One year on...

A whole year since Aisha left and we did all the traditional customs required, not sure what else there is left to do now, except pray for her. All I have is memories to hold onto. They say that time is a healer; so I wonder exactly how much time has to pass before those feelings of sadness start to fade away? If anyone has got any idea, then let me know. Answers on the back of a postcard please...

What do diabetes patients wish you knew?

Diabetes is a disease that affects the normal regulation of glucose in the body and occurs when the body produces very little or no insulin – a hormone that aids the breakdown of glucose. The molecules of glucose are broken down into smaller molecules of glycogen, which can be stored in the liver and can be used if the blood glucose drops again.

Diabetes is a unique disease as it requires the patient to take a lot more responsibility for their own treatment. Therefore in order to be treated successfully it is important that the patient has a good working relationship with their GP. But sometimes that doesn’t always happen. On the other hand, it’s also a good idea to become more educated about your condition and find your own support group that isn’t necessarily linked to your primary healthcare team.

My father actually suffers from diabetes and sometimes his medication doesn’t always agree with him. Therefore I’ve been reading a lot more about ways to naturally control your blood sugar levels as opposed to using medication. There is so much research on the disease – some of the work seems promising whilst some not so much. Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of it all, even if you do study science and so forth. During my search, I came across this blog by Amy Tenderich who is actually a very clued up patient and I found her posts very informative. Perhaps more patients should keep online blogs as sometimes patients may know something useful, that their doctors might not. Just a thought :)

Eid ul fitr

It’s the time of Eid-ul-fitr and I can’t believe how quickly this time has come around once again. Ah so many memories, some good, some bad.

Anyways Eid Mubarak to all.

Islam

Religion. I look around and find myself thinking that the very thing that is supposed to bind us together seems to push people further apart. With Islam being the second largest religion in the world, it has the potential to influence society today. If muslims could form an understanding amongst themselves, not for the purposes jihad or whatever else the extremists out there say but just for sake of peace and humanity, what religion is suppose to stand for, then how great would that be!

Looking around others religions seem very proud to follow their particular beliefs and yet with Muslims it doesn’t seem to shine so strong...
a) Christianity – With Christmas coming up, everyone seems to pull together and let bygones be bygones. The sense of togetherness that arises from such times of the years is great and truly illustrates the season of goodwill.
b) Judaism – surviving horrific events like the holocaust, this section of society found the strength to pull together and change that. The power and support that these guys have is something that should be admired and should be aspired to. Some of the most influential people in the world are Jewish.
c) Hinduism/ Sikhism – Many of my dad’s friends are sikh as well as hindu and we usually get invited to quite a few family weddings and religious occasions. I’m always impressed by the closeness of both these communities and how their traditional customs and culture are easily integrated with their religious beliefs.

Islam is still ever present in society (god knows it’s the media’s favourite topic these days), but it’s more like it’s just for show. The core values of Islam seem to have gotten lost somewhere and it’s perceived to be more about extremists and focusing on negative aspects brought about by a select few. So why is that I feel Islam doesn’t really tie us together as much as others religions seem to be? Am I being overly critical of my religion or is there something genuinely a miss here? Looking around the asian community, people would say that the desi community is alive and very much together. However in that instance I feel that people confuse religion with culture. I’m sure everyone fulfils the cultural requirements but what about the religious ones?

I’m not preaching and I’m not saying that I’m the perfect muslim... I’m probably far from it, lol. But the point I’m trying to make is that shouldn’t we doing more as muslims to bring our community together? Trying to explain the misconceptions about our religion rather than turning away or pretending that we’re not muslims. Take on active role in politics, look within ourselves to bring about change rather than blaming other people or circumstances. I know there are people out there making a difference but it’s like we need to pick up the pace as we seem to be lagging behind. I guess with other religions they all seem to have concentrated groups within select countries, whereas with Islam it seems to have no geographic boundaries. Maybe that’s one of the reason we can’t seem to join... we may be muslims but all have different cultural differences which perhaps stop us from uniting? Or perhaps I’m making stuff up in order to provide a logical explanation as to why we can’t even do the simplest thing and unite!

So yea that’s my thoughts for the day :) I’m gonna stop blathering now and get back to some real work :P