Recognizing and understanding the symptoms of type 2 diabetes

Although diabetes education encourages people to monitor symptoms of glycemic imbalance, there has been little research on how people from ethnic minorities recognize and understand their symptoms. To explore this question, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 African Americans over age 60 living with diabetes. Thematic analysis revealed 3 patterns of symptom experience. Those with prominent symptoms understood their body to be providing meaningful feedback on the diabetes and their efforts to manage the disease. Those with absent symptoms perceived no physical response to their diabetes, which they took to mean that the disease was well controlled. Those with perplexing symptoms could not interpret the messages they received from their body and were discouraged by this, often feeling they could not trust their body. The findings suggest that innovative strategies are needed to help people become more attuned to their body so they might better recognize and understand their symptoms.