Published on: Jan 06, 2022
How to Make the Best Out of Your Consult With a Diabetes Doctor?
After getting diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor can indeed be your best guide when it comes to managing and even reversing this chronic condition. And, by giving the correct information at the right time, you can help your doctor develop a diabetes treatment plan that works best for you.
In this article, we will get you ready to embrace the best out of your diabetes doctor’s visit and develop a relationship with them that works for you. But before that, we will uncover the top qualities that you must look out for in your doctor to develop a cordial relationship.
Let’s delve in!
Top qualities in best diabetes doctors
Living with diabetes involves multiple visits and interactions with your healthcare provider. Therefore, you must develop a bond of trust and comfort with your diabetes doctor to manage this condition. So here are a few qualities that you should look for as you choose your doctor:
1. Gives enough face-to-face or in-clinic time:
Doctor-patient conversation is the most potent tool in diabetes management. By giving more in-clinic time, your doctor will know your diabetes-related problems better, and it will also help you resolve your doubts related to your health.
2. Should be competent and compassionate too:
It is essential that your treating doctor is knowledgeable and updated about the latest treatment options available to manage diabetes. But at the same time, your doctor should understand what you are going through both physically and emotionally. In the medical profession, exercising humanistic gestures like empathy, warmth, respect, and encouragement can positively affect diabetes outcomes.
3. Gives personalised care, treats diabetes holistically & refers you further:
Diabetes requires a multidisciplinary and personalised approach to manage this condition. Along with medications, a healthy lifestyle forms a critical part of diabetes management. To give you 360-degree customised care under expert supervision, your doctor may recommend diabetes care programs like Diabefly Pro.
Similarly, if required, your diabetes doctor should refer you further to an ophthalmologist, podiatrist, dentist, nephrologist, and neurologist to manage diabetes-related complications.
What does your doctor need to know during your visit?
Before answering the above question for you, take a moment and think…
What is the goal of any medical treatment?
Well, it is solely to improve your health outcomes. And YOUR health outcomes depend on your successful communication with your doctor to a huge extent.
So, here are 5 tips that will help you get the most out of your next diabetologist visit:
1. Share your complete medical history:
The diagnosis of the problem can be made to a huge extent based on what you tell your doctor. It is known as medical history. The diagnosis is then later confirmed with further investigations that include blood tests, urine tests etc.
If you talk smartly with your doctor while giving your medical history, it will help your competent diabetes doctor extract the information and make an accurate diagnosis.
Medical history includes the following:
Family history – if any of your blood relations have a history of diabetes.
Presence of any existing health conditions – e.g. high blood pressure, asthma, heart problems, high cholesterol, etc.
Medication history – if you are currently taking any medicine for any other illness then please tell your doctor the name of the medicine, dosage, and duration.
Allergic history – mention if you are allergic to antibiotics like penicillin, insulin, or any other drug. Also, reveal if you have any food allergies.
History of any recent hospitalization – Share information about if you have recently been admitted to the hospital. It could be due to COVID-19 infection that may have triggered a new case of diabetes, diabetes-related complications, etc.
2. Describe your lifestyle:
Your doctor should know what you eat, how physically active you are, how many hours of sound sleep you get, what you do each day, your work schedule, what activities you enjoy, and if you smoke or drink.
Make sure you are open and honest with your doctor. This will help him or she understand your diabetes fully and accordingly they will recommend the best diabetes treatment plan for you.
Share your concerns with your doctor that involve any major changes or stresses in your life, such as financial stress, divorce or the death of a loved one.
3. Don’t forget your blood sugar and food diary records – Take help from Team Diabefly:
Between your regular follow-up appointments, your doctor needs to understand how your blood sugars have been since the last time he or she met you. This way, they will make better decisions about your treatment, like changing your medicine, dosage, strength etc., if required.
You can do this by checking your blood sugars using a glucometer at home that comes with testing strips, tiny needles, or lancets. Please keep a record of your results from your glucometer and share them with your doctor at the next appointment. It will help them judge why your blood sugar levels go too high or too low.
Similarly, you should maintain a food diary to help your doctor check your daily calorie and nutrient intake. You can download the Fitterfly Wellness App for FREE on your smartphone to fill in your food diary.
You can take the help from Certified Diabetes Educators and Nutritionists from Team Diabefly to extrapolate the information of your blood sugars readings and food diary records. Our Diabefly Coach will share your medical health report with your doctor that will help them track your progress and make decisions about your treatment plan. Additionally, our Diabefly Coaches will develop a personalized diabetes care plan that best suits your needs and wants.
4. Please plan ahead to make most of your doctor’s time:
Be prepared in advance with the questions you may have for your doctor regarding your illness and its treatment. We all always have specific vital questions to ask our doctor, but many of us get tongue-tied when we come face-to-face with them. So to avoid that, it would be best to write all your questions on a piece of paper and carry them with you at your next doctor’s visit. But make sure you don’t ask irrelevant questions.
5. Take a friend or family member:
Sometimes, it is helpful to bring a family member or close friend with you to your diabetes doctor’s visit. It would be best to inform your family member or friend in advance what you want from your visit and how they can be most helpful.
Here is how your companion can help you:
- Remind you what you plan to discuss with the doctor if you forget.
- Take notes for yourself.
- Help you remember what the doctor said.
Since diabetes affects multiple parts of your body, you’ll need a complete healthcare team to manage this condition. Therefore your diabetes care team should include your primary doctor, an endocrinologist or diabetologist, a nutritionist, a certified diabetes educator, an eye doctor, an exercise trainer, and mental health professional. Here each specialist has a different role in treating different problems related to diabetes.
Your diabetes care team will depend on the health information you share with them. And to make the best out of your visit to your diabetes doctor, complement your doctor’s prescription with a digital therapeutic like Diabefly.
To know more about Diabefly, visit www.fitterfly.com/diabefly or call us at +91 2248971077 (Ext 1).
It really helped when you mentioned we make a list of questions prior to a medical appointment to make the most of our time. My dad just found out that his father had diabetes, so he’s interested in getting tested this month. He’s looking for a diabetes doctor to run tests, so I’ll email your advice to my dad right now.