[Diabetes-talk] question

[Mike Freeman]

Paul:

What an outrage! I realize that my words may seem injudicious to legal 
eagles but I am moved to wonder how that CDE can claim that credential 
and sleep with a clean conscience at night having treated you so 
cavalierly. Your CDE should have arranged for you to work with a 
dietitian specializing in meal planning for diabetics so that said 
dietitian and you together could work out a meal plan that you both 
could live with and that would assist in your diabetes care.

In a word, Type 2 diabetes (which I presume you have) is a disorder 
wherein your body either makes insufficient insulin or does not use well 
the insulin that *is* made in order to get glucose (a simple sugar) from 
the blood into your body's cells so that they can have energy to do 
their thing. Ultimately, it's more complex than this but that's the 
essence. The nutrition category that raises one's blood glucose the most 
in general is that of carbohydrates so that one must balance how much, 
when and what one eats with how much energy one expends (as in exercise) 
and how much, if any, medication one takes to keep one's blood glucose 
at a near-normal level or as close to is as your doctor thinks you can 
handle. You therefore need an eating plan.

If you click on http://www.eatright.org you can find a dietitian in your 
area, hopefully one who specializes in dealing with diabetic 
meal-planning. If you go to my home page, that is, 
http://www.panix.com/~k7uij. you'll find links to a number of very 
useful resources that will tell you everything you could ever want or 
need to know about diabetes and then some.

One of the links is to Gary Scheiner's site, Integrated Diabetes 
Services, that actually can consult with you on all aspects of diabetes 
care including, I suspect, meal-planning, either on-line or over the 
telephone, for a fee, of course.

Which brings me to my next question: what, if any, health insurance do 
you have? I know that mine, Regence BlueCross, has advocate nurses who 
would assist me in gaining any help I needed if I asked them. Most 
mainline health insurance providers have something of the sort.

I can't believe your CDE seems as paralyzed re blindness as you make her 
(I presume it's a her) out to be! Although medical privacy probably 
precludes me talking about your specific case with the CDE, perhaps I 
can intervene to offer the resources of NFB and the Diabetes Action 
Network to enlighten her a bit on blindness. Also (although I can't 
guarantee this), we may have a DAN member in your area who can help you 
with a bit of local advocacy.

If you write me privately at my email address,

k7uij at panix.com

with your telephone number, I'd be glad to call you and talk with you at 
length about diabetes, diabetes care, the universe and everything.

Ed Bryant is also a fount of information.

You have a right to expect the same level of diabetes care as would 
anyone else who is sighted. In fact, it's vital; diabetes is one of 
those diseases that is controllable and said control is largely in the 
hands of the patient. But not controlling diabetes can lead to some 
rather unpleasant consequences in the long run.

If you are a subscriber to the NLS talking book program, may I recommend 
Gretchen Becker's book: "The First Year; Type Two Diabetes: A Guide for 
the Newly-diagnosed". If you are a subscriber to the digital talking 
book download pilot, you can download it along with a plethora of other 
good books on diabetes including the guides of the Joslin Diabetes 
Center and the American Diabetes Association (these are available on 
cassette, too, I should imagine, but I grabbed them from the digital 
download site).

Rest assured that you're not alone; what you're going through happened 
to all of us at one point except that you're getting the "helpless blind 
person" syndrome thrown in. We'll work through this together if you wish 
and assist you to advocate for yourself and to get the good diabetes 
care and advice you need. With it, you can live a normal, healthy life 
and, under almost all circumstances, diabetes, like blindness, can be 
reduced to the level of an infernal nuisance!

We're with you.

Warmly,

Mike Freeman, President
Diabetes Action Network
National Federation of the Blind

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul & Paula Jordan" <paujor at fuse.net>
To: "'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:09 AM
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] question


As I mentioned in my intro to the group a few days ago, I've been 
diagnosed
as diabetic for almost 3 months, and have had meter issues,

Which I think are being fixed today.  My next issue has to do with 
whether
or not I should have a food plan.  I have met for 4 times with a cde, 
but
she hasn't said anything about this.

When I was first diagnosed, I began to read everything I could get my 
hands
on, and, now I feel almost like a "duck out of water."

The view seems to be that all blind people have sighted caregivers, and, 
I
don't have any idea where this comes from.  When I tell them that I 
don't
have sighted help,

They throw up their hands in astonishment, and quickly fade away not 
knowing
what to do.

Is the lack of a food plan a real concern, and if so, are there places 
to
contact for this type of help.

Thanks in advance.



Paul

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