Photo courtesy Images by Katherine

This week Pain.com Interviews our featured Blogger of the Month. Since November is Diabetes Awareness Month, we have selected a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator - Angela Weeks, RD, LDN, CDE, from Memorial Hospital in Belleville, IL. Angela welcome to our forum.

Pain.com: How long have you been working in the field?

Weeks: I have been a registered dietitian (RD) for 15 years. I earned my CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator) credential in 1999 and have been part of a Diabetes Self Management Training program since 2005. My primary patient at this time is adults that have Type 2 Diabetes.

Pain.com: Is there a regulating body for clinical diabetic educators?

Weeks: Yes, AADE, the American Association of Diabetes Educators

Pain.com: Are you a member of any other groups affiliated with diabetes or nutritional education?

Weeks: yes, the ADA.The American Dietetic Association is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA is committed to improving the nation’s health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy.

Pain.com: What Is a Certified Diabetes Educator?

Weeks: A certified diabetes educator (CDE) is a specialized health care professional who is certified to teach people with diabetes how to manage their condition. The CDE is an invaluable asset to those who need to learn the tools and skills necessary to control their blood sugar and avoid long-term complications due to hyperglycemia. Unlike an endocrinologist, the CDE can spend as much time with a newly diagnosed person as is needed both for educational purposes and emotional support.Formal education and years of practical experience are required, in addition to a formal examination, before a diabetes educator is certified. In the US, certification is awarded by the National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators.

Pain.com: What is diabetes?

Weeks: Diabetes is actually a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose, also called blood sugar, resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. Diabetes can lead to serious complications and premature death, but people with diabetes can take steps to control the disease and lower the risk of complications. There are three primary types of diabetes, Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational. Other types of diabetes result from specific genetic conditions, such as maturity-onset diabetes of youth; surgery; medications; infections; pancreatic disease; and other illnesses. Such types of diabetes account for 1 to 5 percent of all diagnosed cases.

Pain.com: What type of risk is diabetes to the U.S. population?

Weeks: According to the CDC's 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 23.6 million people, 7.8% of the population, have diabetes. Of those inflicted, 5.7 million people are undiagnosed. In groups above 20 years of age, 23.5 million, or 10.7%, of all people in this age group  ~ 11.2% of men and 10.2% of women have diabetes. Those 60 and over 12.2 million, or 23.1%, of all people in this age group have diabetes. When broken down by ethnicity, the numbers are markedly higher for non-hispanic whites with 14.9 million cases and 3.7 million cases in non-hispanic blacks. For those younger than 20, about 186,300 people have diabetes, either type 1 or type 2. This represents 0.2 percent of all people in this age group. Estimates of undiagnosed diabetes are unavailable for this age group.

Pain.com: Are there other initiatives this month to boost diabetes awareness?

Weeks: The American Diabetes Associations has a new call to action which launches this month called  “Stop Diabetes.” It aims to increase diabetes awareness, prevention, and funding. Also, World Diabetes Day is November 14. This began in 2007 after the United Nations passed the World Diabetes Day Resolution in December of 2006.

Pain.com: Do you experience patients who have diabetes, but are in denial of the risks of diabetes? How do you communicate the dangers of diabetes to those patients?

Weeks: Yes, I think everyone with diabetes experiences at least some denial starting with accepting the diagnosis. When someone is in denial it is very difficult for them to learn so we must help them get through that obstacle. Generally, I start by providing some objective data/reading material/references so that a person can compare their blood sugars/symptoms etc to that data and sort of “see for themselves”. The successful treatment of diabetes requires action and denial will only hold a person back.

Pain.com: If someone has a painful diabetic condition, is the condition exacerbated by the not having their blood sugars under control?

Weeks: Absolutely, if someone is experiencing pain from a diabetic neuropathy they should start by working with their doctor and/or diabetes educator to determine the cause of elevated blood sugars and then develop a treatment plan. You can locate a diabetes educator by going to www.diabeteseducator.org and clicking find a diabetes educator.

Pain.com: Is the education for the patient only or is it focused at the family unit?

Weeks: The patient is certainly the main focus but treating diabetes can be very demanding and having a good support system is essential. We encourage our patients to bring their spouse or other support person with them to classes.

Pain.com: Well Angela, we look forward to seeing your blog postings this month and hope that we can raise awareness of this dangerous disease that can lead to so many painful conditions and even worse. Hopefully, through these and similar efforts, we will someday eradicate diabetes.