Diabetes, a call to put order in life

"I'm going to beat diabetes, and not her," Emmy Rodríguez de Villa said, when she was diagnosed with the disease, 42 years ago.

And he fulfilled it.During all this time, Emmy, who lives with type I diabetes, has had adequate control of the disease, which has allowed him to be a healthy person and with activities like those of any other.

Of course, it is convinced that the fundamental part of its success is to have been responsible for your illness when exercising daily, eat healthy and take care of your glucose levels, among other attentions.

Emmy is full of life and since it was diagnosed, it was promised that it would help people who need information to learn about diabetes thoroughly and know that not everything is lost.

He has given conferences throughout the country and takes continuous training on the disease and then replicating.

In September 1988, Emmy founded the Mexican Association of Diabetes in Jalisco, A.C., together with the endocrinologist, José de Jesús Ríos González, but in March of that same year they wrote the manual how to control diabetes.

The manual is sponsored by the Association of Overcoming for Mexico and Latin America (assume), and is easy to read and understanding.It has an understandable language about the stages of diabetes but, above all, how to live with it and control the disease and not vice versa.Over the years he has suffered from updates, the last, in 2011, with novelties and adaptations.

“I didn't know anything about what benefited me or what hurt me, I had to educate in diabetes.The endocrinologist instructed me in diabetes, but I realized that there were many people who had diabetes and all they knew was wrong, so it is very important that they know how they can carry good control, ”says Emmy.

In 26 years, 30 thousand free copies of the manual have been distributed, both in the Federal and State Secretariat of Health, as well as various hospitals.

Emmy considers that diabetes education is essential to understand, accept and control it.“For me, diabetes is a call to order, to a constant discipline, to have education in diabetes.Many people do not accept the disease because they are not educated in diabetes, and if you have it it is easier to accept it. ”

Estimates: the manual and the figures

It is estimated that for each person diagnosed with diabetes, there is another one that also has it but does not know, which makes the probability of having complications more when time passes and not being addressed.

In Jalisco there are around 600 thousand people with diabetes, but only 300 thousand know it.Of these, 150 thousand receive medical attention, but only half is controlled.

To know the manual:

The "How to control diabetes" can be consulted via the Internet, on the page www.asume.org.

The process to do it is as follows:

Click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner, write the word diabetes and give enter.There is clicking on "True joy is the sadness overcome" and selecting document number four.

Association: They bet on educating the patient

Currently, the Mexican Association of Diabetes in Jalisco A.C., serves about 400 people, including children and adult patients, to whom counseling and some supports in medical and psychological question are provided.

Its current director, María Elena Mota Oropeza, considers that diabetes education for patients and health personnel is one of the most important bets that authorities should consider.

"Health personnel should know how to treat patients with diabetes, from the beginning to see the person with diabetes and not a diabetic, then it is our main objective."

Seeing that more and more complications are given in patients with diabetes, it is necessaryThat the message of self -care and the control of the disease is reinforced, warns.

For her part, the president of the association, María José González Cosío, said that the patient with diabetes should be seen from an integral point of view, and not just a doctor.

“Let us educate ourselves at all levels, we must have empathy, that health professionals understand how a person who lives with diabetes feels.The emotional part is very important and the results are better.I, as a child of a child who lives with diabetes, I tell you: today we cannot stay only with what the doctor tells you, but you must understand the disease and educate you. ”

All actors intervene in good control

For the endocrinologist José de Jesús Ríos González, the good control of diabetes is not only in the patient, but in the doctor who attends him and in the family that accompanies the patient.

Having a food and physical activity plan in the patient and family, as well as a good disease education, constant exams and visits to the doctor, make it a result of good control.

“The patient, with correct information, can make decisions.That receives the information, that there are groups with adequate communication with educators in diabetes, advisors, is very important.All participate, but having a grouping of patients and health team is a key part. ”

For the doctor, it is relevant that the authorities take into account the importance of giving workshops to children, adolescents and the patients themselves, to attack everything from root and avoid the increase.

Although currently the goal is to achieve better control to avoid serious complications such as blindness, renal failure, neuropathies or amputations, researchers bet on finding a definitive cure.

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