Denise A Pancyrz
Statement of the Problem: Despite the number of Americans prescribed diabetes medication and insulin, type 2 diabetes diagnoses increase annually at an alarming rate. Conventional treatment focuses on medication, dieting and managing this chronic disease. Medication has become the way to mask symptoms, not focus on the root cause for type 2 diabetes. Dieting focuses on caloric intake, carbohydrate counting, and food restriction. Teaching to manage diabetes negatively impacts the patient’s psychological ability to improve his or her health. Medication and insulin becomes a crutch. The outcome of this line of care appears to generate short-term results with lifetime need for medication and a progression to insulin. Findings: Shifting the focus to rest the pancreas through holistic lifestyle changes teaches long-term success for improvement. Striving for holistic view of the person focuses on many facets of a person’s life versus a narrow focus on the disease. This has far greater effect in putting the patient in control of one’s health. A patient that feels in control can improve their attitude, therefore, creating excitement when feeling and seeing the benefit of his or her lifestyle changes. Weight loss, the avoidance, reduction or elimination of medication or insulin, and improved A1c, is a result of holistic changes, rather than focusing on a number on a lab test. Data used is from my personal accomplishments and client cases. Conclusion & Significance: Physicians, due to time constraints, are unable to provide the highest level of insight and direction to a struggling patient. Struggling diabetes patients are seeking to reduce and eliminate medication and long-term success. Consistent support and education are key to identify areas that sabotage a patient’s efforts in making lifestyle changes to learn to rest the pancreas which in turn helps to reverse the effects of type 2 diabetes.
