Impact of diabetes
The diagnosis of diabetes was generally seen as devas
tating, and the expression “I was spoiled” was used by
several informants. Virtually all felt that diabetes was a
chronic, incurable condition and a potential threat to
life. They feared acute complications (collapse and
“dropping dead”), and a minority volunteered specific
long term sequelae in the heart, eyes, and kidneys.
Control of diabetes (and therefore reduction in disabil
ity and prolongation of life) was felt to lie in restoring
the body's internal balance via taking particular foods
and fighting the “germ” with medicine