Patient letter Diabetes Mellitus

                    

Dear Sir, Madam,

Your general practitioner has registered you at Cello due to the diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus type 2. In this letter you will find information about the supervision that Cello can give you together with your general practitioner.

We aim to inform you as well as possible about this new situation. With the help of our supervision and treatment, you will be given the opportunity to directly improve your health. For instance, what you can do to achieve the best results regarding your diabetes condition.

The diagnosis of diabetes may have come as an unpleasant surprise for you, especially if you had no prior complaints. Some of you may already have suffered from conditions that can be caused by diabetes, e.g. itching, sweating, urinating excessively, thirst, tiredness, reduced eyesight, numbness in feet and fingers, or badly healing wounds. These are symptoms that are caused by high blood sugar levels and/or are related to the damage that high blood sugars can cause in the long run. In fact, if blood sugar levels don’t go down, the risk of a heart attack or stroke increases. Our programme includes adaptations in lifestyle and diet, supervised medicine use and rehabilitation. It will help you to reduce those risks.

Physical examination can demonstrate any injuries to your body. Risk factors such as overweight, abdominal circumference, high blood pressure, the level of sugar and fats in your blood and the quality of your kidneys are registered by Cello through several measurements and lab analysis. These examinations are repeated regularly, so that the treatment policy can be adjusted to your needs. Of course, this will always be discussed with you.
A standard checkup takes place every three months. Your blood sugar levels, body weight, body mass index, blood pressure and abdominal circumference are measured and discussed. Additionally, once a year special attention is paid to your eyes, feet, kidney function and fats in your blood.

In order to obtain acceptable outcomes and values, the basic programme consists of a personal lifestyle advice. This will include a diet (calories, eating pattern and habits), and advice on exercising. In many cases, it will be possible to decrease your blood sugar level (and body mass index) without medication.

If, in spite of this, the blood sugar levels remain too high, you will be supported by taking medication on top of the basic programme. If the blood sugar level still remains too high after this step, insulin therapy will be started. This is a hormone that you can inject yourself. Insulin therapy is only applied when all prior steps do not help sufficiently.
We will teach you how to cope with a sudden increase or decrease in blood sugars. We will pay special attention to smokers, by motivating to stop smoking and supervising the steps towards a smoke-free life.

Whichever diabetes therapy is applied, the basic programme of an adapted diet and exercise in daily life continue to be of importance.
You can contact the practice nurses at Cello to make an introduction appointment. If you have any questions after reading this letter, please indicate this during the next contact. We will be pleased to help you further. As a preparation for the first and subsequent appointments, you can find a lot of information on diabetes on our website: www.leidenhuisarts.nl

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Illness perception in patients with D.M. type II in Cambodia
This research is a qualitative study of illness perception in patients registered in a clinic in a rural area in Cambodia (Cambodia-Dutch Organization). All patients in the clinic with Diabetes...
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