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Diabetic educator gains personal insight into the conditionWhen a patient receives a new, life-altering diagnosis – such as diabetes – emotions can range from sorrow to anger to utter bewilderment. Fortunately, isolation does not have to be one of those feelings. The New Ulm Medical Center’s diabetic educators want patients to feel, above all else, that they have someone to turn to with all their issues and questions, which can be numerous following an initial diagnosis. Deanne Romaine, Nurse Practitioner, is the newest of the medical center’s diabetic educators, having just started seeing diabetic patients this month. Along with Annette Haynes, NP, Julie Long, NP and Angie Voges, LPN, Romaine rounds out the diabetic education team at NUMC. Romaine recently completed courses through the American Association of Diabetes Educators, but to really understand the patients she was going to be working with day in and day out, she decided to live as a diabetic for three months. “It was such an eye-opener. Now when I talk to new diabetics about the lifestyle changes they need to make, I know that these changes are hard to make,” Romaine said. “As a provider, you feel you are empathetic, but until you make these lifestyle changes yourself, you don’t realize just how hard it is to do.” Diabetic educators are providers who treat the diabetes by reviewing a patient’s blood sugars, medications, diet and exercise, and lab work in addition to teaching the patient about the diabetes itself. They help patients adjust their medications and lifestyle as needed. When a patient is initially diagnosed as a diabetic, they are encouraged to attend several educational classes to help them learn what diabetes is and to help them cope with all the new information they must learn to take care of themselves with their new condition. “Primary care physicians refer diabetic patients to one of the diabetic educators because there is a great deal of education involved, not only following the initial diagnosis, but there are ongoing needs as a patient’s condition can fluctuate,” Romaine said. Diabetes is manageable and a patient can expect to live a full life if treated and followed closely. Diabetes, if left untreated, can result in blindness, loss of a limb, chronic pain and can be a fatal disease resulting in organ failure – usually the kidneys. Some symptoms of diabetes are excessive thirst, weight loss, excessive urination, nausea, shakiness and headache. During her three-month trial as a diabetic, Romaine learned things that explain why patients tend to use their thumbs all the time to check their blood sugar levels, even though they should rotate between the fingers and thumbs in order to not build calluses. “I found it hurts less when you use your thumbs – I just dreaded those finger sticks,” she said. She recorded every bite she ate, which was also an eye-opener. She began reading labels, checking sugars and carbohydrates. “I found that to be very helpful and I will continue to do that just to stay healthy,” Romaine said. She learned which restaurants are better for diabetics and which are not so good – which ones add a lot of sugar to flavor menu items. She discovered that, for diabetics, it is very difficult to enjoy a simple dinner invitation. “Sometimes I would just push my food around on the plate so that it looked like I had eaten and then I would eat something when I got home – because I could not eat the foods served,” she said. She incorporated exercise into her daily routine, but that introduced a whole new challenge as exercise lowers the blood sugar, so she needed to figure out how to eat to balance the exercise, not gain weight and still keep her blood sugars stable. “If you become ill, that throws everything off as well,” she said. What she took away from the experience is that, though it is by no means easy, diabetics can change their lifestyle to improve their health. Romaine feels she can now lend some insight to patient’s struggling with the changes that face them as diabetics. “I realized that there is time for it – time to plan meals, time for exercise,” she said. She attributes that partly to a change in habits. “I rarely turn on the television anymore.” Romaine is glad for her three months living as a diabetic not only to gain more understanding of what it is like to live with diabetes, but to realize that initially, the lifestyle changes are the most overwhelming part of the diagnosis. “For those resistant to the changes, we can start out with small ones,” Romaine said. “Nobody likes to give up everything for life, but there is a balance that can be achieved to help a diabetic patient live a longer, healthier life.” |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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