Ignore diabetes at your peril

ALTHOUGH nearly one in ten of the adult population in the UK has type 2 diabetes, it seems we still don’t take it seriously.

Research published this week revealed that 37 per cent of patients diagnosed with the disease don’t take their medication. I think the biggest hurdle is overcoming the fact that because diabetes doesn’t have worrying symptoms when it’s diagnosed — most of the time it’s picked up on a routine blood test — we tell ourselves that it’s nothing to worry about.

But the reality is that diabetes is incredibly serious. It has profound implications for someone’s long-term health — and even more so if patients don’t take their medication.

The prognosis for those with type 2 diabetes is actually much worse than for those with HIV. Yet while conditions such as HIV strike fear into the heart, a diabetes diagnosis is often met with little more than a shrug.

However, people with diabetes die 12 years sooner than those who don’t have the disease.

Regardless of how well it is controlled, type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease which results in the need to increase pharmacological therapies over time. An Australian study has shown that after just six years, 44 per cent of patients no longer responded to oral medication and required insulin injections.

The public needs to be educated about the reality of diabetes. It’s a fine line to walk between challenging the complacency that has sprung up around the disease and not scaring people unduly.

But the truth is simple: you must take your medication.