My last entry, Suka is Poison, ended abruptly and dramatically. Suka --> Poison -->Death. It was by design. However, my intention surely was not to leave you with a sense of pessimism or to become as we refer to in our house "A Debbie Downer". Nor was I intentionally employing a scare tactic. Rather, my objective was to be short, direct, and bluntly honest...the kind of thought-process commonly found amongst Tongan parents (at least the ones I know). I wish to clarify here, that my statement wasn't meant to suggest that if you become a suka/diabetic, you will die right away. Nope, absolutely not. We are all embarking in a mortal journey that will eventually come to an end. As the German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer eloquently stated "Life is a constant process of dying". However, it is natural for all of us to want to go through the process of dying with grace, dignity, and comfort. It is our moral duty to respect life and to be responsible stewards of our bodies. We have spent endless time, resources, and energy despite frustrations, failures, and disappointments in our quest for a longer, comfortable and more enjoyable life. This is evident in the evolution of our engineering, diets, and social infrastructures. Therefore, it is pertinent to understand that which gets in our way of attaining such goals.
Suka's effects on the body and its many systems/organs are decisively destructive. A detail and complete physiological discussion will be time consuming, tiring, and quite frankly boring. Trust me, I've read many-a textbooks and peer-reviewed articles and they all are. So, I will attempt to be relatively plain and simple.
The saying "Misfortunes never come singly" is ever so true when it comes to Suka. It almost always come with two bad companies, 1. High blood pressure/Toto Ma'olunga and 2. High Cholesterol/Ma'olunga e Ngako.
Here's some statistics (I love numbers...I know, nerdy), Dr. Simonson in the Diabetes Care Journal in 1988 said that High Blood Pressure/Toto Ma'olunga prevalence is 2 times likely then in non-diabetic patients. It is important to review here the two different types of Suka that I mentioned in my last entry. Those with Type 1 Suka are born with it and High blood pressure is normally not present at the time of diagnosis. However, for Type 2 Suka, high blood pressure was almost always diagnosed at the time of diagnosis. Please bear in mind that there are multiple factors that play into this close association and I chose to address them later. Anyways, back to the statistics. This means that my Suka adult relatives are twice as likely to have Toto Maolunga in comparison to my non-Suka ones. This is unfortunately impressive.
High Cholesterol/Ma'olunga e Ngako was reported by Harris in the Diabetes Care in 1991, to be present 70% of the time in those diagnosed with Diabetes/Suka. That is incredible. It means that if I have 10 adults in my family with Type 2 diabetes, at least 7 of them will also have High Ngako.
So, you can insert here "Sai ke tau 'Ilo" if you didn't already at some point above. MHK! So, this is where it gets scary. You take these three; Suka, Toto Maolunga, and Maolunga e Ngako together and they will attack you right at the heart of the matter...literally
According to the American Heart Association;
1. 68% of Suka people that are 65 years or older die from some form of heart disease, and 16% die of Stroke (heard of this guy?)
2. Adults with Suka are 2-4 times more likely to have Heart Disease or a Stroke than those without Suka
3. Suka is one of the 7 major controllable risk factors for Cardiovascular Disease.
Now, these are just the few of the handiwork that these guys do on the heart. We haven't started on the others such as Atherosclerosis, Peripheral Neuropathy, and kidneys/Kofu Ua and the dreaded D word; DIALYSIS (we will save that for later).
Ok, enough with the Doom-n-Gloom. The good news is, with proper medication and lifestyle modifications, these guys can be tamed. However, it is a CHOICE. One that is difficult but doable, restrictive but liberating, and small but of extreme value. A choice that needs to be made multiple times a day everyday.
Let me close with this wise counsel from Madame Chiang Kai-shek, that grand lady of China.
"If the past has taught us anything it is that every cause brings its effect, every action has a consequence. This thought, in my opinion, is the moral foundation of the universe...In the end, we are all the sum total of our actions. Characters can not be counterfeited...character requires time and nurture for growth and development. Thus also, day by day, we write our own destiny; for inexorably we become what we do. This, I believe, is the supreme logic and law of life."
Suka and his compadres are "no respecter of persons" and they seek take away grace, dignity, and comfort from our process of dying if we fail to impose control on them. #SukaIsPoison #controlSuka #protecttheheart #BeatSuka
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