Diabetes is a serious disease that all Tasmanians need to understand better

With National Diabetes Week upon us, Diabetes Tasmania CEO Caroline Wells discusses some of the common misconceptions around diabetes and why all Tasmanians need to care about the disease.

Diabetes is something that we have all heard about, but the misconceptions and misunderstandings around the disease are immense.

So many times I have heard people say, “I only have a touch of sugar”, “I don’t have the serious type” or, both inappropriately and sadly, “it’s your fault you have diabetes”.

Qualitative research conducted in early 2015 by Diabetes Australia demonstrated the need to enhance awareness of diabetes, and to develop strategies to address the misconceptions of an individual’s susceptibility to diabetes. Participants in this study were shocked to learn that 280 Australians develop diabetes every day, and that diabetes is set to become our leading burden of disease in the next five years.

One point I would like to clear up is that there is no such thing as ‘mild’ diabetes. Diabetes is a progressive, unrelenting and challenging disease with serious complications, which has immense human, societal and financial burdens.

In Tasmania alone, we have over 27,000 people diagnosed with diabetes, 10,000 people living with the disease but undiagnosed, and 45,000 Tasmanians at high risk – which equates to around 16 per cent of our state’s population.

There are also many misconceptions about type 1 diabetes. The truth is that there is no association between lifestyle factors and the development of type 1 diabetes in an individual. Unfortunately type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease which cannot be prevented.

Unfortunately many Tasmanians don’t consider diabetes to be serious disease. One reason for this misconception may be that type 2 diabetes can often go unnoticed and consequently undiagnosed, and that for some the first sign can be a complication of the disease, such as a heart attack, vision problems or a foot ulcer.

There is also the misconception that only older or obese people will develop type 2 diabetes. Yes, obesity and weight gain are significant risk factors, but in fact you can still develop type 2 diabetes and be a healthy weight and physically active.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors. Many people are unaware that there are many risk factors associated with developing the disease that we simply cannot change. Sadly we cannot do anything about our age, and as we age our risk of developing diabetes increases.

Similarly, we cannot change our family history of diabetes or our ethnicity, both being risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. We can however, do something about those modifiable risk factors, including our diet, how much physical activity we do, weight gain and whether or not we are a smoker. These are all factors within our control.

I would urge all Tasmanians to be more tolerant and to remember that while obesity is certainly significant in the escalating number of people developing type 2 diabetes, it is sometimes not as easy as just getting off the couch and eating more vegetables. Sometimes an individual may have no safe areas to walk in, or have limited access to affordable and healthy food, compounded by the impact of low literacy skills.

As well as the steps we can all individually take, we must look at what we can do collectively, and how all Tasmanians can be supported to live healthier lifestyles.

As a community let us all learn more about diabetes. The more we understand, the more tolerant and supportive we will be. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful place to live, where the apportion of blame was a thing of the past and where we all understand the seriousness of diabetes and its impact on people and their families.

W: www.diabetestas.org.au

P: Statewide 1300 136 588