This manifesto is being authored during the COVID-19 outbreak. It has been tragic to read the thousands of confused and worried posts on diabetic forums when they hear that “diabetes is a comorbidity” for COVID-19 and that those with diabetes have a 9.2% fatality rate.
This is a perfect example of the mistake in calling a chronic insulin disorder “diabetes.” Are the high death rates due to compounding complications from glucose toxicity? Are the high death rates because insulin dependent type 1’s were too sick to take their insulin? Or because they were type 2 diabetics who hadn’t been managing their diet and exercise and contracted COVID-19 with unhealthy blood glucose levels?
So get this: after a few months of panic spreading through the diabetes community about this broad-brush, unhelpful 9.2% fatality rate metric for diabetics, more specifics were released that, of course, validate the Type A Diabetic credo: it’s glucose toxicity, after all, that’s the comorbidity to COVID-19, not “diabetes” writ large:
There are far too many variables and situations to help anyone by saying “diabetes is a comorbidity.” It would be far more helpful if glucose toxicity, insulin production disorder, or insulin resistance disorder information was shared. I can’t tell you how many people around the world were scared by the 9.2% diabetes comorbidity rate, and posted on social media their worries and concerns. This is unnecessary stress. We can do better.