Experts have explained how people’s way of life can be the best way of managing or preventing diabetes.

Most diabetic patients are scared for their lives due to the underlining effects that accompany the ailment and the cost involved in purchasing medication since it is difficult to be cured completely.

However, giving up is not an option, as family physician Dr. Ayongo Mate-Kole has assured on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning that a long life span is possible for diabetic patients, just like everybody else.

She stated that living a healthy lifestyle is the number one major medication needed to survive the disease.

“Your lifestyle is a kind of medication for you. That’s the main medication, then we add the rest to support you depending on what the levels of your sugars are.”

Additionally, she asserted that most health centres have initiated a patient-centred care strategy where the experts get one-on-one with the patients to thoroughly educate them on the need to develop a healthy lifestyle.

The level of motivation takes the concerns of the person into consideration.

“One size doesn’t fit all; everybody and your level of motivation. So if, for instance, we go through the lifestyle modification and I tell you things like if you smoke, you would have to stop smoking, what is your meal pattern like? At least you should have five helpings of fruits daily…If I tell you that your BMI should not be more than 30, are you willing to work to bring it down? I also tell you that your exercise should be at least 30 minutes a day for five days a week. That requires intentionality and discipline. So, I’m sure when the education goes down well with the person and you accept that part, you’ll certainly require less medication in the long run,” she added. 

Family physician and consultant diabetologist, Dr. Francis Addai, who spoke on the issue, noted that the experts only help normalise the condition because it cannot be cured completely.

However, the daily activities of the patients play a fundamental role in treating the disease.

“It is chronic; the fact that you’re normalised doesn’t mean it’s gone. You can just work to maintain it. So, we use the word chronic metabolic disorder; it’s not cured, and that’s why sometimes we get so worried when people say they have a cure for diabetes. The non-pharmacological, which is the lifestyle, is as important as the pharmacological,” Dr. Addai emphasised.

He clarified that individuals who lose their live to diabetes die as a result of the complications caused by themselves and not the medication, as most people perceive.

The consultant diabetologist highlighted that all drugs have potential side effects but not to the point of death, saying that they are harmless.

“One out of two patients living with diabetes at the time of diagnosis may already have some form of established target organ damage. So, it is not the medication but rather the condition. So you would have clients sometimes tell us that their relatives died after insulin, and so they won’t take it. What killed them was the complications of the condition.”

The prevalence of diabetes in Ghana is approximately 6.46%, but the World Health Organisation reports figures close to 10%. This makes diabetes and cardiovascular diseases the leading causes of death among all non-communicable diseases.