Is Your Doctor Mad or Sad?

The Mad, as in Angry, Doctor.  My internist friend, Dr. Debra, gets in a snit from time to time, "I am sick of getting calls from diabetics.  They whine, 'My blood sugar is over 400 and I can't get it down.'  At least once a day, someone is calling with high blood sugar.  I am sick of it!"  She gets mad inside.  She gets mad  because her patients take such poor care of themselves.  She cares about their health more than they do.  The frustration builds until she feels angry.

Dr. Debra knows how her patients get glucose levels over 400 mg/dl.  They eat too much.  They sit too much.  They forget or skip their medication.  They play games with their insulin.  Most of the blood sugar emergencies come from things like devouring a bag of chips in front of the television or eating a whole pie at one sitting or a spaghetti dinner with canoli for desert.  Each crisis happens to patients whole need to loose weight, but won't or can't for some reason.

Dr. Debra knows these blood sugar catastrophes can be prevented.  That makes her angriest of all.

The Sad Doctor  A family member died of a heart attack this past year.  He was 50 years old, obese with uncontrolled blood sugar and high blood pressure.  Mikey never believed his blood sugar posed a threat, "I don't feel sick.  Don't you think I'd feel it if my blood sugar was too high?"   He reasoned, "If my blood sugar is too high, my doctor should give me more medicine."  He had similar ideas about his blood pressure. Mikey was an intelligent man, but ignorant.  He thought warnings and instructions from his doctor were trivial things doctors just say. 

Mikey's doctor told him about the connection between his high blood sugar and damage to his heart.  Mikey laughed it off.  Mikey's doctor told him loosing weight would help get his blood sugar under control.  Mikey laughed that off, too.  Mikey believed his doctor was going overboard with scare tactics.  He took his medicine, he didn't feel sick.  His logic told him he was fine and his doctor was exaggerating.

It was a very sad doctor who signed Mikey's death certificate.