Susto

I saw a Spanish speaking patient the other day that was a new patient visit. I asked about her past medical history and her family history. I usually ask specifically about diabetes in the patient or their family, especially in any patient with risk factors for diabetes. This patient denied any health problems at all, but told me that they had a sister with diabetes.

"She had a susto and her sugar went high and the diabetes hit her and she's had diabetes ever since then" the patient explained to me.

(for the non-Spanish speaker- susto is a scare, or an emotional stress, perhaps what we would call an anxiety attack)

Wow... I've done some research in diabetes and Hispanics, and I had actually read about this notion that some believe that diabetes can be caused by susto. But reading about it and hearing it first hand are different indeed. So, I can now testify that there are (still) people out there that blame a metabolic / genetic disorder on susto! So watch out for anything too scary, you don't want diabetes to get you.