World Diabetes Day on 14th November: Here is why you should be regular with your doctor’s appointments

Diabetics who go to the clinic at least 3 to 4 times a year, have 50% lower risk of developing diabetic eye and kidney complications compared to those who go only once a year or less frequently.

By: Debjani Arora | | Published: October 31, 2018 2:23 pm

Patients with diabetes who came to the clinic at least 3 to 4 times a year, had 50% lower risk of developing diabetic eye and kidney complications. © Shutterstock

When it comes to taking pills to manage blood sugar levels and rein control over diabetes, we clearly see two kinds of patients: first, who take their pills on time and keeps up with the doctor’s appointment and second who take their pills on time but fail to keep up with their doctor’s appointment. Needless to say that people who keep up with their appointments are the ones who are able to control their condition and save themselves from the complications of diabetes. People who fall in the second category usually argue that if they are having their pills on time they don’t need to visit a doctor.

Well, taking medication is just a part of diabetes management a proper supervision is necessary to ensure that your blood sugar is in control and you can avoid any complications of diabetes that can arise. In fact, we spoke to Dr V Mohan – Chairman of Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre to know why it is important to keep up with your doctor’s appointment even if you are regular with your pills.

“We have shown evidence for this conclusively, in a long-term follow-up article that we published in the prestigious journal Acta Diabetologia a few years ago. In that paper we showed that in a large series of patients with diabetes who came to the clinic at least 3 to 4 times a year, had 50% lower risk of developing diabetic eye and kidney complications compared to those who came only once a year or less frequently,” says Dr Thomas.

“The reason for this is that even if your diabetes is under control and you are taking your medications, slowly but steadily diabetes will go out of control because there is a progressive decline in the pancreatic beta cell function. Hence if you don’t go for your check-ups regularly, the diabetes control will begin to get worse and after 2 or 3 years when you go to the doctor, you will find that your diabetes is totally out of control,” he further mentions.

“The damage done by these 3 or 4 years of uncontrolled diabetes cannot be rectified by bringing the blood sugar down at that point. Hence it is very important that even if you are taking your medications regularly and even if you have no symptoms and your control of diabetes seems good you should continue to see your doctor. I would go as far as to say this is one of the secrets of living a long and healthy life despite diabetes,” he says.

Published: October 31, 2018 2:23 pm

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