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Radio 4 Sunday 21st - Justin Webb 'The Silent Killer'
- Thread starter MCH
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Adrienne
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
That was Silent Assassin and it was about how type 2 diabetes can creap up on you if you are overweight and under active etc etc. The title for that was wrong.
Not sure about the Silent Killer title but it could be true, I know this has happened very sadly to a couple of friends of mine and it sure worried me. People really just don't take diabetes seriously enough (not us lot) but people that think they know about diabetes but don't really live with it.
Not sure about the Silent Killer title but it could be true, I know this has happened very sadly to a couple of friends of mine and it sure worried me. People really just don't take diabetes seriously enough (not us lot) but people that think they know about diabetes but don't really live with it.
Hi Adrienne
My apologies there...It was the Silent Assassin...the main headline...
I remember getting information about it through the post...regarding any upset the adverts may cause for diabetic children..etc..but felt that this was the only way that diabetes could be advertised in trying to get the message across
Heidi
🙂
Viki
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I listened to it about an hour ago. It was quite interesting about the research being done looking at type 1 from several angles - ie. cure, prevention, vaccination etc.
Seemed quite positive if you look past the dramatic "Silent Killer" references!
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Yes, I wish they hadn't been so melodramatic with that. Surely, as journalists, they could come up with something more appropriate that would convey the potential seriousness of the disease? Or maybe my standards are too high🙂
I think if I had no experience of diabetes I would have found the programme somewhat confusing - bits about causes, cures, backgrounds, treatments, history, differences to Type 2, mixed in with statistics, interviews, personal experiences etc. - an awful lot to cram into half an hour and still make it coherent to the lay person. Obviously, from the central theme of the programme - Justin's son Sam - there was a lot of association of Type 1 and children, but I don't think they mentioned that you can get it at any age, which is something that confuses people I meet when they learn I got it age 49.
But good that the subject is being aired, nonetheless! I think I'd give it 7 out of 10!🙂
I thought it was very melodramatic and self-indulgent on the part of Justin Webb. He was acting like it was the end of the world but really although parents must be upset when their kids are diagnosed, there are a lot worse illnesses to have and I think it if I was newly diagnosed the programme would have made me think t1 diabetes was a terrible thing and made me scared. It was interesting about the new treatments but I really didn't like the presenter. It is not a 'silent killer' it is just a medical condition, inconvenient and distressing it may be but we can all get on with our lives with minimal inconvenience if we take care of ourselves and the programme could have done with a more positive message.
I will listen to the programme. I would say though that diagnosis in a child does rather feel like the end of the world. It completely changes everything you thought the future would hold -- certainly for a while. The old feelings come back, to an extent, but I know they will never be there in the same way.
One programme can't do everything. Sam is newly diagnosed, and the programme can't do much else but be at the point of view of the newly diagnosed and family. Another programme about 'living with' diabetes would be useful and more positive -- but surely that sense of living with comes later?
There are many worse illnesses to have, and without wanting to sound melodramatic myself, I do think this very often as a way of pulling myself up. However, chronic anything in children is bleak, and exhausting and often full of despair and anger and disappointment. Personally I think a 'buck up' attitude just furthers the general perception of diabetes -- that's it's 'manageable' and really no big deal. Yes, it's manageable at the best of times, which is great. But it is a big deal, and very wearing, and sometimes dangerous, day in and day out -- for all people with diabetes. That needs acknowledging, and tracking a family's early responses is one way of doing so.
One programme can't do everything. Sam is newly diagnosed, and the programme can't do much else but be at the point of view of the newly diagnosed and family. Another programme about 'living with' diabetes would be useful and more positive -- but surely that sense of living with comes later?
There are many worse illnesses to have, and without wanting to sound melodramatic myself, I do think this very often as a way of pulling myself up. However, chronic anything in children is bleak, and exhausting and often full of despair and anger and disappointment. Personally I think a 'buck up' attitude just furthers the general perception of diabetes -- that's it's 'manageable' and really no big deal. Yes, it's manageable at the best of times, which is great. But it is a big deal, and very wearing, and sometimes dangerous, day in and day out -- for all people with diabetes. That needs acknowledging, and tracking a family's early responses is one way of doing so.
I just listened to it. First thoughts are that i can totally relate to how the narrator describes the feeling of being carefree being gone. Although i have had glimpses of feeling carefree since diagnosis - just not enough.But importantly Alex has had many moments of being carefree! I am glad Alex didnt listen to it. There was a fair amount of negativeness in the programme - but i suppose it was outweighed with the more positive possibilites of making life easier for a diabetic in the near future. I do have a problem with the title of the programme though. Also, and i may be wrong about this, but i got the impression that they were at one point saying that even if your levels are good - you may still get complications? Bev
Patricia - maybe I see it from a different perspective as someone who has been diabetic for 16 years. I was diagnosed at 11. Sometimes I do have a good rant if it gets too much but realistically I know that I could have much worse things wrong with me.
