The Misconceptions of diabetes

My name is Grace Abbott and when I am older I want to be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. To get a better sense of the field I decided to do an independent study on diabetes for the last semester of my senior year. Through doing this independent study I got the pleasure of interviewing Mrs. Molly Klapp MS, RD, CDCES, CDN. She did her undergraduate study at Suny Plattsburgh in nutrition and dietetics, a dietetic internship at VCU Medical Center, and got a masters in Functional Medicine from the University of Western states.

Before I begin this interview I wanted to give some background on type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is when a person does not make enough insulin. Which is due to an autoimmune condition that kills the cells in the pancreas that create insulin. And type 2 diabetes is when the body either becomes less responsive to insulin or the pancreas supplies too little insulin. A person with prediabetes has similar symptoms to someone with type 2 diabetes just not as high of a blood glucose level. Insulin in simple terms helps tell the cells what to do with glucose, fatty acids, and amino acids in order to produce energy for the body.

In my interview, I asked questions regarding type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The first question I asked was, “what advice would you give to someone who is unsure if they have diabetes?” Mrs. Klapp explained to look for symptoms such as excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, etc. In addition to looking for symptoms, getting an A1C test from a medical professional. An A1C test measures a person’s average blood sugar levels over the last three months. A person with prediabetes will have an A1C between 5.7%-6.4% and a person with diabetes will have an A1C of 6.5% or higher. A normal person has an A1C of 5.7% or lower. In order to be diagnosed with diabetes, there need to be two positive tests of an A1C of 6.5% or higher. Other tests can be done to test for diabetes such as a fasting blood sugar test or random blood glucose test.

Another question I asked was, “what do you think is the hardest part about living with diabetes?” Mrs. Klapp states that people with diabetes have no break and constantly have to manage themselves. Along with this a person with diabetes has added stress on the body, may not age well, and could have a poor quality of life as a result. She then continues to make a point that people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes tend to get put into a stigma of being called lazy or not having a healthy lifestyle. When in fact type 2 diabetes is genetically influenced. Overall it seems the misconceptions about diabetes and the need to always be on top of diabetes is what makes living with diabetes so hard.

The last question I asked was, “Is there anything you want to see change in regards to diagnosis, treatment, and conceptions surrounding diabetes?” She believes that providers in primary care centers need to be better educated on diabetes. The reason for this is that, very often, patients are not being given a diagnosis for prediabetes and that can lead to a patient getting type 2 diabetes. Mrs. Klapp believes that a patient should be diagnosed with prediabetes in order to reverse its effects on the body and prevent type 2 diabetes. Lastly, Mrs. Klapp wants to see people in the nutrition and dietetics field getting into schools to teach kids how to take care of themselves. In order to get kids to eat more home-cooked, plant-based meals.

Overall I really enjoyed talking with Mrs. Klapp about type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I found that this is a field of study I want to go into and I realize now that there is a big need for diabetes care in America. I hope that through my interview I am able to help educate some of you on diabetes. I just want to end this interview with a few wise words that Mrs. Klapp said, which is that we “only get one body, we gotta treat it well.”

Works Cited

Barnes-Svarney, Patricia L., and Thomas E. Svarney. The Handy Diabetes Answer Book. Visible Ink Press, 2018.

CDC. “All about Your A1C.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Aug. 2018, www.cdc.gov/diabetes/managing/managing-blood-sugar/a1c.html#:~:text=The%20A1C%20test%E2%80%94also%20known,care%20team%20manage%20your%20diabetes.. Accessed 29 Apr. 2022.