Jay H. Shubrook, DO: Welcome to Everyday Diabetes: Practical Pointers for Primary Care. I'm Jay Shubrook, a family physician and diabetologist at Touro University California.
Today I'm delighted to have Dr William Polonsky back with us today to talk about diabetes distress. Dr Polonsky is a PhD, a Certified Diabetes Educator, and the president of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute in Southern California. Welcome back, Dr Polonsky.
William H. Polonsky, PhD: Thank you. Glad to be here.
Shubrook: Earlier, we talked about diabetes distress, which is common and affects people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It affects the ongoing management and progression of the disease because it gets in the way of self-care.
It is a topic that is important for primary care providers to understand.
I'm going to share a patient of mine. This is a 54-year-old man who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 6 months ago, based on screening labs. Almost immediately upon diagnosis, he engaged in action mode. He is a civil engineer, so he developed tables and plans.
When I saw him recently, he told me that he gets up at 5:00 in the morning and starts his to-do list for his diabetes self-care.
