How come

thay are more worried about cancer than diabetes…i saw a study i think in my doc’s offace saying that more ppl die from diabetes than cancer…you think thay would be more concered about that…

p.s- sry for the bad spelling
only 14

No problem on the spelling Hailey. Did you ever see how we process words? :slight_smile:

About the cancer thing, I’m not sure how you measure ‘worry’ but sometimes you can see a specific focus on particular disease or trends in disease, like in advertisements in the office, or ads on TV and billboards. Usually the focus has to do with money or politics (the advertising and campaigns). There is a steady increase in the number of people ending up with diseases like cancer and diabetes in many countries.

Cancer is one of the last survival attempts by the body to live. (All disease is a highly sophisticated survival attempt). We need to change the way we view disease if we want to get better.

The wise man said "“Good health remains an unrealistic dream when the focus is on disease.”

Maybe because of the media, I like to blame the media lol. I have had two people in my family die of complications of diabetes (a long time ago when they couldn’t monitor it as well as now) and two of cancer so it’s equal in my family. Although the two that had cancer got it because of smoking and they didn’t take care of themselves-which a lot of Americans do.

Yes I do but after seeing my mom die from panceratic cancerI can kinda see why. Atleast we have insulin that will keep us alive till they find a cure.

Well I think the word “cancer” is a lot scarier than the “d” word. We all know people who have diabetes for years and with medication and discipline, etc., we can live for years. I guess every family has been touched in some way by Cancer - my dad died of skin cancer which he had for yrs and then developed a real bad one which wouldn’t quit. Not very nice!! We have to be thankful for all the progress that is being made with diabetes, and even tho it is a huge pain in the butt, we are luckier today than they were 30 or 40 yrs ago. Good luck to all.

Your mention of the word being scary is a very important point. These words have instilled major fear in everyone. We are taught that the word=death, when it is really far from the truth. Like I posted above:

The wise man said "“Good health remains an unrealistic dream when the focus is on disease.”

WAY, WAY to true Pat!

You bring up an interesting question.

I think that the rationale for this is most likely that Diabetes is “treatable” and cancer, generally, is not.

But, you are right about the funding differences…

I found this … NIH 2001 funding for Diabetes was about $690.1 million.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20010404.html

and this … NCI Budget 2005 (presumably from NIH) for Cancer was $4.83 billion.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/research-funding

I realize that the years are off for the amounts but, I have a feeling that the divide is very similar in current year numbers.

J

You might find the following article, written by Deb Butterfield (author of Showdown With Diabetes) interesting reading. She argues (and I agree with her), that in order for society to feel compelled to cure diabetes, the perception of it as a “treatable” and “manageable” condition needs to change. It was published in Insulin-Free TIMES a few years ago, but still true today.

Perceptions vs. Reality
By Deb Butterfield
http://web.archive.org/web/20040506092428/http://www.insulinfreetimes.org/itimesv600.htm

Perceptions are often quite different from reality, yet perceptions wield enormous power. Diabetes is widely perceived to be a manageable condition. Most people believe that diabetics will live a full and normal life if they follow the rules of diabetes management. Yet the reality is that diabetes kills one American every three minutes, and every three minutes, four more are diagnosed. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, amputation, and kidney failure. Sixteen million people in the United States have diabetes and 35 percent of them will suffer from kidney failure at which point the chance of survival is less than that of surviving ovarian cancer. The chasm of silence and misinformation between the reality and perceptions of diabetes goes a long way to explaining why diabetes has not received its share of government research funding, nor the public outcry to find a cure.

Two years ago, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) initiated a multi-media blitz that announced, “Control Your Diabetes. For Life.” Just like that. It’s up to you. It’s your disease. If you control it, you’ll have a life, if you don’t you won’t. According to Dr. Phillip Gorden, the then director of the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, the purpose of the campaign is to, “get the message out that diabetes is serious, common, costly, and controllable.” Via radio, television and print, our neighbors, coworkers, friends, and relatives learned that diabetes is controllable. The theme reinforced the belief that diabetic disabilities and their associated economic costs are caused by diabetics — not by diabetes.

Now think for a moment what would happen if the campaign had announced, “Diabetes disables and kills. Only a cure can stop the suffering,” with pictures of a little boy leading his blind mother around a grocery store and a voice-over explaining that diabetes is suffering. This campaign would create a fundamental shift in the way diabetes is perceived. The public would see diabetes as the enemy, as we see cancer and AIDS as enemies. They would worry that if it isn’t cured, it could happen to them, or to their children. A “Diabetes Disables and Kills” campaign could change the face of the disease by removing the smile that has so long been attached to it in product advertising and brochures in doctors’ offices and pharmacies. Perhaps public outrage that there is no cure yet would create political pressure to increase funding for cure-focused diabetes research.

Many parents of diabetic children and people who have diabetes would be outraged and shocked by such a campaign, in part because we too believe, or want to believe, that if we follow the practices of good control, we are guaranteed a life free of diabetic complications. Not only do we want to believe that; we have been taught to believe that. Just last week at a small “diabetes family night,” three of the five mothers of diabetic children there said that they had been told not to worry too much about their children’s blood sugars, that children are resilient to complications. No doubt, the doctors, with good intentions, are trying to ease the worries of the mothers and children with their platitudes. Using reassuring voices and sweet smiles, nurses convey the message that if you do as you’re told, then everything will be okay