Africa-Press – Botswana. Though sugar diabetes is a chronic disease that can lead to premature death, Ms Onalenna Ramakgathi said it was manageable if one is prepared to understand the disease and work towards managing it.
In an interview about her experience, she said she got diagnosed with diabetes 30 years back and therefore emphasised the need for constant screening so that when detected, there would be timely response before it affected whole body.
Ms Ramakgathi, 55, said when growing up, she was fond of eating just about anything, which made her gain weight.
She said when her eye sight deteriorated, she had to go from one opticians to another, change spectacles many times, without any improvement.
She said she got helped after she was diagnosed with sugar diabetes.
“I was immediately put on treatment and an eye operation was timely performed, otherwise I could have lost my sight,” she said.
She said she had to change her way of life drastically, cutting off on everything, reduce fatty meat consumption, eating in less portions and exercising daily.
“My meals now compose of vegetables mostly, lots of drinking water, no more sodas, and I drink water, whenever I feel the thirst for a sweetened drink, my mornings and evenings are dedicated to exercising,” she said.
She said sugar diabetes was no longer a life sentence, but a disease that could be managed and enable one to live longer.
Ms Ramakgathi cautioned people with diabetes to take it easy and make sure that they eat appropriate food at the right time.
“Many in social events consume everything and would even say ‘tsisa, ke ipolae fela’ and they consume what they are not supposed to.”
She therefore said it was important that people know the risks, to be able to beat diabetes.
Explaining diabetes, she said its when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
She said because people do not screen for diabetes, many often do not know they were diabetic until its too late, as they only screen during commemoration days, therefore urged Batswana to make screening a habit so to enable timely interventions.
She called on Batswana to screen for all diseases, adding that diabetes was a silent killer when detected late, and could lead to serious complications such as loss of sight
“The earlier the disease is detected, the better tthe chance to manage it” she said.
Ms Ramakgathi further explained that diabetes could be managed, adding that the slogan ‘know your symptoms, know your response’ was a call to all to learn about the symptoms of diabetes be it Type 1 or Type 2.
She said some symptoms did not always appear until the disease had progressed, hence the periodic visit for screening was an important component of preventing the disease, together with diet, behaviour modification, exercising and obesity prevention.
“Diabetes affects millions of people worldwide, it puts a strain on the economy, in regard to treatment and it is high time every family adopts excising as part of a lifestyle approach and healthy eating as a lifetime strategy.
She said some of the symptoms included excessive thirst and urination, adding that they could cause several serious health problems if left untreated.
Ms Ramakgathi dismissed the myth that sugar diabetes was a disease for the rich or the elderly, adding that children and everyone irrespective of age could be diabetic.
She called for support from family members, which she said made a huge difference in diabetes management.
She hailed her brother for always making sure that vegetables were part of their family meals, adding that with constant support the ailing were bound to manage and defeat the disease.
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