How to help patients manage their diabetes effectively

Posted by

Even though the world has not found a cure for diabetes, the right management and treatment strategies are vital in helping diabetes patients live healthy and long lives. Being a chronic disease, diabetes affects millions of people worldwide.

In a country like the United States, over 1.5 million patients are diagnosed with diabetes annually. Diabetes is also common in children, with thousands of children being diagnosed with the disease in the US alone.

Fortunately, education on management and treatment is currently available and can help patients and their loved ones manage diabetes effectively. Here are some of the things you can do to help patients manage their diabetes effectively;

Monitoring

Blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin levels are among the most important indicators of how you can control diabetes. Even though you might need to consult a doctor to take a blood test to check glycated hemoglobin, you can measure a patient’s glucose level from home.

If your patient is using insulin, then you can easily monitor the levels of their glucose. The frequency of these checks might change from one patient to another, but generally, check the levels before exercising, at bedtime, and during meal time.

If your patient is not using insulin, then you need to monitor the levels of their blood sugar. This can help you with information on any effects that might be brought by changes in diet, medication, and physical activities. You can do this using a blood glucose meter.

Help Them With Regular Exercise

Exercising is one of the best ways you can help a diabetes patient control their blood sugar levels. It also helps with weight loss, reduces the risk of cardiovascular issues, improves the general well-being of the patients, and balances their hormones.

Since some patients might be overwhelmed with all the issues that come with diabetes, you can exercise with them. Most doctors recommend exercising for intervals of about ten minutes and then taking a rest of 30 minutes in between the intervals to improve the patient experience.

If your patient exercises every day, then make sure that they never skip two consecutive days without exercise. This is crucial in eliminating any insulin resistance. You can also help them develop a good exercise plan that meets their requirements.

Help Them Maintain a Healthy Weight

One of the most important things that diabetes patients need is maintaining a healthy weight. Doctors advise that a patient who maintains a healthy weight has a higher chance of living a long and healthy life despite living with diabetes.

It is important to note that patients who exhibit consistent and modest weight loss can manage diabetes effectively. This is more effective for those with diabetes 2 and can even help prevent prediabetes from becoming diabetes.

One way of helping patients maintain a healthy weight is by showing them how to lower their levels of glycated hemoglobin. This can easily be achieved by nutrition therapy. You can also consult a dietitian to guide you on the things to do to help with the patient’s diet.

Help Them Plan for the Future

You can also help a diabetes patient plan for the future, for example, by taking out life insurance. A diabetes diagnosis, which is a chronic condition, can change a person’s life completely.

Apart from being there for them, you should also guide them on the financial decisions to make to help them manage their condition. The cost of diabetes can be very high and can leave some people financially unstable.

What would happen if the patient had dependents or young children depending on them and the unlikely – death – knocks on their door? Life insurance could come in handy in helping the dependents take care of their bills.

Help Them With Nutrition

A diabetic might find it challenging to strictly adhere to a certain meal plan. Fortunately, this gets easier for them when they have someone helping them with their nutrition. As discussed above, you can consult a dietitian to help you with the meal plan.

It is important to note that diabetes changes from time to time – it is progressive. You, therefore, need to ensure that your patient is taking the right meals at the right time depending on the condition of their diabetes.

You might implement different strategies such as portion control when helping them with nutrition. This is important in helping the patient control their carbohydrate and calorie intake.

Diabetes management is not an easy process. However, you can effectively help a patient control the disease and achieve set targets by following the guidelines discussed above.