How do you help your patients with high sugar in the morning?
Imagine sharing a simple video about insulin resistance that receives over 150,000 views in a matter of days, sparking literally dozens upon dozens of questions from people who are writing their personal stories in the comment section and pleading for help managing diabetes or pre-diabetes. What would you do?
Now the comment section on YouTube is always colourful and full of surprises. I can testify that the Friendly Pharmacy 5channel is no exception.
Thankfully, there are always a few pearls to be found. For example, one of my viewers recently asked the question: "Why do I wake up with a high sugar reading in the morning?" What a great question!
So, I created a videoon this topic, and was overwhelmed by the response. I thought that by now most people would have access to more than enough diabetes education and resources that they need to manage this condition. I was wrong.
This type of response highlights the growing demand for the public to have accessible, user-friendly, reliable information about their health, in this case, about diabetes.
It is estimated that 11.7 million Canadians are living with diabetes or prediabetes. We know that many patients may not be aware of their condition or may not exhibit any symptoms.
Therefore, it is also crucial that patients receive adequate screening, especially those who are overweight or have a family history of diabetes. So, who is going to do this?
Point of care testing has been a great addition to many community pharmacies and is definitely one avenue for this, but what are the other ways that we can help these patients who are slipping through the cracks of our healthcare system?
Diagnosis is just the beginning of the story. Once diagnosed, patients require education on managing their condition, including blood glucose monitoring, medication management, and lifestyle modifications.
Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly many individuals who are doing incredible work with patients who are suffering from metabolic disease in this country. However, we still have so many who are not receiving the education or tools they need to manage these conditions and prevent long-term complications.
In an ideal world, both healthcare professionals and patients would feel they have access to the information and resources that they need to prevent and manage metabolic disease.
I strongly believe that the overwhelming response to this video and the dozens of questions it led to are just the tip of the iceberg.
If you have insights or ideas on how we can better serve patients suffering from metabolic disease, please feel free to reach out. I am certainly going to be working on solutions.
References:
Diabetes Canada: https://www.diabetes.ca/media-room/press-releases/diabetes-rates-continue-to-climb-in-canada
Prevalence of Prediabetes Among Adults: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics-report/prevalence-of-prediabetes.html