Would it surprise you if I told you that this year alone, the United States would spend more than $322 billion dollars on direct medical costs and lost productivity due to diabetes and prediabetes? That’s a stunning price tag, right?
That jaw-dropping number represents the financial toll being paid to treat nearly 30 million Americans with diabetes and another 86 million with prediabetes every year. Plus, an additional 3,800 of our family and friends are newly diagnosed each day, adding to those already staggering numbers.
[See: The Best Diets to Prevent — and Manage — Diabetes.]
As more people are grappling with how to live with the burdens of diabetes, the growing concern that I and others in the medical community have is that too often we default to a medication-based solution. A medication prescription is made, and little attention is given to other aspects of diabetes management. It’s standard fare.
While medications play a role, there is a growing realization that we need to prescribe a healthy dose of education. Instead of quick-fix pill-focused treatment, we should empower individuals to take a more holistic perspective to managing their diabetes.
[See: Got Diabetes? Why You Must Protect Your Feet.]
By providing diabetes self-management education beginning at diagnosis, health care providers can not only help people living with the disease learn how to live healthier at the outset, but can also significantly reduce the risk of complications and provide a huge cost savings on health care. It’s a win-win scenario. Patients have a greater understanding of the impact of their own personal choices and gain support and resources for living well with diabetes. And for everyone, the costs are a fraction of what they would be over time.
Take Jessica, a 30-something who struggled to learn how to live with diabetes after the was diagnosed. Although her family had a history of the disease, she says she lived in denial about the need to learn how to manage it. “I think understanding diabetes … has changed our conversations at home,” she says. “I had to relearn [how to live with my diabetes] … and had to feel vulnerable with some different alternatives.” Motivated by the desire to watch her seven nieces and nephews grow up, Jessica is now taking control of her disease through nutritional therapy and other diabetes self-management tools.
But unfortunately, because many health care providers don’t know about the positive impacts of diabetes education programs or how to access them, too many patients are never equipped with the very knowledge that these resources could change their lives.
[See: 10 Lessons From Empowered Patients.]
If you’re a person living with diabetes, ask for a dietitian and a diabetes educator. Like Jessica, you can change your own story and get this dose of education. If you’re a health care professional, contact the American Diabetes Association and ask for more information about how you and your patients can access these programs.
Diabetes education is more than just knowledge — it’s a powerful tool in the hands of the people who hold it. Let’s make sure everyone who needs it can get the resources and support they need for their diabetes.
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The Best Diets to Prevent — and Manage — Diabetes
What the Doctor Ordered: a Healthy Dose of Diabetes Education originally appeared on usnews.com
