Bad eating habits and lifestyle issues are aiding to rise of diabetics. Treatment of diabetes has led to a specific specialization in medicine called as diabetologists or diabetic consultants. But the question that arises is - If Diabetes is more of a lifestyle disease then how can just one doctor help? Answer to this is an emphatic 'NO'.
A Doctor all alone cannot help a diabetic. It involves stress on lifestyle modifications which require intensive counseling not only from a dietitian but also from a psychiatrist at times. Moreover, the patient should be regularly told as to how many calories should he / she eat and in which form along with medicines to control Diabetes.
According to Dr Kirti Soota, leading Diabetic Consultant in Delhi, "Intensive Dietary Counseling at times 1-2 hrs is required for diabetic patients by the Dietitians. This is apart from usual 15 minutes that a doctor normally spends with the patient. This is required as patients at times go in depression because of a feeling that their lifestyle would change completely and slowly their condition will deteriorate. At times alcoholics ask whether diabetes would result in a complete stop on their alcohol intake. May be the patient has become diabetic as he/she was alcoholic. In such cases help of a psychiatrist is also required."
Along with Diabetes there are other co-morbid conditions that need to be monitored. Patient also needs to be observed for his lipids, liver functioning, glycosylated hemoglobin. Vascular neuropathy also needs to be ruled out in such cases. Foot amputations are one of the major problems of diabetics as they don't even come to know if some sort of infection has happened in their feet. To avoid these conditions, proper feet examination needs to be done for diabetics all the time.
All the above suggest that treatment / management of Diabetes is a team effort by doctors (Diabetic Consultants, Psychiatrists etc.) and dietitians as it not only includes treatment through medicines but also requires a lot of lifestyle modifications. Hence a patient should choose their team i.e. Doctor & Dietitian very carefully.
No comments:
Post a Comment