Diabetes and Denial

First off, denial is perfectly normal. Some doctors fail to understand this concept, though.

Last year I went for a routine appointment with my doctor. She has dropped a bomb, you were actually diagnosed with diabetes back in 2006 (8 years prior).

I was immediately in denial. No one has ever told me; no, this can’t be true. Are you saying that I was diagnosed eight years ago? God knows, being unaware, I didn’t watch my diet. I ate all sorts of sweets, candy, pies, cakes, pop, ice cream, you name it. How come that my blood sugar levels didn’t shot through the roof? This doesn’t make sense. No, this can’t be true. There must have been a mistake.

The doctor became disappointed. Her philosophy was, I am telling you that you have diabetes; you must believe me, and there’s no other way. She must have been thinking that I’m the most ignorant patient of hers, not to mention the whole world. She turned the computer screen toward me, zoomed the image and read ‘blood glucose’ out loud while pointing at it. She did raise her voice in the process. She was loud and overbearing. I felt like being ran over by a freight train, and just wanted out of that room.

Gosh, I know about blood glucose and diabetes. My mom died from complications of diabetes. I do know about it, and I’m not illiterate. I was just trying to deny the mere fact that diabetes is now a part of my life.

Denial is normal. When being diagnosed, people tend to go through the stages one of which is denial.

I think that some old school doctors should be required to attend diabetic education classes, if only to learn about the stages that their patients go through. Can I sign up my doc for one of these?

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