Healthcare Communicators: Do We Practice What We Preach?
My Type 2 Diabetes Remission Journey
It is widely assumed that healthcare workers take better care of themselves than the general public because they have a greater understanding of healthcare choices than most people. As healthcare communicators, we are also armed with more knowledge than the average Joe, and you might assume that we are living by example. But I certainly wasn’t when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in December of 2021.
Pandemic Weight Gain: Yes, It Was a Thing
An American Psychological Association (APA) Stress in America survey conducted in late February 2021 found 42% of U.S. adults reported undesired weight gain since the start of the pandemic, with an average gain of 29 pounds.
I, however, was an overachiever. I gained 40+ pounds after a year of quarantine.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on people’s health and health-related behaviors, and like many others, I found isolation difficult. It increased my anxiety and left me feeling depressed, stressed, and just plain bored. In my mind, comfort eating and drinking were essentially the only things I had to look forward to, and I personally used quarantine as an excuse to indulge in ongoing takeout dinners loaded with fat and sugar and copious amounts of wine and cocktails. What else was I going to do?
A Night in the Emergency Room
About 45 pounds later, my body started giving me some warning signs, but unfortunately, I ignored them. Something seemed to be glaringly wrong with my health. I was always thirsty, urinating more frequently, and constantly fatigued.
Although googling your symptoms is probably one of the most effective ways of convincing yourself that you are dying, I decided to do a deep online dive anyway. According to my research, everything I was experiencing seemed to be hallmark signs of diabetes. But I was in denial and soldiered on. I told myself that I would start eating better and exercising tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. In tandem, I put off all routine health check-ups including dental appointments and annual physicals with my primary care physician.
One night, after experiencing crippling abdominal pain and dizziness, I went to the ER. About six hours later, I was told that the abdominal pain was probably superficial, but that according to my bloodwork, I had uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes, with an A1C of 9.6. A normal A1C level should be below 5.7.
My body was telling me everything I needed to know. Why hadn’t I listened?
Patients Must Be in the Driver’s Seat
As healthcare communicators, we constantly preach the importance of communicating with healthcare providers for better patient outcomes. We harp on the necessity of open communication to arm care teams with more complete information to inform a more accurate diagnosis and facilitate appropriate counseling, thus improving compliance with treatments and recommended care pathways. But this requires patients to actively participate — and self-advocate — more than ever.
The necessity of active communication should be apparent if you have ever waited an hour or two after your appointment time to see your physician. The waiting-room logjam clearly shows us that the current healthcare environment demands that care providers increase their clinical productivity, which in turn gives them less time with their patients. This can hinder effective patient-physician communication.
This means that we as patients must take the lead, fostering dialogue with our providers and taking charge of our own journeys. This leads me to three vital points I’ve learned about self-advocacy:
1. Be prepared; be overly prepared:
Before your next doctor’s appointment, take the time to learn as much as you can about your health. Sign into your healthcare provider’s patient portal and take a look at your past lab tests; this way, you have a baseline to benchmark subsequent bloodwork and diagnostics. If your provider doesn’t have an online portal, ask for a copy of your records before your next appointment.
2. Ask questions:
Make sure you put a list of questions together before any doctor’s appointment. Have you noticed any new symptoms that you want to talk about? Are any of your medications giving you side effects? Questions have become my secret weapon. In being prepared, I discovered that certain medications were a better fit for managing my blood sugar.
3. If you need more support, don’t hesitate to ask:
Taking control of your health requires patients to go beyond just taking medicines as directed. Maybe your doctor recommended that you do cardio for 30 minutes each day, but you just can’t seem to get yourself into a steady exercise routine. Make sure to tell them this. Perhaps there are ways to be creative about this. Ask them what else you can do. Is there a workaround? ‘Hey doc, does walking my dog or playing baseball with my nieces count?’ ‘Does avoiding the elevator and opting for the three flights of stairs count?’
Remission
I dreamt about this word for eight months. I have learned that remission is possible for some people with Type 2 Diabetes. I am happy to report that I have achieved remission, and a healthy body weight, and have kept my A1C in the target range for more than a year.
How did I do this? I made the commitment to leverage the arsenal of information and available guidance to achieve my goals. This is the same information and guidance that we, as healthcare communicators, are always pushing to patient communities across numerous disease indications.
It is human nature to adopt the mindset of “It will never happen to me.” Well, “it” can and will if you deprioritize your health. I implore my fellow communicators, friends, family, and others to become their own self-health advocates. Don’t put off your yearly physicals. Don’t put off any recommended screenings. Listen to your body.
Stay healthy my friends!
