Diabetes Essay: Impact On Family Members.

Discuss about the Diabetes and Impact of on Family Members.

Diabetes is a disease associated with blood sugar and its levels. It is a condition that is brought about by insufficient production of insulin in the body or when it is not used in the right way. There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is evident in children and young adults and is as a result of the body producing inadequate insulin. Type 2 diabetes is exhibited in adults, and it comes about when the body produces insulin but does not utilize it in the right way. The risk of getting diabetes type 2, however, is higher if one is overweight or has a family history of diabetes. Diabetes can result in other health complications such as stroke, kidney diseases, and blurred vision it is for this reason that diabetes type 2 has to be kept under control (Holt, Cockram, Flyvbjerg, & Goldstein, 2011). Being a chronic illness, diabetes needs consistent monitoring and care of patients, and there are challenges patients face as they strive to manage their conditions. In this paper, the focus is on diabetes type 2 in adults and the aged.

Older adults who have type 2 diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus) require continuous input from skilled physicians; this is to help monitor their blood levels, recommend their diets and even administer drugs. A challenge comes in when the person cannot afford to pay for a physician to conduct regular checks. With the need for a regular checkup and continuous medication to manage their health, medical bills are expected to soar, and since most of them are aged and even retired, they may not afford it (Niebylski, 2010). This could affect the patient’s ability to access healthcare and overall health. It is common for older people to register a decline in their appetite for food, and the situation is worse when they have no one to take care of them or even plan their meals. They end up skipping meals which is detrimental to their health since food is necessary for maintaining blood sugar at optimum levels. Another challenge is the medication administered to older patients may contradict with diabetes drugs. The elderly may suffer from multiple conditions due to a decline in their immunity, and most of them are on multiple drugs, some of these drugs may cause hypoglycemia once they interact with diabetes drugs hence affecting the patients (Munshi, & Lipsitz, 2007). Also, due to old age, people tend to exhibit a decline in kidney and liver function and consequently a slowdown in metabolism. This applies even to oral drugs taken by diabetic patients. The drugs cannot be broken down as required and hence they cannot work effectively in regulating blood sugar levels, and this could be detrimental to the patients’ health. Since chronic illnesses span a long time, they need to be managed, and this may take a toll on the patients’ family and those close to them.

Challenges for Older Adults with Diabetes

The first impact of diabetes on the family that is most critical is on finances. Treatment and management of diabetes is expensive. Patients need to adhere to certain dietary routines, and others need frequent shots of insulin. A lot of money is spent in taking care of diabetic patients, and this consumes the family budget, and it may prove difficult to take care of other family needs without struggling (Nash, 2013). For older patients, there should be someone present to take there of them by preparing their meals, feeding them, and even giving them their medication. As such, a family member may be required to dedicate their time or someone may be hired to take care of them and responsibilities may shift from one family member to the other.  This may curtail other activities the family member is involved in such as work and conversely income. Diet is important where diabetic patients are involved, and conflict may arise where a mother is diabetic, and her infant requires to be feed. Some families also opt to have standard meals, and with a diabetic patient, not all members may enjoy the meals, and this may cause strife in the household. Also, there are times when a diabetic patient requires urgent medical attention especially in cases of hypoglycemia. This means that the family may be under stress worrying if their loved one will get better after seeing them in that state. If a patient keeps having complications, the family may be affected emotionally (McWhinney, & Freeman, 2009). Children may be worried about the death of a parent or even wonder if they will inherit the disease. The state of health of a patient may also affect their physical activity such as productivity at work. If they were the breadwinner or if they used to interact a lot with other family members and then the interaction decreased, the family may feel neglected and it may cause further problems in marriage and the family as a whole. On a positive note, diabetes may also impact families positively. Family members may be motivated to learn how to take care of their loved one. Others may feel obliged to provide for the family and take care of medical bills, and the result is a more united family. It is evident that diabetes is a family disease as most families are affected by the lifestyle change (Markowitz, 2014).  The overall impact, however, is determined by the stage at which the diagnosis is made.

