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THE BEAN:
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 According to the CDC, approximately 129 million people in the United States have at least one chronic disease like cancer, hypertension, diabetes, or heart disease. That is almost half of the entire population. Many chronic illnesses are accompanied by a number of comorbidities as well. These illnesses require constant attention, both mentally and physically, to maintain balance in the patient's life. Let’s explore some of what reality may look like for some people.
Habits Having a chronic illness often means that patients have to develop healthy habits and routines to ensure they are staying on top of their healthcare between appointments. This can look like:
Appointments and Labs Chronic illnesses often mean additional appointments with primary care, a variety of specialists, treatments or infusions, and labs or imaging. We often hear that many of our patients have an appointment a day every week for themselves and their spouses. Can you imagine how limiting that can be on someone’s personal schedule? Remission and Relapse As we age, our bodies naturally change over time, whether we want them to or not. Blood pressure, especially, is an ongoing, ever-changing thing. It is only a matter of time. Seeing a decline in lab results or changes in blood pressure can be disheartening, especially when a patient has been “doing all the right things” to keep themselves on track. Importance of Monitoring Regular monitoring by patients and doctors together is vital to ensuring that we are able to catch trends and intervene sooner rather than later. Programs like Remote Patient Monitoring help us track changes more closely and identify trends early. Monitoring does not replace regular appointments, but is an incredible tool in assisting your care team in seeing the bigger picture of your health. However, a formal program isn’t always necessary. Tracking daily weight and blood pressure readings at home also help in the decision making process. We want to know what readings look like on average in a normal, day-to-day setting. In an office, there can be multiple other factors contributing to different weight and blood pressure readings, like additional shoes/clothing, eating/drinking, traffic, White Coat Syndrome, etc. This is not to say that these readings are inaccurate, but seeing the home-setting trends are equally important to avoid over- or under-medicating. Considering all these patients have to go through, manage, and keep track of, they deserve an award for handling their lives and continuing to push forward. Share a smile or warm hug and offer assistance to others when you can: you never know who may need it most. Resources: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2024/23_0267.htm Comments are closed.
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