Doctors, Doctors Everywhere — and We Need Them

By Jan Chait Now that I'm pretty much recovered from my hospital ordeal (I still have some lingering problems getting onto the scooter from my desk chair), it's time to continue filling out my doctor dance card. Most importantly, I need to reschedule my ophthalmologist appointment. I have two tiny little pinpoints of retinopathy — one in each eye — that don't need treatment and I don't want them to get any worse. If they do anyway, it's best to take care of the situation early. My dentist just retired, so I need to make an appointment with my new one, as soon as I figure out who that will be. And, thanks to my hospital admitting diagnosis of respiratory failure, I've added a pulmonologist to my long list of docs. It's bad when you have a doctor for every part of your body…including your breath. Generally speaking, we don't go to all of those doctors because of any problems. We go to prevent problems or, if problems are beginning, to keep them from progressing (or, at least, to slow the progression down). If, for example, retinopathy is taken care of early, you're a lot less likely to go blind later. What's behind all of those diabetic complications "they" scare you with? High blood glucose. That is, consistently high blood glucose, as would be seen by a high HbA1c test. (As Diabetes Burnout author and psychologist William Polonsky has said, "well-controlled diabetes is the leading cause of…nothing.") But how can extra sugar in your bloodstream cause ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs