Honesty

In technical terms, diabetes is 'controlled' when a patient's A1c is ~7%.  Needless to say, when a patient's A1c is 12% her diabetes is VERY uncontrolled.  Today I had a new patient who had an A1c of 12.4%, it was my first time seeing her and I could tell in the beginning she was skeptical of who I was or what I did.  I think when I asked her if she spoke English and started to worry.  After about 10 minutes she finally told me, "You know, I'll be honest.  I don't take my medicine.  I only inject once a day."  She was worried 'so much medicine' would hurt her kidneys when in reality, her uncontrolled diabetes was WAY WORSE for her.  I explained what she needed to do, how her medications are safe for her and will actually help her protect her kidneys.  I was glad that she was honest with me so I can properly help her and treat her diabetes.