I was compensated by Med-IQ through an educational grant from Sanofi to write about the realities of diabetes as a chronic disease. All opinions are my own.
November is Diabetes Awareness Month so I’ve partnered once again with Med-IQ to talk about ways to advocate for your own treatment of this common disease. Med-IQ is an accredited medical education company that provides an exceptional educational experience for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals.
Just as a quick recap of the facts, more than 34 million people in the United States have diabetes. Believe it or not, 1 in 5 people affected by the disease don’t know they have it. Med-IQ conducted a national survey that found that 74% of people diagnosed with diabetes were not taking insulin, and the main reason was because their doctor never mentioned it to them. Med-IQ recommends having a diabetes care team to help advise persons with the disease about possible options for treatment.
So, why bother with treatments? It may surprise you to know that least 8 parts of the body can cause blood glucose to rise, including the pancreas, gut, fat cells, kidneys, muscles, brain, nerves, and liver. Keeping blood glucose at target levels can help people with diabetes live long and healthy lives. Because so many parts of the body play a role in type 2 diabetes, many types of health problems can occur if blood glucose levels are above target for a long time. High blood glucose levels can injure the heart, kidneys, nerves, eyes, and feet.
But there is hope! Med-IQ notes with fixed-ratio injectable therapy can be a beneficial alternative treatment option. Fixed-ratio combination injectable therapy includes 2 different treatments for diabetes: insulin and the medicine called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. These 2 types of medicine work together to lower glucose levels in your blood.
Here are 5 benefits of fixed-ratio combination injectables:
- Makes treatment easier—only one daily injection with a pen device is needed
- Targets many different pathways involved in diabetes
- Needs less frequent blood glucose monitoring than some other medicines
- Lowers the risk of weight gain and low blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia)
- Lessens unwanted side effects of each treatment—the risks of weight gain (with insulin) and gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly nausea (with GLP-1 receptor agonists), are lowered.
It is important to note that not all treatments may be suitable for everybody. But Med-IQ has a ton of helpful resources available for more information on the subject of type 2 diabetes and treatment advocation. We are each responsible for our own self-care, and everyone should be able to feel empowered to take control of their health.
Med-IQ is conducting an anonymous survey and would appreciate your input. The survey, which includes additional education on this topic, will take less than 15 minutes to complete. Survey responses are shared only in aggregate. Your responses to these survey questions will provide Med-IQ with important information about your experiences with diabetes and your care team, which will help us develop future educational initiatives. Once you’ve completed the survey, you will have the option of providing your email address to be entered into a drawing administered by SOMA Strategies to win 1 of 10 $100 VISA gift cards. If you choose to enter, your email address will be used only to randomly draw the winners and notify them of their prize and to send a follow-up survey as part of this same initiative.
