Chronic Illness Affects the Entire Family

How Terminal Illness Affects The Family: Diabetes
Name
Institution
Registration number

Chronic illnesses have devastating impacts on not only the individual but also on the lives of everyone involved ( Crain,1966). Foremost, the quality of lives of the patient and their families is reduced exponentially. Family member of patients undergo stress, worry and frustration. Since family members are often critical for successful patient care, it is imperative that the effects to the family be understood. I interviewed Allan, whose father suffers from diabetes.
Diabetes is often referred to as the silent killer since its symptoms are not easily noticeable. Statistically, 24 million people in the United States of America suffer from diabetes but 18 million are aware that they have it (White, 2007). Symptoms of diabetes include increased urination and excessive thirst since the body is trying to replenish lost fluids with the kidney getting rid of extra glucose I the blood. Massive weight loss over a short period is also a symptom of diabetes. Moreover, excessive pangs of hunger are another sign of diabetes as body blood sugar levels go down (Tsiouli, 2002). The skin may also darken around the neck and armpits or be itchy. A slower healing process from infections, cuts and bruises is a sin of diabetes. Further symptoms of diabetes include; a distorted and blurry vision, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet coupled swelling and a burning sensation irritability and fatigue.

After contracting diabetes, Allan’s father was worried about his life expectancy. Diabetes life expectancy is determined by how soon the illness was discovered, the progress of the complications brought about by the illness and whether or not the patient has other medical conditions (Wysocki, 2007). Allan shares hat since his father had contracted type 1 diabetes, his life expectancy was reduced by up to 10 years. However, Allan says that complications such as heart disease and kidney disease could are an everyday danger to his father since diabetes weakens the patient’s immune system.
Allan’s father was 50 years old when he discovered he was suffering from type 2 diabetes. Being an old school man, he was not comfortable with going for checkups and believed that h was fit and healthy. However, a friend of their family whose spouse had been suffering from diabetes advise him to go seek medical help. Allan’s father had been very irritable, always fatigued at work and was losing weight. When the friend to the family advised him to go check his blood sugar levels, He was in denial and demanded for another checkup, which brought the same result. Allan says that this was probably the hardest part for the family since they all had to come to terms with the fact that their breadwinner was terminally ill.
Allan shares that since his father was diagnosed, his mother was the most affected by the news. Allan says that his mother was unsure about her role in his father’s life since the diagnosis. She was trying her best to make things better for the bedridden father and in the process completely forgot about the other members of the family. Allan says that since his father’s diagnosis, his house could be compared only to a madhouse. Tension was high and his father’s irritability brought about by the diabetes did not do much to help the situation. The kids ended up avoiding their parents in their time of most need in an effort to keep their distance and to avoid setting their parents off.
Diabetics need a healthy sugar free diet besides going for regular dialysis (Cordell, 2002). These activities posed financial constraints on the family of Allan. Dialysis is particularly expensive and Allan says that his family had to sell their mortgage to take his father through the regular dialysis. His father also developed kidney complications that were very expensive to the family. The family had to cut expenses to meet the medical bills, much to the dismay of their father who was crestfallen for being a liability to the family.
Allan also shares that since his father’s diagnosis, he has been anxious that he may contract the illness later in life. He says that since diabetes is genetic, he is afraid that his fate is similar to that of his dads. He also shares that his two siblings have also unequivocally said that they have similar fears. Allan and his siblings have also gone to lengths to get to know information about diabetes not only for their father but also for themselves. Family gets anxious when the patients develops diabetic complications and may blame themselves for not providing adequate care (Tsiouli, 2013).
Allan shares that his father was 40 years when he was diagnosed with diabetes. At the time of the diagnosis, Allan was the first-born son and he had two younger siblings. Since the diagnosis, Allan’s parents do not have any other kids though they previously had plans to get extra kids. Diabetes leads to decreased libido or are even unable to orgasm (Clayton, 2002). Allan’s parents had to make conscious decisions to give up having more children due to the diabetes. Moreover, they were aware of the financial constraints that come with diabetes and therefore decided to make conscious decisions in that regard. Diabetes influences family dynamics as well as the sex life of the patient. In addition, diabetes may hinder the ability to earn a living and jeopardize present and future financial security of the affected family.
Diabetes also tests someone’s spirituality and put your faith to test (Wysocki, 2007). According to Allan, his father was previously a very spiritual person but since the doctors told him that his body will be deteriorating on a daily basis and he could do nothing about it, he stopped believing in a higher power. He felt like he was abandoned since it meant that he relied on insulin for his survival. Diabetes tests the very core of our beliefs since it brings about a lot of feelings and emotions that can be hard to comprehend and understand.
In conclusion, terminal illnesses affect families of the patient in many ways. Diabetes causes emotional stress and anxiety to the family, changes the lifestyle of the family and jeopardizes the financial security of the family in addition to psychological impact on both the family and patient. Through Allan’s interview, this paper gets an emotional look into the effects of diabetes on the family.
References
Crain, A. J., Sussman, M. B., & Weil Jr, W. B. (1966). Family interaction, diabetes, and sibling relationships. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 12(1), 35-43.
Cordell, H. J., & Clayton, D. G. (2002). A unified stepwise regression procedure for evaluating the relative effects of polymorphisms within a gene using case/control or family data: application to HLA in type 1 diabetes. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 70(1), 124-141.
Rosland, A. M., Kieffer, E., Israel, B., Cofield, M., Palmisano, G., Sinco, B., … & Heisler, M. (2008). When is social support important? The association of family support and professional support with specific diabetes self-management behaviors. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(12), 1992.
Tsiouli, E., Alexopoulos, E. C., Stefanaki, C., Darviri, C., & Chrousos, G. P. (2013). Effects of diabetes-related family stress on glycemic control in young patients with type 1 diabetes: systematic review. Canadian Family Physician, 59(2), 143-149.
White, P., Smith, S. M., & O’dowd, T. (2007). Living with type 2 diabetes: a family perspective. Diabetic medicine, 24(7), 796-801.
Wysocki, T., Harris, M. A., Buckloh, L. M., Mertlich, D., Lochrie, A. S., Mauras, N., & White, N. H. (2007). Randomized trial of behavioral family systems therapy for diabetes: maintenance of effects on diabetes outcomes in adolescents. Diabetes Care, 30(3), 555-560.