I am constantly in a quandary about whether to focus on managing and living well with diabetes vs. finding a way to eradicate diabetes. Over the years I’ve leaned toward letting the scientists and fundraisers work on the latter while I focus on the former.
Reading about a new gadget that could measure glucose in saliva or tears makes me ponder this further. My first thought was if people are working so hard on improving management methods, why aren’t they focusing on preventing diabetes in the first place? But then my head went back to, why shouldn’t we have the best possible gadgets for managing diabetes while it’s still around?
I don’t think it’s a conspiracy to keep diabetes around and make lots of money; I think different people are concentrating on different things. Those who work in biotech are using their skills and resources to improve diabetes management, and that’s a good thing right now. I hope they all get together and collaborate – maybe as a team they can figure this whole thing out. But just like everything else these things happen gradually, uncovering one layer at a time.
In the meantime, I will continue to do my part to live well and help others do the same – starting with improving people’s experience at diagnosis. I will still be gathering one words, so please contribute if you haven’t already.