Why Is Diabetes So Hard To Diagnose and Treat?

Well I guess because diabetes is not easily detected at an early stage because they don't show any symptoms at all. Only then when the side effects do come out that they are diagnosed to be one. But anyone right now may have their sugar levels at above normal levels.

I think it is hard for the doctors to diagnose diabetes because I think they confuse it with many other diseases or sicknesses and they may not understand what you are dealing with. It could be a possibility of that.

it is not hard to diagnose at all, blood tests tell right away if a person is diabetic, I am, it is hard to treat only if you don't take your meds if you need them and you don't eat right.

I have had diabetes for 13 years now and I've learned to live with it. I'm determined to stay off the medicine for as long as possible so that I have more treatment options when the time comes that I really need it. I control mine by eating small meals throughout the day and recently I've been working harder on losing weight. As for the wounds, I found out I had diabetes just after having a tumor removed from my ovaries...it took me 6 months to heal instead of 6 weeks and the incision had to keep being reopened b/c it wouldn't heal well. Scratches, bites, sores, cuts, burns all take 2-3 times longer to heal on me then most ppl. My doctor has tried to put me on medicine for it but I keep telling her not yet. As long as I can control it I will. My stepdad has had it for several years and just started on medication about 2 years ago. He went from one pill a day to something like 2-3 shots a day and pills. At some point there won't be anymore they can give him and that'll be the end of treatment. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]

Well, for one thing, you can't treat diabetes, it's not something you'll heal after you get it. It's a lifetime condition that's why our medicines are called 'maintenance' and not 'medicines' anymore. Yes, there are some who stop taking meds after feeling better, but the body still needs it. As for why it's difficult to diagnose, well simply because these conditions are silent killers, you often feel that there's really nothing wrong with you (together with our denial that we're sick). And we only think about it when there's already great manifestations of the illness (which is often too late). As for your concern about your wounds, the doctor was actually trying to help you more than you understood him/her to be doing. If he concentrated on healing the wound, instead of taking care of your sugar levels, it's actually like covering up the wounds instead of stitching it so that the blood flow stops. Meaning, sooner or later when you get other wounds in other areas, it's still the same because your body can't help heal your wounds faster because of your blood sugar levels. I for one am diabetic and perhaps I'm luckier than most because I am with a family of doctors and specialists and my doctors are our family's friends that's why they'd explain to me further. But I think you need to really go to the specialists to be taken cared for. There are diabetologists around who could best give you more info about your health. By the way, I'm curious about the health care in your area. All physical exams (annually done as required by companies) here in my country do have FBS (Fasting Blood Sugar) tests that detect if the person is diabetic or not, so it's no longer the doctor's option to get you the test or not. I guess we need to take control of our own health. Ask a lot of questions and read about our conditions to help us understand our doctors very well. You see, having many doctor friends gives me quite an idea about how doctors' minds work. They go through a lot of readings to become doctors, and they become good at it, but their worst attribute is the fact that they can't really express themselves in lay-man's terms. You'd be lucky to find a doctor who could keep things clearer. Good luck!

Since diabetes has to do with sugars of one form or another, I think the reason it's so hard to treat it is because...sugar is in everything. When I buy fruit drinks for the children, I tried to buy "Juicy Juice" because it has no added sugars. As to it being hard to diagnose I've never heard of that but then again, those that have it that I know of have it in their family so they know already to look for it. *Pleiades

that is good you know how to take care of yourself.personally,i think one should not put too much trust on doctors and para medicals.one should gather the maximum possible information from other sources.

I think diabetic mellitus is one of the chronic disease that is occurring in 60% of the people. One of the reason for diabetes mellitus is obesity and lack of exercise. I have been having diabetes mellitus for the past 4 years. I got it after having an urinary infection. I had been working in night shift around 4 years continually in the night shift. I did not had a correct exercise routine and diet. I think there are lots of bad things of diabetes. Most times my joints hurt and I will be having leg pain. Also, it takes time to heal the wounds. I also is not able to take sugar and sweet foods.

I suppose it is one of the benefits of living in the U.K. that diabetic treatment is free for everyone. I work in a hospital lab, and have noticed changes in treatment and also the type of test done, not just for glucose, but also HbA1 which gives an indication of how your glucose levels have been over several months, also for urine albumin which gives an indication of future kidney problems. Diabetics in U.K. are also provided with test kits so that they can monitor their blood glucose. It is important that if anyone has symptoms of diabetes then they should get their doctor to give them a test (its really quite a simple one), in fact no reason why a urine test not given every time someone visits the doctor. Doctors are now becoming specialised, and GP's seem to know less and less about everyday illnesses that they don't find any disease that they are not specialised in.

