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WorldView

Diabetes Patients Face Grueling Routine

Aired February 13, 2000 - 8:16 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: If you suffer from Type 1 diabetes, you know that two of the most devastating side effects are blindness and kidney disease. There may be a way to stave off vision loss and dialysis, but it requires work every single day.

CNN health correspondent Holly Firfer looks at how hard it can be for patients to comply.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Courtney Glenn is like any other 10-year-old who loves gymnastics, plays with her dog, and little brother, Chase, except for one thing.

Courtney must check her blood sugar levels five to six times, eat at least four or five snacks, and take at least three to four insulin shots every day, intensive therapy that the "New England Journal of Medicine" study concludes will help prolong her life, as well as, as many as 1 million people living with Type 1 diabetes.

COURTNEY GLENN, DIABETES PATIENT: Sometimes I can remember, and sometimes I can't remember when I'm supposed to check it.

TOD GLENN, COURTNEY'S FATHER: From time to time, you know, just like any kid, they don't want to eat what they are supposed to eat or take their medicine, so it -- but we've been fortunate from that standpoint, because she knows she has to do it, and she does a pretty good job with it.

DR. SUZANNE GEPHARDT, ENDOCRINOLOGIST: Not only is it a lot to keep up with, but it's also an uncomfortable lot to keep up with.

FIRFER: Dr. Suzanne Gephardt hopes new treatments like an insulin inhaler, or a non-prick monitoring device will be developed to make diabetes maintenance easier, but for now, she says what's important for the patient is to have support.

GEPHARDT: Family members who can be on the team, who can help make life easier by encouraging compliance, really, really make a big difference.

FIRFER: Besides diabetes, doctors say asthma, AIDS, hypertension, and heart disease, are among chronic illnesses that are difficult for patients to maintain daily medicinal routines. Patient education classes, phone calls from nurses, reminders in the mail, and computer checks on office visits, are just some tools Kaiser Permanente use to make sure their patients are following necessary treatments.

DENNIS TOLSMA, KAISER PERMANENTE: If they don't know how to manage that, then they are going to end up at the emergency room, and this is not a very pleasant thing. It's very traumatic. The things you do for prevention today are the things that will overt serious health problems in years to come.

FIRFER (on camera): How old would you like to grow up to be?

GLENN: One hundred.

FIRFER: Why?

GLENN: So I can live a long time.

FIRFER (voice-over): Holly Firfer, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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