Paul - Interview 20- Diabetes Type 2

Age at interview: 52

Age at diagnosis: 38

Brief Outline:

Paul was diagnosed 14 years ago when he was in hospital for a minor op. He takes metformin and uses other medication to control blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Background:

Paul is an aircraft engineer and is married with 4 grown-up children aged 34, 32, 27 and 25 years. Ethnic background/Nationality - British.

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Paul uses the internet to get advice from other people with diabetes. He does not think that health professionals understand much about the condition unless they are diabetics themselves.

 What about information. Where do you get your information about diabetes from? Because it is quite useful to have?

 

Internet. If you look probably in your local paper, you'll be a diabetic meeting. It is worth going along, to one of them. Or whatever, going along to many. Because there are loads of people there with diabetes at different levels and it's nice to have a chat to people who are at different levels, and how much it's affected their lives and what they do to control it. And how they have sort of sorted out and that's the best ways you will get it. 

 

Doctors can't tell you too much, because the doctors haven't got too much experience of it, unless they are a diabetic themselves. You go to diabetic nurses, they are trained, but they are only trained to a certain level. They can't, if you haven't got experience in that sort of case or whatever it is, then you won't get any sort of information on it. You've got to go and talk to a person who has got it. And you'll find if you, if you do go to a diabetic meeting it will open your eyes a lot. How it's affected people's lives. And how they have controlled it and how they advise you on things you can do, and what you can't do. And it, it is a good thing. The internet will give you a lot, but again I find, you're better off talking to somebody rather than reading it. 

 

You can buy all the books you like, but the books can't give you experience. Only a person telling you can give you the experience. How they've done it, and how they've got around it. So it's worth going to a diabetic. And they are all over the country. They're all in local papers, what dates they are, and where they are. Just give them a call and go along. There's loads of diabetic centres about.