Would you please tell me what the symptoms are????? My father had it but I never paid attention (I was young and never really thought about it) and he passed away years ago and I never gave diabetes much thought. For the past 2 years, I have been having major problems urinating. I don't sleep at night because I get up constantly. It's actually gotten much worse which is why I finally went to the doctor (I was in Canada during the time it all started so I couldn't go to a Dr. since I don't have insurance over there). I get up at least 6 times a night with 15 times being the most (that's only happened a few times). During the day I use the bathroom between 10-18 times a day. I wake up with a very sore throat and feel dehydrated and sick. Just recently, I noticed that cuts on my lets are not healing very fast. My skin has been so dry that I scratch like crazy at night and my legs show it. The cuts take at least 3-4 months to heal...and now my face is getting little scars because little cuts or zits don't heal fast enough. I went to a Dr. and the did a urine test and he said it came out clear (I guess that means they didn't find anything wrong). He asked me to keep track of how many times I pee for the next 2 weeks. I also had to have a renal and bladder ultrasound done. I haven't gotten the results to that...and I was supposed to go in to get some blood tests done but I have to fast and I get sick if I don't eat so I haven't been in to do that...kinda scared because I get very faint and my throat feels like it closes (it really doesn't but that's what it feels like). And I really don't know if I want to know what's wrong...

Hi friend,I agree that it is hard to diagnose diabetes in the initial stages,but if it is hereditary we can easily find out if we are well aware of the symptoms.We feel very thirsty and frequent urination during nights and mouth getting dried and the wounds not healing very soon are the various symptoms.But if we are well aware of the symptoms we can find out and get us tested immediately.Next is when diabetes is confirmed we should follow a regular diet and take morning or evening walks regularly which would defenitly control diabetes.Dieting is very important.Apart from this even then if we are not able to control then injecting insulin is the only way.thanks for sharing.happy mylotting.

Some of the reason are denial and anger. They might have confidence on their doctor and other health professionals but they still want to leave their life prior to their illness.

I have been a fairly healthy person all my life, Except for my blood platelets, they have always been on the low side and when they drop to low they would put me on medication for it, the medication was pretisone. (spelling not right) With it i had mood changes, gained a whole lot of weight, and it finally destroyed my right kidney, and started to destroy my liver. Last year i started to have chest pains so i went to the emergency room. It was not my heart. My platelets had dropped to 19 (which could have killed me) My potassium level was almost nothing. (which could have killed me) and my sugar was over 800...(which was not good). They admitted me and started me on Potassium,and Aspirin(which i can not take Because it lowers platelets even lower). Metafoin (spelling not right) and insulin for my sugar. They also put me on a cholesterol medication, and Blood pressure medicine.and they had me on the pretisone. and i do not know what else. They did ex rays, a cat scan, and the tread mill test for my heart. Plus a bunch of other stuff.after about 2 days when i got my scenes back and i was well enough to start questing what they were doing I refused to take the aspirin and the pretisone. Then i started Questioning about the Blood pressure and cholesterol med"s and other heart medication they had me on and why. All heart tests were fine, My cholesterol test came back fine. and my Blood pressure was only slightly elevated (probabley because i was upset about everything). so now i refused all the heart meds. Now i was only on the sugar meds and the potassium. after 5 days they sent me home with prescriptions for the metiforin, and the insulin. after being home for about 2 or 3 days i had a reaction to the metiforin, and it almost killed me, so i through all of it along with the insulin in the garbage, To make a long story shorter. I do not trust medical doctors anymore. I started looking around on the internet, and reading any book i could get my hands on about health and nutrition. I changed my diet..stopped drinking Pepsi, stopped eating fast food, and processed food. Cut out everything that has high fructose corn syrup in it. I only buy organic food now, and i supplement with Magnesium and potassium, coq10, and some herbs for my Diabetes, And i have added a product called salba to my diet. I drink about 10 glasses of filtered water every day, and i try to walk for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. Also i try to get about 15 minutes in the sun for my vitamin D every day if it is too cold or not sunny i take a Vitamin D3 supplement. I got rid of all the poision that i was using to clean with, and now i only use natural products. I got rid of my microwave oven. I'm 53 years old, and i feel better than i did when i was younger. My sugar this morning was 108, The last time i had my platelets checked they were in a good range. My BP is good and so is everything else. If i would have trusted my doctors i probably would be on about 10 different prescription medications and feeling terrible all the time. It is time people start questioning what they are putting into our food, so we can get the proper nutrition with out taking any prescriptions. All Medical doctors want to do is put everyone on Prescriptions instead of getting to the cause of the problems.

I suppose after we cross a certain age, it is imperative to get regular blood tests done to rule out any problems in our body. Having said that, I also know that nowadays even children get diabetes are a rather young age. Since some of the symptoms of type 2 diabetes may go unnoticed for years, it is likely that people don't really sit up and take it seriously. Also, when people manifet any of the symptoms like blurred vision or thirst, they assume it is nothing serious. they drink a glass of water or visit the opticians, and forget about. In the UK, there is a strain on health resources, so doctors themselves might not suggest a blood test for diabetes unless you complain about serious symptoms, or if you have crossed a certain age - I think it is 45. So, it is up to us to be aware, especially in this day and age, when we are prone to ingesting so many simple carbohydrates and sugary foods, and the levels of obesity is rising so steadily.