Chronic Disease Management
What is Chronic Disease?
Chronic diseases are conditions that develop slowly and persist over a long period of time, meaning three months or longer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States.
Having a chronic disease often causes pain and is debilitating, as it often robs people of their independence, vitality, mobility, and most importantly, severely compromises their health.
Chronic Disease Risk Factors
People who are healthy and active often believe that they are symptom free, and immune from developing chronic diseases. However, even the healthiest of people can get sick. While anybody can develop a chronic disease, there are some common risk factors:
- Age
- Genetics
- Family history of chronic disease
- Poor diet
- Lack of exercise
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Too much smoking and drinking
Just because you may be a fairly healthy person, doesn’t mean there is no possibility that you could experience an onset of chronic illness. Also, for people already suffering from chronic illnesses, this does not necessarily mean that the disease has been automatically cured.
Chronic Disease Management
The good news is that chronic diseases can be preventable or effectively managed through various treatment methods during a process called chronic disease management (CDM). Chronic disease management is a system put in place designed to assist, care for, and support individuals suffering from a chronic health condition.
Good chronic disease management is provided by a family physician who understands your chronic condition, enabling them to stay on top of your treatment. They will be able to utilize the medical care, knowledge, skills, and resources they encompass, to better manage disease on a day-to-day basis; and more accurate diagnoses will be made to conceivably prevent future illness from developing.
How Can A Family Physician Help?
If you are suffering from a chronic disease, you need a medical provider, such as a family physician or primary care provider (PCP) who specializes in management of chronic diseases. Dr. Sham Juratli and her highly experienced staff regularly see teenage, adult, and elderly patients with chronic conditions including:
- Arthritis
- Cancer
- Stroke
- High blood pressure (Hypertension)
- Diabetes
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Heart disease
- Obesity
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Asthma
If symptoms are present, do not ignore them, as further complications can occur and early diagnosis saves lives. Not only can it make all the difference in an individual’s quality of life, but it is also instrumental in making managing chronic diseases a little bit easier.
Sometimes potential chronic conditions are still in a treatable or preventable stage. However, for those chronic conditions which cannot be treated with lifestyle remedies, medications are often prescribed.
Dr. Sham knows your medical history and will make referrals to other specialists if needed, and coordinate treatment plans, so nothing in the existing management plan is overlooked or interfered with. If you are living with a chronic condition and are in search of a primary care provider, Dr. Sham can help manage the symptoms of your condition and help keep it under control, with strategies on how to better manage and prevent the onset of disease.
To learn more information regarding chronic diseases and chronic disease management, and how we can help you, call Dr. Sham Juratli at (313) 451-8253 to request an appointment with Dr. Sham, or you can use our secure online appointment request form.
