"Which is Better: Diabetes or AIDS??"

This morning I was back in - you guessed it - the Diabetes Ward. I've been building great rapport with the staff who works there, including Carl (the nutritionist). Today was much like the other days in that ward. I gave another health talk on living with diabetes and maintaining a healthy dietary lifestyle. The talk was received quite well. After the health talk, I sat and chatted with Carl and Nancy, the head of the department. Nancy was telling me a story of how she was working with a patient the other day who came to her with a very odd question: the woman was describing how her neighbor is living with HIV/AIDS, yet seems on the outside to be perfectly healthy and happy. The women was saying that she herself is diabetic and feels terrible all the time even though she is taking her drugs. She doesn't understand why both herself and the HIV/AIDS neighbor are taking their drugs like they are supposed to, yet the HIV/AIDS woman seems so much better off then the women living with diabetes. Her question was this: "which is better: diabetes or AIDS??". Nancy chuckled a bit at this question, but also explained that the biggest problem that she has with patients in this ward is they have a hard time comprehending that diabetes (especially Type 1) is a life-long disease that they cannot just reverse by taking their medicine and insulin shots each day. These patients need to really learn that it is their diet that is the major factor in determining their health status and that the drugs just make it easier for them to live a normal life. I've also noticed this problem first hand. When I was giving my health talk they kept asking things like, "is it contagious?", "can I ever get it rid of diabetes?", and "if we are taking drugs then why are we still sick?". The women who asked Nancy about diabetes vs. AIDS had not been following a specific, healthy dietary plan and was only relying on her insulin shots and medication to make herself feel better. This is just one of the struggles with nutrition that Carl educates his patients on day after day, because they are in such need of nutritional knowledge. 

It's days like today that make me feel like I really am doing something worthwhile here. Though the information I am sharing with them seems basic, it is information that they do not often hear and are so desperately in need of understanding it. All of the diabetic people I have met are terrified of getting sicker and suffering from diabetes related complications. Though they might seem ignorant of their disease at times, they are still eager to learn and to change their behavior to help better their illness. I've realized that with these people, it's not a lack of desire to change their habits, it's a lack of knowledge of how and why to do it. For this, I cannot blame them. The only times they are provided with such basic health care information is once they are already sick and suffering. If I have even helped one person, diabetic or not, grasp a more clear understanding of why nutrition is so vital to one's health and happiness, then I can say that this trip has been completely worth it :)

Until next time! 
Fie (Good Evening), 

~ Sarah