“Since I haven’t seen a similar question on your website yet, I’m asking for your response/help. Specifically, I’m wondering how family members and loved ones can learn about diabetes if someone in the family has it.
I’m looking for general information about nutrition, what to cook, and how to handle certain situations.
There’s quite a bit of information online, but I feel it might be better to get specific answers firsthand rather than just reading through forums. Any advice you can offer would be very welcome.
Thank you, and best regards!” – Eva
Diabetes is a “family” disease. It’s always much easier for a patient if someone works with them, cooks healthy meals with them, exercises with them, or at least goes for walks with them, and prepares snacks that a person with diabetes can eat, and so on. It’s also easier for them if someone else knows how to check blood sugar levels, is familiar with medications, and can determine which foods are best for a given situation to avoid consuming excess calories. That’s why we at the diabetes clinic are very happy when a person—a diabetic patient—comes accompanied by a family member, so that we can explain to both the patient and their family the tasks that arise upon the diagnosis of diabetes. I truly do not believe that any doctor, diabetes educator, or even a nurse at a referral clinic would turn a family member away and “kick them out” of the clinic. It’s important for the entire diabetes care team that a person with diabetes returns to a full life, and this is easiest when the problem is addressed from all angles. On the one hand, this means that the patient learns something from the doctor, something from the nurse, and something else from the physical therapist or psychologist. On the other hand, it also means that we can address problems more holistically if we understand the patient’s perspective and that of their environment: where the obstacles lie, what is most troubling for them, what they expect from us and their family members, and so on. “The more you know, the more you’re valued” also applies to family members, so I naturally invite you to visit the diabetes clinic or at least see a nurse educator so that, step by step, you can resolve all the challenges that diabetes brings!

