Rob shares his life-long dance with diabetes
September 3, 2010
ABBOTT’S FreeStyle launch and Australian
Diabetes Educators Assn Annual Scientific Meeting
expo stand, was given a fair boost of star power
when 2010 winner of Dancing With the Stars and
star of Better Homes and Gardens, Rob Palmer,
joined their stand to promote the new test strips
and also chat about his own battle with diabetes.
Whilst in attendance Rob spoke exclusively with
PD about living with the condition.
When were you first diagnosed?
“When i was seven. And pretty much started
playing sport straight away, i’d never really played
team sport before that and mum and dad threw
me straight into it thinking that it would be a good
idea, the more exercise you do the better it is for
your body, whether you’re diabetic or not. Exercise
is a really great thing.”
How have pharmacists helped you manage your diabetes?
“It used to be really hard to find a chemist that stocked a variety of stuff so that you could actually help
yourself, and just having a large range of stock is the best help you can get, otherwise it’s a four hour exercise to
find a chemist that that has what you need so that you can get on with your day.”
Do you find mananging diabetes with an active lifestyle a challenge?
“I think managing diabetes is a challenge full stop. And it doesn’t matter what your lifestyle is the challenge is
really no less. Even if you’re not active it’s really good to be aware of what your sugars are doing. The best way
to manage diabetes i’ve found is just to know whether my blood sugar is going up or coming down or stable or
what ever and you can only really know that by regular checks.”
So you’d certianly reccomend an active lifestyle?
“I’d recommend as active a lifestyle as is humanly possible. If i could play sport for a living i would.”
Have you seen or felt much of a difference between treatment options that were available in the last decade
to what’s available now?
“It’s extraordinary how different diabetes management tools are from when i was diagnosed to now. That was
25-30 years ago, and now, i mean what used to be the size of a large lunchbox, is now the size of a wristwatch
and it’s manageable, it’s easy, it’s fast, it’s ten times faster than it used to be and it’s so easy to check your blood
sugar i don’t see why you wouldn’t do it all the time. The pin prick, the amount of blood you need is so much
less, theamount of time you need is so much less and by knowing what your sugars are you can sort of know
how to manage diabetes based on that. Things have gotten easier and quicker.”
What advice would you give to people who are newly diagnosed?
“Never say no to something because you’re a diabetic.”
What advice would you give to pharmacists who deal with diabetic patients?
“I’d encourage regular testing, without being too insistent. No one likes to be told what to do. But quite often
people like to know what is a good idea. And if you can encourage someone without telling them what to do,
they’re more likely to take that onboard and make their own decision as opposed to following your instructions.”
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