Diabetes research

[Dom]

Hi everyone!

My name is Dominika, and I'm an A-Level student. As part of one of my subject, I was asked to provide and in-depth research project on a topic of my choice - I chose diabetes as it's a matter close to my heart.

I would be so so grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to answer my survey.

Thank you in advance 🙂
https://kwiksurveys.com/s/DxhJdnup

** UPDATE **
Hello everyone.

Before I address some of the comments, I would firstly like to thank you all for taking the time to answer my survey.

I now realise that perhaps I should have summarised my whole project a bit better. The title of said project (which I would love to share with you upon completion) is ‘Can the UK continue to live with the Diabetes crisis. In it I explore the history of diabetes back to 1552 BC, different types of diabetes, where the UK stands in comparison to other countries, the effect (current and project) diabetes is having on the NHS and the government, and the finally in what ways we could prevent the estimated rise in diabetes prevalence – which is where my survey comes in. The whole project, all-in-all is quite brief, with a limit of 5000 words, and so that is the reason why I will be sticking to only T1 and T2 - I’m sure I would exceed the limit if I wanted to cover all the types.

I am very much aware that T2 is not just based up eating habits and exercise; that it is has both modifiable and non-modifiable factors. The modifiable factors are the area which I am exploring in my questionnaire. My close family has been hit with diabetes twice, and for both of those family members it has been due to poor health – one of which had no control over it due to their work-life balance. However they have also both admitted that they would have loved to be more aware and informed of the danger of diabetes creeping up on them in their positions (hence the second page of the questionnaire).

As this is a research project, a lot of the information I have to find myself and prove and find correlations etc., hence why I asked a lot of the preliminary questions. I realise that just because someone drinks or eats fast-food doesn’t mean they have or will get diabetes. However, diabetes-orientated organisations like IDF have released many recommendations / guidelines for a healthy diet foe the population – in the survey, then, I will look for patterns and correlations to back up and contradict this data. I do hope there is some truth to it as I have read and heard about people who have altered their diet to what they found suited them, and have either decreased or completely gone off their T2 medication.

Some people said that a lot of the questions didn’t apply to them because they had T1. I did include an asterisk at the bottom of the first page but believe it didn’t show up. I have now altered this and hopefully everyone will be able to see it.

This questionnaire was sent out to both people who had a great deal of knowledge regarding diabetes (like yourselves), and to those who didn’t have any diabetic in their family, in order to get a wide range of perspectives. I hope this explains why I included some of the questions J

Thank you all again for answering the questionnaire, and I’ll be happy to make my project available after if anyone is interested!

Dominika

 

[Northerner]

This has been approved, please help Domenika if you can 🙂

 

[stephknits]

I'm not sure my answers will be particularly useful! It mixes up type 1 and 2, so I had to answer whether I'd change my lifestyle to avoid getting type 2. Still, hope I didn't mess it up and good luck

 

[Drummer]

Sorry - you assume that type two is self inflicted by making the wrong lifestyle choices - maybe you should start off from a different perspective?
Slender athletic people - even professional athletes can suffer with type two - what do you think they should have done to have avoided it?

 

[Mark T]

Sorry - you assume that type two is self inflicted by making the wrong lifestyle choices - maybe you should start off from a different perspective?
Slender athletic people - even professional athletes can suffer with type two - what do you think they should have done to have avoided it?

Some of us are Genetic Type 2's, that's a difficult bullet to dodge!

 

[scottishlass]

I've completed this but it's not a good set of questions - as detailed by other reporters, above.

 

[Ljc]

Done. I feel the same as others above.

 

[mikeyB]

I can’t do it . Q1 doesn’t include my age. I’m sure that’s a typo, not a deliberate exclusion!

 

[Maz2]

I won't be able to complete this survey as I am classed as pre-diabetic not diabetic. I would, however, like to reiterate what other posters have said in that it is not the fault of the diabetic i.e. their lifestyles. I know obese people who are not diabetic and slim people who are. I was pre-diabetic, got out of it, and now back in it again. I do not lead an unhealthy lifestyle. I am actually underweight. Never was overweight or obese.

I am afraid the media irritate me greatly with their "it is all the patient's fault" attitude. My GP does not think diabetics are to blame for it either.

 

[trophywench]

Well I agree - things like @stephknits said I can't reduce my chances of getting T2 since I already have T1.

