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From Ireland with Love (and Diabetes)
I often wonder what it would be like to have diabetes in a different western industrialized country — one that has a sensible, functioning health care system, for example. Or just someplace smaller, and greener.
This being St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d look up Ireland. Here are a some interesting wee tidbits that Google coughed up:
♣ The website of the big national advocacy organization, The Diabetes Federation of Ireland, has much the same content that most of ours do. To wit: they don’t recommend “diabetic foods” either.
♣ The Federation’s website is a production of Novo Nordisk, however — which is not well disclosed. I only noticed because I happened upon the tiny copyright info at the very bottom of the home page. Bedad! (that’s Irish for surprise)
♣ The Federation has a Facebook page, but it has only 100+ fans to date. Wisha! (more Irish for surprise)
♣ A recent study of primary care physicians concludes: “Delivery of diabetes care in Ireland remains largely unstructured.”
♣ Things appear to be especially bad in Northern Ireland.
♣ Patients over there are just as confused/frustrated about carb-counting as we are.
♣ A search on “Diabetes and alcohol Ireland” brings up a very measured approach. (I’m going PC and omitting expression of surprise here).
♣ It’s the same all over: a new report shows that Ireland is “facing a dramatic rise” in both type 2 and type 1 diabetes (expected to rise 33% by 2015). Here I am actually not surprised.
♣ Hoping for a pot of gold for diabetics? I think not. What do you expect from the country that brought you Corned Beef and Cabbage?
♣ But they do good research — for example, Trinity College Dublin just came out with some helpful findings about Type 2 diabetes in young adults.
♣ And for Type 1’s, they’ve got the Paradigm Veo (and we don’t!) That’
s Medtronic’s new combo insulin pump/CGM system can automatically suspend insulin delivery when your BG level dips, protecting you from severe hypoglycemia. (Anybody know the Irish for ‘When are we getting that?!‘)
♣ Here at home, you can visit a real Irish Lassie who has diabetes on her D-blog. Dia duit, Sheila!
→ Wait, Sheila, you live in Guatemala? You might not know what you’re missing, Lassie. (Or do you?)
Hey Amy!
Great post. Check out mine from today… you might like to hear the news…
http://katieshealthjourney.blogspot.com/2010/03/too-good-to-be-true.html
Cheers! – Katie
Posted by: Katie from SF, CA | March 17th, 2010 at 9:23 amYour observation that the website is produced by Novo reminds of the two identical letters I have received from Novo since switching to Levemir. Somehow Novo got wind of my switch along with my name and address and it gives me a bad feeling.
I assume Novo learned of my switch from my doc. The letter contained harmless and useless pablum about being sure to follow the drug’s usage instructions properly. A small thing but a symbol of the inappropriate relationship between pharma and health care providers.
I received a free sample of Levemir to try it and I suspect my acceptance of the vial constituted “permission” for my doc to provide Novo with my name and address.
Posted by: David | March 17th, 2010 at 9:47 amCorned beef and cabbage is really an American meal. In Ireland they eat bacon with their cabbage, and that bacon is more like the Canadian kind than ours. It’s yummy.
Posted by: Erin | March 17th, 2010 at 11:31 amThat is so interesting how two different countries with different cultures can be so alike with a common thing like diabetes, thank you for your research, it was really entertaining.
Posted by: Max | March 17th, 2010 at 7:00 pmHi Amy, thanks for a great post! Just to make things crystal clear, it might be worth reminding readers that Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are two separate countries, and the advocacy group for Northern Ireland is the NI region of Diabetes UK. Their website is independent.
Posted by: Christine Michael | March 22nd, 2010 at 3:04 amI love Corned Beef and Cabbage!
Posted by: Steve | March 22nd, 2010 at 4:39 pmAmy,
Posted by: Stacy | April 14th, 2010 at 10:04 amHi I just came across your blog. I am doing some research about starting a diabetes blog.. I became interested in your entry about Ireland. My husband is a type 1 diabetic of 35 years and he is from Ireland..
I really enjoyed reading your blog. My husband is also a writer and a published author.
Thanks
Hi Amy,I’m a type 2 diabetic myself and I’ve been able to control my diabetes up to now by following a strict dietary plan and regular exercise.
Posted by: Dhibhi | August 29th, 2010 at 5:04 amHere are the diabetes cure strategy I’ve followed.