Oprah to discuss diabetes on Thursday's show
On Thursday, Oprah and Dr. Oz will be discussing diabetes. The title of the show is "America's Silent Killer: Oprah and Dr. Oz Want to Save Your Life."
Dr. Oz is here with an emergency wake-up call. Then, Dr. Ian Smith, Bob Greene and chef Art Smith on how to stop America's silent killer: diabetes.
Now, I like Oprah, and I really respect Dr. Oz, but I am wary of what will be said on this episode. I hope they clearly communicate the differences between type 1 and type 2--like how type 1 is not preventable and how very stressful and difficult it is to manage. I am worried that it will simply be a discussion of obesity and will cause more confusion about type 1 diabetes.
Oprah does not have a great track record for accurately covering medical issues. Remember how she "blew out" her thyroid from working too hard?
Some articles to chew on:
"Oprah's Bad Medicine" Salon.com, May 15, 2009
"Live Your Best Life Ever!" Newsweek, May 30, 2009
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Katsz on -
Just the title makes me worry "Americas Silent Killer" ....I have the same concerns that you have and will watch it before and decide if I want my 15 yr. old w/diabetes to see it. Thank you for the heads up.
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Permalink Reply by Katsz on
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Dr. Oz had a show on Diabetes not too long ago... I watched it. I think he did say the difference some but mostly he checked peoples BGs and told them to go to get checked if it was bad.
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Permalink Reply by Kathy on -
On the flip side of this...I hope they don't say loose the weight and it will all go away!!!!!!!!!!
Dr. Oz if I remember right is all for this type of attitude.
As we know...weight causes many problems and loosing it helps considerably (for anyone - diabetic or not).
But it won't completely end someone's lack of sufficient insulin (due to resistance or lack of working beta cells).
It takes far to much damage to even become diabetic - weight loss won't cure it.
Should be interesting....don't give me anything I can throw at the TV...I spent good money for that flat screen! :-) HA
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly on -
Yeah - this is bad. Dr. Oz consistently says that people with Type 2 diabetes can reverse it. Which is just plain wrong. Does he honestly think that a Type 2 who is controlling their blood sugar very well can expect to eat a dozen donuts and not spike? If he truly does think this (b/c hey - normalized blood sugars in Type 2s means they've "cured" themselves), then he needs to have his license yanked.
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on -
If not understanding diabetes was a reason to yank any physician's license, 99.9% of physicians would not have licenses. And that includes a fair number of endocrinologists. My son's ped-endo informed me as we were leaving the hospital that I now understood Type 1 diabetes better than 80% of all medical professionals, and that once we'd been managing it for a year, that number would go up to 90%. That freaked me out, but after a year... I realize he's right, and that's even given that I still feel like I don't know that much! Dr. Oz probably knows what T1 is and how it's different from T2, but I am confident he has no clue how it's managed.
They do these shows to reach the greatest common denominator - and that means T2s and people at risk of T2. It might be annoying in that it perpetuates public misunderstanding of T1 diabetes, but there's not much anyone can do about it. And frankly I'm thankful that T1 isn't more common than it already is... if Oprah WERE doing a show on it, that would have kind of scary implications.
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Permalink Reply by Shannon on -
They will not be addressing Type 1. When I first learned of this show (about a month ago), I sent an email to the producers asking them to address a type 1-related situation. They weren't interested.
I'm so over Oprah these days . . .
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Permalink Reply by Cara on -
Shame on them. I've tried for years to get them to do shows on type 1, they are never interested. I guess if we grew new heads or something they'd put us on there. Wait, that might be Jerry Springer or Maury
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on
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They probably would do it if you could get some famous T1s to agree to appear - like Sonia Sotomayor, or that Jonas brother guy. And, some people who have really cute little kids with heart-rending stories. Other than that, no way.
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Permalink Reply by HFXNS on -
I'm disappointed to hear that they won't be covering type 1. I just know they'll spend the whole show saying "diabetes, diabetes, diabetes" while I scream at the TV "TYPE 2!"
I used to worry that the two types of diabetes were confused by most people, but now I think the larger issue is the disappearance of type 1. It's rarely discussed in the media; everything is always about type 2.
And whenever type 1 is discussed, it's waaaaay off base. I saw Dr. Nancy Snyderman on the Today Show totally blow it when asked by a mom of a type 1 to explain why the two diseases are different (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34038306#34038306).
When a doctor on TV says stuff like, "Your iPhone will someday be able to check your blood glucose through your skin, tell you what's going on, and deliver your insulin," it is pretty misleading. Most of us don't even have CGMS or pumps yet, and I'm pretty sure Apple's not getting into the pump/CGMS business--no matter how much we wish they would!
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Permalink Reply by Kathy on -
Yes, I agree. Because they only address type 2 and give erroneous information about that then it hurts all people with diabetes regardless of the type. At least they could say, there are different forms of diabetes and they are addressing type 2 at least their erroneous advice of type 2.
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