Managing diabetes takes team
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
Dr. Jane Kadohiro, deputy director of the state Department of Health, doesn't mince words when she talks about diabetes.
"It's really an epidemic," Kadohiro says. "Nationwide, 6 percent or more of the population is diabetic, and almost 20 percent of the elderly population develops diabetes."
Kadohiro, a former University of Hawai'i professor, has centered her career on diabetes education. She believes that diabetics should take control of the day-to-day management of their blood sugar levels while at the same time work with their physician, dietician and diabetes educator to develop and fine-tune health strategies.
Saturday Sunday Registration for both: (800) 998-2693
"It's a very complex disease to manage because you're asking people to do what anybody would agree is next to impossible: always keeping your weight in very, very good shape; always exercising; eating healthy; and in addition to all of this, you're supposed to not have a real stressful lifestyle because that can affect your blood sugar as well."
Taking Control of Your Diabetes
Complicated, but doable. More than that, crucial for survival. Diabetes left unmanaged can lead to blindness, amputation, kidney failure, stroke and heart attack.
Kadohiro has first-hand understanding of diabetes. Diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes as a child, she has taken injectable insulin for 50 years.
"I test my blood sugar at least four times a day, sometimes six times," she says. "Anytime I eat, I have to test my blood sugar and decide if I need insulin, even if it's not mealtime but a snack. I decide if I need insulin and how much, and I make that decision based on what it is I'm going to eat, what kind of exercise have I done today or if I've been a couch potato or sat at my desk all day, and what am I planning to do that night.
"And that's where the diabetes educator comes in, because they help walk you through your typical day and help you figure out how to do all that problem solving."
This weekend, the nonprofit group Taking Control of Your Diabetes, along with the American Diabetes Association and Hawai'i Association of Diabetes Educators, is offering a daylong event for people with diabetes to talk with experts on everything from diet to exercise to advances in treatment.
Kadohiro says you don't have to be in the medical field to learn this stuff. Anyone can be coached to be better able to self-manage their diabetes, she says.
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Correction: A previous version of this column contained wrong times for the Maui event.
