Dr. Irving Paul Huber, MD

Dr. Huber was my old physician in the 1990's. I liked him very much in that he cared, spent time to explain things, was a good diagnostician, and would take you quickly if the need arose. I hope he has retained those good qualities.I went to him with vague complaints of feeling tired all the time, and told him I felt that there was no one thing wrong, but that whatever was going on was systemic. He did appropriate tests (blood and urine) and had the sad duty of informing me that I was now a Type II diabetic. To this point, I felt he had been an excellent physician.Unfortunately, his strengths ended there. He told me of the importance of keeping weight under control to help control the disease but was unhelpful in suggesting an approach, vaguely suggesting a few commercial programs. In fairness, back then many people in health care lacked knowledge in this area, including the diabetic educator I went to at the time at the local hospital in Norristown. In any case, Dr. Huber's… advice was to try to lose weight and to see him in a month.On my next visit I was proudly able to show him I had lost nearly 11 pounds... and he completely took the wind out of my sails, telling me that for most Type II diabetics, weight loss was usually temporary and inevitably regained. It was pretty crushing, and felt like what I had accomplished meant little. Somehow his nuturing nature seemed gone that day, and he left me feeling without hope, and that is when I recognized his limitations as well as my own. I had shown I was willing and able to make needed changes. Maybe some folks believe that conferring hope is not duty of a physician, but I beg to differ; this man held my future health in his hands, and had the opportunity to help me come to grips with it in a positive way and did not do so. Dr. Huber, if you ever read this, you're a fine human being and I loved you as a doctor, but I want you to know you were wrong. I am here roughly 17 years later to tell you that I am a well-controlled diabetic with an a1c below 7, and weigh less now than I did in college. I stick with a low-carb regimen and have excellent sugar and cholesterol profiles. While you may be right about many diabetics regaining weight and getting worse, you need to know it is not always true, and leave the door open to hope. You also need to know, if you do not already, that a low carbohydrate way of eating is an excellent approach for many of us Type II's. It must be hard to be a doctor and have to drop unhappy bombs, and I don't envy you that part of your job. I only hope that you have improved over the years from the already good doc and person you were and that you have evolved into an excellent doctor capable of supporting patients through their conditions through knowledge and hope.