From an economic point of view, these effects are tragic because proven, low-cost treatments are available to prevent most of them. Even in the poorest countries, many of these treatments would actually save medical care expenditures.

In the poorest countries, people living with diabetes and their families bear almost the entire cost of whatever medical care they can afford. In India, for example, the poorest people with diabetes spend an average of 25% of their income on private care. The most that they can pay for are treatments that keep them alive by blunting the highest, quickly fatal levels of blood sugar.

Where average incomes are higher, as in Latin America and the Caribbean, families still pay 40-60% of diabetes care costs out of their own pockets, which strictly limits the amount of care that they can get. Blood sugar regulating drugs alone are reported to account for about half of all spending. Little or no money is available to pay for the aspirin, ACE-inhibitors, statins, and other cheap generic drugs that could prevent renal failure, heart attacks, strokes, and amputations.

The devastating effects of diabetes on families translate into significant losses for every individual in society. The mechanisms are many: loss of investments in trained labor; increased taxation (in all its forms) for medical care and support of the disabled; the economic failure of family units and small businesses; withdrawals of children from education (especially girls) to care for ailing relatives; AIDS, tuberculosis, crime and other adverse consequences of destitution; and the general loss of the hope and self-reliance that ultimately drive all economic growth.

Considering mainly the effects of premature mortality, WHO estimates that (between 2005 and 2014) diabetes, heart disease and stroke combined will cost: $555.7 billion in lost national income in China, $303.2 billion in the Russian Federation; $336.6 billion in India; $49.2 billion in Brazil $2.5 billion even in a very poor country like Tanzania.

Much of the heart disease and stroke in these estimates is linked to diabetes. If nothing is done, diabetes threatens to subvert the gains of economic advancement globally. Accounting for disability, the opportunity costs of care-giving and other factors might triple these WHO figures.

Government budgets worldwide will face the immense strain of diabetes care on disability payments, pensions, social and medical service costs, and revenue. Furthermore, private health insurers and employers will face the spiralling costs of treating more and more people with diabetes.

Because diabetes is increasing faster in the world’s developing economies than in its developed ones, it is the developing world that will bear the brunt of lost economic growth. The economic opportunities that the United Nations wants to create for developing countries with its Millennium Development Goals will be greatly undermined by diabetes if treatments to prevent its complications are not used.

Are You Ready to Live the Better Life?

So, are you ready to live the life you were meant to live?

What is it going to take to get you motivated to change your life? The physical problems? Finances? The emotional issues? The family issues?

If you accept these as challenges instead of as problems, you'll be well on your way.