Diabetes WA’s rallying cry for National Diabetes Week (9-15 July) is to change the conversation around the condition to reducing stigma and shame some sufferers felt.
About half a million West Australians are at risk of or live with diabetes – 9% live with Type 1, 87% have Type 2, and every day an additional 31 people are diagnosed with either type 1, type 2 or gestational diabetes.
About 16% of over 25 years of age have pre-diabetes, 30% of whom are likely to develop type 2 within five years, and Diabetes WA CEO, Ms Melanie Gates, highlighted that more than half of people living with type 2 diabetes (52%) said they had experienced diabetes-related stigma.
“People tell us that they can feel blamed for having diabetes, because that’s how the public has been taught to talk and think about the condition,” she said.
“The media has a powerful impact on the conversation around diabetes, and when these stories make it look possible – or even easy – to avoid developing diabetes, it creates the perception that people with diabetes are to blame for their condition.
“Which is simply not true for people with type-1, as it’s an autoimmune disease, and is only true for some cases of type 2. Nobody chooses diabetes.”
People on the receiving end of diabetes-related stigma experience depression, anxiety, or other psychological distress because of perceived or expected negative social judgements, with 41% of reporting poor psychological wellbeing.
“Some will attempt to hide their diabetes from others, avoiding important checks and medications, which can lead to long-term health complications,” Ms Gates said.
“And almost 1 in 10 reported that their health professional was unsupportive.”
Yet Australia has one of the worse diabetes-related amputation rates in the developed world and around 65% of all cardiovascular disease deaths in Australia occur in people with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Ms Gates pointed out that the DIRECT trial by the University of Newcastle was the first to show that remission from type 2 diabetes was possible through a dietary intervention in primary care, with almost half (46%) of the 306 participants being in remission one year later, and 36% after two years.
“Self-management is all-important for achieving this, but the self-management regimen may be complex and unrelenting,” she said.
“It comprises healthy eating, physical activity, taking medication/insulin, checking blood glucose, problem-solving, risk reduction and attending health-care appointments, which is why support from health professionals, family/friends, and others can be so beneficial for initiating and maintaining these behaviours.”
Highlighting this, 69% of people currently participating in peer support found that it was helpful to their emotional well-being, 66% helpful or very helpful to their self-management of diabetes, and 67% found that it was helpful or very helpful in connecting them with health-care services.
“The best advice we can give people without diabetes is to stop talking and be ready to listen instead,” Ms Gates said.
“Don’t assume you know what it’s like living with diabetes, and don’t assume that you know better. Let’s try not to judge other people for what they might or might not be doing to manage their diabetes.”