I thought the programme was a bit irresponsible. It was too focused on the poor-me attitude and did not seem to see things from a more positive view. For example, Webb mentioned one family where I think two siblings plus one parent were all type 1, and said it was his "nightmare". I can see positive sides to that situation since the diabetic children would already be used to the condition and so it would not be such a big shock if they developed it, and they could all support each other so they avoid the isolation which can happen if you are the only diabetic in your family or peer group. I thought he discounted the fact that there are lots of different things out there here and now to make our lives easier. Even a decade ago meters were not as good as they are now, needles were thicker and more painful, and eating was far more restricted. I suppose a parent of a newly diagnosed child might not know these at first but anyone can read up on it online or in books. Life for a diabetic child was truly awful before insulin and even since its discovery there have been many advances and breakthroughs in diabetes treatment making testing and injecting more comfortable and simple for us. There is one book in particular, I think it's called 'The Discovery of Insulin', and I would reccomend for anyone to read it and find out how far things have come. It isn't even a hundred years since insulin was discovered and we have come very far considering that.
I am not saying they should have focused entirely on 'the buck-up attitude', just that the programme could have been more balanced and less negative. If there was too much for one show, why not do a themed series of programmes, looking at different aspects of diabetes, from newly diagnosed to someone who has had it for decades and can talk about all the changes that have happened in their lifetime.
I thought the programme was a bit irresponsible. It was too focused on the poor-me attitude and did not seem to see things from a more positive view. For example, Webb mentioned one family where I think two siblings plus one parent were all type 1, and said it was his "nightmare". I can see positive sides to that situation since the diabetic children would already be used to the condition and so it would not be such a big shock if they developed it, and they could all support each other so they avoid the isolation which can happen if you are the only diabetic in your family or peer group. I thought he discounted the fact that there are lots of different things out there here and now to make our lives easier. Even a decade ago meters were not as good as they are now, needles were thicker and more painful, and eating was far more restricted. I suppose a parent of a newly diagnosed child might not know these at first but anyone can read up on it online or in books. Life for a diabetic child was truly awful before insulin and even since its discovery there have been many advances and breakthroughs in diabetes treatment making testing and injecting more comfortable and simple for us. There is one book in particular, I think it's called 'The Discovery of Insulin', and I would reccomend for anyone to read it and find out how far things have come. It isn't even a hundred years since insulin was discovered and we have come very far considering that.
I am not saying they should have focused entirely on 'the buck-up attitude', just that the programme could have been more balanced and less negative. If there was too much for one show, why not do a themed series of programmes, looking at different aspects of diabetes, from newly diagnosed to someone who has had it for decades and can talk about all the changes that have happened in their lifetime.
aymes
Senior Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I've just listened to it and thought it was pretty well done. I found the discussions about research very interesting, although I would agree that it may have been quite confusing for someone with no knowledge of diabetes to follow.
I think it's really good that there does seem to be more (and better) reporting of diabetes out there at the moment and although I can see it coming across as negative in a way I kind of welcome that. Yes diabetes is something that you can live with, and shouldn't hold you back in any way but at the same time it is serious and it does have a massive impact on us all, and we do all be can to mitigate that. So to me it makes a welcome change that a report is acknowledging the magnitude of it all, while still making it clear that with a bit of adjustment his son was doing 'normal' (I hate that word!) things. I think it's important that both mesages are out there, that diabetes is a serious, life changing condition, but also that it can, with hard work, be managed effectively and slot into our lives.
I think it's really good that there does seem to be more (and better) reporting of diabetes out there at the moment and although I can see it coming across as negative in a way I kind of welcome that. Yes diabetes is something that you can live with, and shouldn't hold you back in any way but at the same time it is serious and it does have a massive impact on us all, and we do all be can to mitigate that. So to me it makes a welcome change that a report is acknowledging the magnitude of it all, while still making it clear that with a bit of adjustment his son was doing 'normal' (I hate that word!) things. I think it's important that both mesages are out there, that diabetes is a serious, life changing condition, but also that it can, with hard work, be managed effectively and slot into our lives.
Copepod
Much missed Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Justin Webb on Feedback
Justin Webb was asked about criticism of the name "The Silent Killer" and admitted that it was wrong - "listen again" to Feedback until Thurs 30th July at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx
Justin Webb was asked about criticism of the name "The Silent Killer" and admitted that it was wrong - "listen again" to Feedback until Thurs 30th July at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx
aymes
Senior Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Thanks for that, was really good to hear that they've taken it on board, and exciting to hear the potential for other programmes on the topic int he future.
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
They are repeating this programme on Friday 18th December at 11:00 am, in case you missed it last time. For some reason it's not available on iPlayer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00l30sb
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00l30sb
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