Ever thought of eating sugar-free jam or having no sugar at all in your tea or coffee? This is the fate of many South Africans who are diagnosed with diabetes.
Ever thought of eating sugar-free jam or having no sugar at all in your tea or coffee? This is the fate of many South Africans who are diagnosed with diabetes.
If left untreated, diabetes can cause the patient to go into a coma and to die. McVicker Zitumane (66) of Butterworth said that after working at Nestle for 30 years, he had developed quite a sweet tooth. But that had to change after he was diagnosed with diabetes in 1997.
“The worst part was not having sugar with my tea or coffee, I have since gotten used to it though. The tablets that I use are satisfactory but nothing beats good old fashioned sugar,” he says. Zitumane has been suffering from weak eyesight caused by an hereditary illness but diabetes has worsened his condition even more.
He said he later learnt that maintaining his diet and exercise routine would diminish any further harm to his body. His symptoms were mainly headaches, dizziness and itchy, red eyes.
His family doctor confirmed 12 years ago that he had type 2 diabetes which is not immediately symptomatic and requires insulin to stablise blood sugar. Zitumane says he has learnt a few tricks along the road since then.
“When my blood sugar levels are low, I know that eating a banana will help raise them. Once I was in Durban and my blood sugar levels dropped to a record low of 0.01 and the doctor said that I could have died.
But through God’s grace I was fine after two injections and an hour spent with the good doctor,” he said. Zitumane had retired two years before his diagnosis and no longer had medical aid.
In an attempt to save costs he went to a public clinic to check his blood sugar levels and receive treatment. But that almost turned into a nightmare.
“A trainee under no supervision attended to me and I got annoyed when she did not know what she was doing. But before I could leave a more senior nurse helped me. The senior nurse then said my blood sugar levels were low and gave me tablets to drink when I got home,"he relates.
"I felt uneasy about those tablets so I asked my family doctor to check them and he found that they would have dropped my blood sugar levels even further and that would have put me into a coma. Hence I don’t trust public clinics.”
Like many people Zitumane did not know anything about diabetes before his diagnosis. It is one of the top five most common chronic illnesses in South Africa including heart disease, cancer and arthritis. Eating sweets or any kind of food does not cause diabetes nor is it contagious but it can be hereditary.
Over excitement can increase blood sugar levels and being too worried can lead to a decrease in blood sugar levels.According to authors of seven books on diabetes, Diana and Richard Guthrie, drugs such as alloxon, streptozocin are toxic to the beta cells of the pancreas and can cause diabetes.
Faith Mtwana of East London, now 15, was only 13 when she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Knowing other people who were diabetic helped young her to understand that it was not the end of the world and she too could lead a “normal” life.
“Surrounding myself with people who care about me has enabled me to adapt to it and educating myself has also made it easier for me. My family’s support is great. My symptoms were annoying because I needed to go to the bathroom very often and I would get tired and hungry very quickly. For someone in primary school that was totally uncool,” she said.
More than anything else, Faith said she was shocked and never thought in a millions years that something like this would ever happen to her.“I couldn’t even imagine using my name and diabetes in the same sentence, it just did not make any sense,” she said.
The only thing that has changed for Faith is the type of food that she eats and the quantity. Her family now uses lean meat instead of fatty meat, olive oil instead of sunflower oil and low fat milk instead of full-cream milk and sometimes brown rice instead of white rice.
“It gets frustrating when I can’t eat dessert, chocolate or cake. Even though my parents try to get sugar-free cake at least once year because it is expensive sometimes it gets to me.
“I sometimes forget that I am diabetic though, but that only happens when I eat ‘normal’ food like chips. I usually snack on rice cakes, Provita and nuts, honestly though, I do cheat once in a while,”she says.
Sandra and Sydwell Mtwana, Faith’s parents, said it is not so difficult for them any more because they have tried to accept it. “From day one my fear was that she would not be able to cope with it, I wished that we would wake up to hear that it was just a bad dream, I was really scared for her.”
Faith now has the challenge of making sure she doesn’t cheat on her diet when she is at school.
“We are not with her 24 hours a day, but we try and give her everything she needs to stay healthy and still enjoy good food,” Sydwell said.
“Her age complicates the situation because she is not yet mature enough to be responsible at all times. Her father goes with her to the gym. It is something that they do together so she has moral support,” said Sandra.
“We are lucky because we are well off and can afford all these things that she needs. Families who live in the rural areas and live off social grants are not as fortunate, money is scarce so it must be really difficult for them.
“Families must just try to educate themselves about the illness and that will allow them to deal with the illness better and also be supportive towards their diagnosed relatives,” said the Mtwanas in their cosy Cambridge home.
November 14 is World Diabetes Awareness Day. The Diabetes Association of South Africa is available for more information on diabetes.
Contact the Diabetes SA National Office on 011 886 3721 or 086 111 3913, fax 011 886 2735, email national@diabetessa.co.za and website: www.diabetes.co.za. In the Eastern Cape contact Dinesh Vallabh at 082 327 1571 or email dvalllabh@wsu.ac.za.
