Reasons Diabetes Patients Need To Be Proactive

To contact us Click HERE

Proactive you say? Yes, we as patientsneed to become more proactive in our care and learn about diabetes,diabetes medications, and the care of ourselves. This means that weshould learn and review. The new medications that may be coming tomarket in the next few years will need to be reviewed, as there couldbe some side effects and some positive results. Just letting yourdoctor prescribe a new medication may not be in your best interest. You will also need to check with your medical insurance company tosee if they are covering it. You should know that the cost will behigher than the current medications on average or even significantlyhigher. Those on Medicare will still have the “doughnut hole”(though smaller) for a few years and this could be a budget busterfor some.
With hospitals continuing to employmore doctors, you can bet the time you will have with your doctorduring appointments will continue to shrink. This means less timewill be available for the doctor to dispense education and even coverthe topics necessary.  The recent guidelines from the AmericanDiabetes Association (ADA), which shows a lot of stacking ofmedications, may not work for many patients. See this blog by TomRoss for the chart, or follow his link to view how ADA is stackingoral medications. This makes it even more important for patients toeducate themselves to know what the side effects of medications are. It is also important that patients learn self-monitoring of bloodglucose (SMBG) and other important management skills.
It is also important to understand thatjust because a doctor does not mention or talk about something, thereare areas that are important and should not be ignored. Exercise isone of these areas and I admit that I am tired of hearing otherpatients with type 2 diabetes saying, “It must not have been thatimportant as the doctor never talked about it.” This phrase justseems to roll of the lips of patients and I can understand as eitherthey don't wish to follow some recommendation, or in fact, the doctordid not have time to talk about it. Nutrition is also a topic mostdoctors do not talk about, yet for people with type 2 diabetes,nutrition is very important to great diabetes management.
Another topic doctors often don't talkabout unless they are prescribing insulin is hypoglycemia. They seemto overlook the fact that this can happen and does happen to patientswith type 2 diabetes on oral medications, especially sulfonylureas. A recent blog should also raise this concern. Even this shortarticle talks about hypoglycemia, but other than list the symptoms,gives no indication of what to watch for in your blood glucosereadings. This is important and many of the symptoms could beindicators of other medical problems. One check of your bloodglucose will resolve this issue. If your blood glucose reading isbelow 70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/L), you are in the hypoglycemia area andshould take action immediately by chewing on a glucose tablet.
Just to keep this in front of you as areminder, here are many of the symptoms of hypoglycemia, Feeling dizzy or shaking, Sweating and having pale skin.Developing a headache.Feeling hungry.Showing sudden changes in behavior.Moving clumsily.Having a seizure.Feeling confused or having difficultypaying attention.Feeling a "tingling"sensation around the mouth.
This blogger believes we will need tobecome e-patients, meaning empowered patients. Her book e-PatientsLive Longer, helps explain her and her beliefs, but it is agood read. Whether you have diabetes or breast cancer, it helps tobe an e-patient.