Two Out of Three
A new report issued by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Wednesday finds that two out of three Americans with type 2 diabetes aren't meeting blood glucose control goals - yet a whopping 84% believe that they're adequately managing their diabetes. The release of the report, State of Diabetes in America, was accompanied by a media presentation of the AACE's new campaign to get America's collective blood sugar under control.
Unfortunately, the State of Diabetes concept isn't breaking much new ground. It consists of the standard diabetic recipe book, a website that shows you how your state stacks up against the rest of the nation (interesting but not particularly helpful), and an online patient "Oath" that puts the entire burden of making the healthcare relationship work on the patient. Certified diabetes educators, registered dietitians, and other crucial members of the diabetes team aren't even acknowledged.
The AACE deserves kudos for their tighter control goals of an A1c of 6.5% (as opposed to the American Diabetes Association's 7% recommendation). But recipe pamphlets and scary statistics aren't enough to drive people to bring their blood glucose under control. If the AACE works in tandem with other diabetes organizations to provide tools and support and make diabetes management less of a 'do-it-yourself' project and more of a community effort, we can affect some real improvements in diabetes compliance. We're all in this together.
Comments
- At 08:32 PM on Sun, May 22, 2005 b. cole wrote:
The economics of one of these diseases:
First, diabetics test their blood sugar levels at least four times a day – children with type 1 juvenile diabetes test more like 6-8 times a day. These little test strips that are used to measure blood glucose levels conservatively cost, on average, 70 cents per strip (that is not including the cost of the meter, the lancet needle or any of the other paraphernalia!). Diabetics testing their blood glucose level just 4 times per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime) are spending $2.80 per day, or $1,022.00 per year, minimum, on these strips. That’s over a billion dollars per year just for glucose test strips for every 1 million diabetics, and there are an estimated 17 million people suffering from diabetes in the US alone. They will most likely have to check their blood sugar levels even if they are not taking insulin injections.
Now I am going to recite to you language from the 2003 and 2004 Annual Reports of Eli Lilly & Company, one of the major producers of insulin. Before I do, I want to remind you that insulin will never cure people of diabetes. It is what my 15-year-old refers to as her ‘lifeline’. It keeps them alive, but does not prevent the catastrophic side effects such as kidney failure, amputation or blindness. And it will never cure anyone!
2003: “Our worldwide sales for 2003 increased 14%, to 12.58 billion dollars.” In the next column, it goes on to describe the sources of revenue: “Diabetes care products, composed primarily of Humulin, biosynthetic human insulin; Humalog, our insulin analog; and Actos, an oral agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, had an aggregate worldwide revenues of 2.57 billion dollars.” Ladies and gentlemen, 20% of the worldwide sales were from 3 products, 2 for ‘maintenance’ of type 1 diabetics. The Report goes on to say that Humulin sales in the US were 507.5 million dollars, and were 658.6 million dollars for Humalog.
The 2004 numbers are likewise, staggering……… “Diabetes care products, composed primarily of Humulin, biosynthetic human insulin, Humalog, our insulin analog; and Actos, an oral agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, had an aggregate worldwide revenues of 2.61 billion dollars.” The Humulin sales in the US were only 422.7 million, but Humalog sales in the US were up to 685.4 million dollars. One explanation offered by Eli Lilly is that (and this is a direct quote!) “Humalog sales in the US increased 3 percent as increased prices offset slight volume declines.”
That’s a whole lot of insurance and medicare dollars going to two drugs to maintain a condition for which there might be a cure, but you haven’t ‘approved’ it yet.
- At 06:29 PM on Thu, May 19, 2005 Choi Biermeier wrote:
What do you have for this week progam?
You have great progam every week.
I don't miss a week.
I have good control of my diabetes.
But somedays it will go up to the 200.
I have alots of pain most of my day.
Thank you Choi Biermeier - At 11:59 AM on Thu, May 19, 2005 Shannon wrote:
I really feel that doctors should encourage their patients to see them every 2-3 months to get their A1C's. If their health plan, or lack thereof doesn't allow that, people should really think about getting a home A1C testing kit to keep track of their efforts. It will allow them to "tweak" their management if necessary.
Many people with Type 2 diabetes are misled by their doctors, in their lack of diabetes care. I know diabetics (to be politically correct: "people with diabetes)" that their doctor has told them to not test their blood sugars at all or only test once ot two a week. The doctor's reason: It will stress the patient, to know what their blood sugars are. When in fact, the doctors don't want to be bothered dealing all hours of the night & day, with their patients blood sugars!! So, I blame many of the doctors for not caring enough for their patients, in more ways than one.
Then you have the Type 2 person with diabetes, that knows of someone who truthfully, has not taken care of their diabetes and has suffered the complications of diabetes. This person believes that this same fate awaits them, so why try and control their diabetes?
I am a Type 1 and I've had diabetes 45 years. I have none of the diabetes complications at this time. Some day I know that some complications may develop, but think how much sooner it would have happened if I had said the heck with taking care of my diabetes and myself. And even after I develop any complications, I will continue to grow strong in other areas of my diabetes, instead of growing weaker and letting my diabetes rule me!!
If you have diabetes, whether Type 1 or Type 2 and you're not getting good answers from your doctor, then change doctors. Ask what you're A1c is and how you can improve it. But be honest with yourself and your doctor. They can't fix, what they don't know about.
And you can't blame them, if you don't ask questions and/or be honest with them.
You have to treat your diabetes 365 days each year. On the average, your doctor treats your diabetes less than an hour each year. Know all you can about diabetes and keep up-to-date on the latest diabetes education. Join a diabetes support group.