OTOH if Domenika wants to find out more about diabetes because she recognises she doesn't know very much at all - she hasn't asked any questions that will expand her understanding of a very complex condition. There are already over 30 different kinds known to medical science according to a speaker at this years Diabetes UK Professional Conference so to only include Types 1 and 2 shows how very little the general public ever hear.

I'm hoping we get a full publication of the professor's presentation on DUK's website. (over to you @Hannah DUK)

 

[Alister]

I assume you had some personal reason for choosing Diabetes & hope that it progresses into more indepth study (if that is what you want) that could help us all in the future.

Now for the Constructive Criticism.
Like others before me I found the survey to be a little basic, making assumptions before the results have been collated & incomplete
example "How often do you eat fast food?" - what type of fast food, not all is unhealthy. as an example I recently discovered Leon who have a range of meals that I have found to be quite acceptable to my condition & seem to pride themselves on health food served quickly.

I think your A level project would benefit is you did not simply rehash the current concepts of Diabetes from the media but also took some time to check alternative viewpoints, I have only been diagnosed for just over 2 months and already leant that my general understanding of the condition was way off (despite my father also being type 2) & that the medical knowledge is changing on a daily basis oftem meany that GP's & DSN's are behind the time & giving outdated advice.
I am certain that members of this forum could give plenty of assistance. Even reading may of the posts should give you an understanding of many of the problems experienced, poor understanding from some of the medical profession, difficulties in being taken seriously & problems with food labelling.

Again Good luck with the project - I am sure everyone here wants you to do well, even if some of the comments look harsh they are not intended to mock or discourage you but to give you pointers towards making your project even better.

 

[Matt Cycle]

Completed as best I can which I guess is all you wanted (rather than getting the third degree 🙄 ). Good luck with it. 🙂

 

[Cornflake57]

Hello Dominica, not all type 2 diabetes is due to lifestyle. I have it as did my father, grandmother, her mother etc, also 2 of my brothers have it, therefore genetics greatly plays a part which many press releases, fitness experts and medics omit to mention , they prefer to target individuals who are over weight as they are not the norm and attractive to them. And additionally will require more expensive health care. The NHS offers limited support to the 3 million diabetics but pours millions into research for a disease that will only effect 5000 individuals.

 

[Matthew James Hardy]

Done hope this helps

 

[trophywench]

The NHS judges things on results and as far as I'm aware it gets very few points for spending hours and hours with a patient concentrating on preventative medicine. They would not get any extra payment for preventing someone with pre-diabetes progress to being diagnosed with it - and GPs are so thinly spread same as all NHS staff - you can't really expect them to change so drastically. Extra cash isn't the whole answer - there are not enough trained people available to do the work anyway even if you doubled everyone's salary overnight.

 

[Vince_UK]

Completed but without trying to demotivate you the questions do leave much to be desired unfortunately. It focusses on lifestyle and does not cover the possibility of a genetic predisposition.
Anyway, hope it helps.

 

[Radders]

Completed.

 

[Cathy Frankland]

Um, I've completed it, but like the others I wasn't too impressed with the questions. Also - has it taught me anything that make me change my outlook/lifestyle, no, sorry, it doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know.
I hope that the answers will be of use for your studies and I'm more than happy to answer future surveys, but I think that this one needs a bit of work to actually give you any useful data - sorry!
Cathy

 

[C&E Guy]

Completed.

After saying I am Type 1, it asked me if I wanted to avoid Type 2.

I can't do exercise as I also have MS and get utterly exhausted walking up the stairs!! I would love to be able to change that - but I can't.

 

[Maz2]

The NHS judges things on results and as far as I'm aware it gets very few points for spending hours and hours with a patient concentrating on preventative medicine. They would not get any extra payment for preventing someone with pre-diabetes progress to being diagnosed with it - and GPs are so thinly spread same as all NHS staff - you can't really expect them to change so drastically. Extra cash isn't the whole answer - there are not enough trained people available to do the work anyway even if you doubled everyone's salary overnight.

Thankfully, in my area people are sent on a prevention programme although I was not impressed with the "eat well" plate and thought if I went on like that I would end up diabetic. At least four hba1c tests were done during the time. Unfortunately, my hba1c fell but has gone up again so back to the drawing board for me with testing. I know four others who are pre-diabetic who have not been offered prevention programmes so, again, it is very hit and miss.