SOURCE : THE NATIONAL

ABU DHABI - AUG 24: The Emirati man waited until he was losing his eyesight and his mother was dying of complications from the disease before finally having his blood sugar tested for diabetes.

“Once you know you have diabetes you’re done,” he said. “I told them, until I fall down, I won’t do the test.”

The man would not reveal his name because of the stigma he says is associated with having diabetes in the UAE, and it is this stigma that prevents many people from being tested.

Later, it stops them from getting help in managing their condition – one of the most important elements after a diagnosis.

“Diabetes has many complications,” said Dr Maha Barakat, the medical and research director of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi. “It is important to look at the patient holistically. Focusing on glucose alone is not enough.”

The Emirati man was first tested at the age of 43, while visiting his mother in hospital. The reading was very high and yet still he did nothing. Then he began to notice his eyesight was deteriorating.

“That was the time that I knew things were getting serious,” he said. “I was so tired all the time and drinking water, a lot of water. I knew the symptoms of diabetes because my mom and dad had it.”

One of the theories about why the rate of diabetes in the UAE is so high – one in five people has the disease – is that there is a genetic predisposition to the disease.

“You can have two people who have the same lifestyle,” said Dr Barakat.
“They eat the same food and have the same body mass index. One might get the disease, while the other will not. Why is that?”

When the Emirati man finally decided to get retested, his blood sugar levels were off the chart.

“When I went to the medical centre and was diagnosed they couldn’t read my blood sugar levels,” he said. “The machine was just blinking – it was too high to read.

“I was scared. I told my brother there was a problem, a big problem. I know this thing and it’s not a joke.”

He was admitted to the diabetes centre, given insulin and put on a strict diet to help regulate his blood sugar.

“Now all I eat is rabbit food. It has no taste, just a crunch sound,” he said, shaking his head. He was told that each meal should be half vegetables, a quarter rice or bread and a quarter meat.

“I don’t follow the diet,” he admitted. “You get tired of it. My mother died of a heart attack due to diabetes and even though I know this, I still get sick of eating the food.”

His secretary, who does not know he is diabetic, often brings him chocolates and sweets, which he eats to be polite. “After you have the sweets you don’t feel guilty – you feel good,” he said. “You eat with pleasure. You’ve been missing it. To feel it. You feel a rush. You don’t regret it. But after some time, when you see your sugar levels go high, you ask, what have I done?”

He returned time and again to his doctor, who had to adjust his insulin levels. Eventually, she warned him that he was on the highest dosage available.

“I did not tell her I wasn’t following the diet. I didn’t want to upset her,” he explained.

His blood sugar has finally levelled off. Now he tries to follow the diet and goes to the gym three times a week.

Like many people with diabetes, he can live a relatively normal life, but the problem never goes away.

“There is no cure. It doesn’t give you hope,” he said. “Once you’re in it you’d better make the best of your remaining life and ignore it.”

The man has a teenage son who is overweight. Sometimes he tries to persuade him to go to the gym, but “It’s in God’s control”, he says. “If he has it he has it and there is nothing he can do. Whether he becomes diabetic is already written for him. I cannot change that.”

He wants to warn people that diabetes sneaks up on its victims. “The problem with diabetes is that there is no pain. If you have a headache or a stomach ache you do something about it. Diabetes is silent.”

The man believes that having to regulate his blood sugar is worse than having the disease itself. He compares diabetes to a nagging wife, who is constantly chastising him for bad behaviour.

“It is terrible. Everything good is bad,” he said. “You name it and it is bad for you. What is there left for me to do? Eat this rabbit food and drink water? Is that life? Is that what I am here for?”

Although he chafes at the new restrictions to his formerly carefree life, he says he has come to terms with the disease.

“I have learnt that if you cheat, you’re cheating yourself. And then you become sick,” he said, growing quiet. “When you’re sick, no one is there.”