Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Not the right message

I'm sure this article was intended to be good-natured and to bring awareness to a condition that is a big issue in our society. However, I don't think the author or the editors went about it in quite the right way. In fact, the more I read it, the angrier I get that this is the kind of information people are getting about Type 2 diabetes.

OK, Santa getting diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes is an interesting, if not creative, way to help personalize the disease for youngsters. But saying it's "too risky" to take insulin injections when his reindeer tote the sleigh across the sky is like telling people taking insulin is bad and that the people who do it are putting their lives at risk.

Furthermore, "becoming dependent on drugs and insulin injections" might actually send the right message to children: be knowledgeable about diabetes, know your body, and do what you have to do to take care of yourself--even if that means "popping pills" or taking insulin injections.

And then there's the editor who is part of this web site's team of nutritionists gathered to help Santa with his diabetes. This guy calls himself a former prediabetic and wrote a book on how to halt diabetes in 25 days that teaches people how to overcome Type 2 diabetes in as little as three weeks. The article also quotes a doctor/author who claims that Type 2 diabetes is reversible.

The article, which was published Dec. 4, ends by saying Santa is optimistic about making positive progress, and he hopes to restore normal blood sugar balance and be free of type-2 diabetes in time for Christmas.

Excuse me, but what a crock of sh*t!

This article started out well and fine but ended up going very, very wrong. This is exactly the kind of message we don't need to send to people. Once you have diabetes, you have it. It's not reversible, it doesn't ever go away, there is no cure. You can, however, control it. And yes, it may seem that Type 2 diabetes is gone if you're in control, but it's not.

Come on people! We need to be more responsible with the information that we provide to the public. This is not productive. To me, this article says, it's OK to get Type 2 diabetes because it's reversible and you can get rid of it in less than a month. This is just plain irresponsible.

2 Comments:

At 11:03 AM, Blogger Kerri. said...

I agree - this article was crap. When I found it, I reacted similarly to how you did. Strange read. They are trying to create awareness but are propogating a stereotype.

A crock of sh*t, indeed.

 
At 3:16 PM, Blogger Scott S said...

I agree, while the author may have started with good intentions, and may even have have seen his article as humorous, there is no humor in diabetes, and misinformation or incomplete information is definitely irresponsible and unproductive.

 

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