Impact on Family Finances

To get past the complications of diabetes and all the challenges, nursing care makes the situation bearable. Nurses should educate both the patients and their families on how to deal or react in case a particular situation happened. They should be able to gauge a dangerous situation by just examining a patient and rushing them to a hospital. They also are made aware of diet requirements for the patients. Second, they should focus on proactive care rather than reactive care where the patients are well taken care of and medical complications prevented. Self-management also plays a significant part in ensuring that a patient is well aware of their condition and they can promptly make their situation known or seek medical attention. Patients are taught how to administer insulin and check their blood sugar levels (Holt, Cockram, Flyvbjerg, & Goldstein, 2011). It is not uncommon for diabetic patients and their families to be under stress, and there are provisions for counseling for the patients and their families to make their situation bearable (Dunning, 2014). Nurses are also at liberty to adjust medications for patients without the need to consult a physician. Nurses are flexible, and they embrace other communication methods, arrange for visits, and managing patient care through emails and faxes. All this makes care for patients convenient while maintaining quality in a bid to ensure patients remain healthy (Richardson, Thomson, Derouin, Hipkens, & Vorderstrasse, 2014).

My first encounter with a diabetic patient was my grandmother. I was young, but I saw her take insulin shots at specific hours. But what scared me was sometimes she was low on glucose levels, and we had to blend pawpaw fast and give it to her so that she would become conscious. She was also always on a diet and would not enjoy all the food we would eat and especially during the festive season. She has managed to keep it in check though and run regular activities around her house.

Diabetes is prevalent in all corners of the globe. 382 million people are estimated to have diabetes in the world, and it is for this reason that it should be managed (Richardson, Thomson, Derouin, Hipkens, & Vorderstrasse, 2014).Advocacy for lifestyle change should be done aggressively to prevent other numbers of the population from diabetes. For those already suffering from it, management of the disease is critical. Patients should be educated about how to go about their medication, diets, and physical exercise. Families should also be supportive of their patients by providing for their needs such as meals and quick response in case a patient needs medical attention. If nurses and health practitioners continued offering their full support to diabetic patients, their overall health would be improved significantly.

References:

Dunning, T. (2014). Care of people with diabetes: A manual of nursing practice. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.

Holt, R. I. G., Cockram, C., Flyvbjerg, A., & Goldstein, B. J. (2011). Textbook of Diabetes. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Markowitz, J. (2014). Emotional Impact of Diabetes on Family Members. Joslin Communications. Retrieved from https://blog.joslin.org/2014/07/the-emotional-toll-of-diabetes-on-family-members-2/

McWhinney, I. R., & Freeman, T. (2009). Textbook of family medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Munshi, M. & Lipsitz, L. (2007). Geriatric diabetes (1st ed.). New York: Informa Healthcare.

Nash, J. (2013). Diabetes and Wellbeing: Managing the Psychological and Emotional Challenges of Diabetes Types 1 and 2(1^st ed). Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.

Niebylski, B. (2010). SECTION 2: Diabetes Management Challenges Facing the Patient, Physician, and Payer. AJMC. Retrieved 4 March 2017, from https://www.ajmc.com/journals/supplement/2010/a319_10dec_diabetes/a319_10dec_niebylski_s308to13

Richardson, G., Thomson, J., Derouin, A., Hipkens, J., & Vorderstrasse, A. (2014). Nurse Practitioner Management of Type 2 Diabetes. NCBI. Retrieved 5 March 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4022572/

Saudek, C., Rubin, R., & Donner, T. (2014). The Johns Hopkins guide to diabetes (2nd ed.). Baltimore: John Hopkins University Publisher.

Sinclair, Alan J., Dunning, Trisha, & Rodriguez Manas, Leocadio. (2017). Diabetes in Old Age. Blackwell Publishing.