I hate writing about diabetes horror stories mine included, not because its saddening but because it puts me in a very judgmental mood and I do not believe fear is a good motivator for any aspect of life.

The recent Oprah diabetes special comes to mind. While she used the typical fear factor to show how devastating  poor diabetes management principles can be. That was one of the many wrong things with that episode which was meant to galvanize diabetics and pre-diabetics  into action but fell quite short of that with rampart misinformation and misdirection.

Kelly Kunik of  Diabetesaliciousness summed it up perfectly on her  Dear Oprah & Dr. Oz- The Diabetes Show- Major FAIL blog post.

To me it is unfathomable for someone to know they have a disease eating away at their insides and choose not to do anything about it. It is just another level of infallable stupidity.

When I was diagnosed with diabetes some 13 years ago, I was 18 at the time and  I couldn’t see myself changing my Life. So  for a while I resisted start my diabetes management but mine decision was a lot based on the fact that I have  a serious phobia for needles and the daily Insulin Injections were unbelievably impossible to manage.

I changed that into a motivating factor however and I did everything in my power to get off Insulin and I did, for the last 7 years I have been blissfully managing diabetes with oral medication, diet and exercise and have been able to take the daily highs and Lows as they come.

My Cousin is doing a clinical rotation for her nursing program and she has been treating a diabetic patient with complications associated with poor management. Our Conversations lately have been skewered towards the big D’s horror stories.

Here is a guy 45 years old about 6’3 and about 280 so not obese by any stretch of the imagination. Has been non compliant has a large contusion on his leg which is threatening  to have his whole leg amputated, he has had 2 toes already removed in the leg in the past. He has been hospitalized for two weeks now in renal failure.

The clincher happens to be that  even after everything that has transpired and is still transpiring he is still not ready to change or even entertain the idea of managing his diabetes.

He will not test regularly and commented to her that his sugars run in the 400′s regularly but that he will not give up his beer and favorite foods and his wife keeps on enabling him and he is in full denial.

As I venture further into the diabetes world,blogsphere and personal life,  I have had the chance to meet other diabetics and I have never really paid too much attention to those who choose not to manage their diabetes other than a passing fancy.

I choose not to associate with them because I believe inevitably the more I delve into their world, the more I will get drawn into the psychology of it and the their rationale for choosing not to manage their diabetes.