After reading this article, do you still dare to suffer from diabetes?

Having diabetes requires money, and how to spend the money wisely is a big deal. Now I will share with you from the perspective of a diabetic patient, how much does it cost to manage and treat diabetes? How to spend money wisely!

The cost of treating diabetes varies from person to person

The cost of treating diabetes varies from person to person. There is a big difference between having medical insurance and not having medical insurance. There is also a difference between having complications and not having complications. The number of complications, the severity, and the cost are different. The cost of formal treatment and informal treatment is even more different. Then let’s start with an estimate based on the basic regular treatment for diabetes.

Newly diagnosed diabetes

Take me as an example. After being diagnosed with diabetes, I was hospitalized for two weeks, used an insulin pump for two weeks, and underwent screening for related complications. The cost was more than 10,000 yuan, and most of it was reimbursed by medical insurance. Because the company provided me with supplementary medical insurance, I basically didn't spend any money.

Regular inspection fee: 1,000 yuan/year

Regular checkups for people with diabetes are essential to prevent complications. The cost of glycated hemoglobin test every three months is about 80 yuan each time; fundus examination at least once a year, renal function test at least once every six months, plantar examination once a year and other diabetes complication-related examinations are estimated to cost about 1,000 yuan.

Daily monitoring fee: 1,000 yuan/year

It is very important to monitor whether the blood sugar of diabetic patients is well controlled. Every diabetic patient must have his or her own home blood glucose meter. Even the cheapest test strips cost 1 yuan. The average number of monitoring times per day for diabetic patients is 2-3 times. The cost is about 1,000 yuan per year. If the patient is type 1 diabetes, the monitoring frequency will be more frequent and the cost will be higher.

Medicine cost: several hundred to several thousand

The cost of medication will vary depending on the medication. If you use the cheapest drug, metformin, it will cost several hundred yuan a year. If you use imported drugs, it will cost several thousand yuan a year. Using insulin will cost several thousand, and the needles used in insulin pens cannot be reimbursed.

Costs of complications are skyrocketing

The above are the most basic costs of managing diabetes. If there are complications, the cost will be completely different. Any single complication would make it difficult for ordinary working people to bear.

Minor complications require medication, which means new medical expenses.

Severe complications require surgery, such as diabetic foot or amputation, which will cost at least tens of thousands of dollars.

If diabetic eye disease is treated surgically, one treatment will cost tens of thousands of yuan.

If it is the late stage of diabetic nephropathy - uremia, the cost will be even higher. The cost of one hemodialysis is about 500 yuan, and hemodialysis is required three times a week. The cost of hemodialysis leakage repair surgery is also tens of thousands of yuan. A relative I know had high blood potassium after dialysis, and once the dialysis was delayed, the rescue in the ICU ward cost more than 100,000 yuan.

If there are complications of myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction, the cost will also be very high. Especially in the later stages, various complications of diabetes are mixed together, and hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars will be spent. Even if the money is spent on treatment, there will not be much change, because the treatment of complications in the later stages can only maintain life but cannot cure it. For diabetic patients with multiple complications, if the complications are not controlled in the early stages, the disease can be said to be incurable and extremely painful in the later stages.

There are many complications, such as peripheral neuropathy, skin diseases, depression, cancer, gastrointestinal diseases, etc., which are all very expensive diseases.

The above are all the costs of regular treatment. If you take irregular treatment, believe that taking some medicine can cure diabetes, or take fake health products, the cost will be higher.

Spend little, save big

The cost of diabetes management is very low, only a few thousand yuan a year, and those with medical insurance basically do not have to spend much money out of their own pocket. Most people can afford it.

However, if diabetes is not managed well in the early stages, complications will occur in about 5 years. At that time, it can be said that it will bring a catastrophic burden to the entire family's finances. Expenses of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions are not an exaggeration. But even though the money has been spent, the complications cannot be reversed and can only be maintained.

Some people may ask, why can't it be cured? Because diabetes is a vascular disease, when the patient's entire blood vessels are in trouble, complications may occur wherever blood flows. How can we treat it when all the blood vessels are in trouble?

Diabetes is not scary, what is scary are the complications, which can be completely avoided through self-management by the patient. Prevention is better than cure. Diabetic patients should spend little money (regular physical examinations, blood sugar monitoring, and medicine costs) on prevention rather than spending a lot of money on treating complications.

To properly manage diabetes, blood sugar, blood lipids, and blood pressure must all meet standards. I am taking action, what about you?

What are the dangers of complications of diabetes

1. Diabetic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease

Diabetic patients often suffer from hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and atherosclerosis, and are extremely susceptible to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Diabetic heart disease usually refers to coronary atherosclerotic heart disease and diabetic cardiomyopathy that are complicated or associated with diabetes, and heart rhythm and heart function disorders caused by microvascular lesions and autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

2. Diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy is a disease that is extremely harmful to diabetic patients. The lesions may involve the renal vessels, glomeruli, tubules, and interstitium. Common kidney damage includes diabetic glomerulosclerosis, arteriolar nephrosclerosis, pyelonephritis, renal papillary necrosis, proteinuria, etc. Among them, diabetic glomerulosclerosis is a kidney complication unique to diabetes, which is usually called diabetic nephropathy clinically. Diabetic nephropathy is an important cause of death in diabetic patients.

3. Diabetic eye disease

There are seven common eye diseases associated with diabetes: ① diabetic retinopathy, ② diabetic pigmentary membrane disease, ③ diabetic cataracts, ④ diabetic optic nerve changes, ⑤ diabetic retinitis lipidemia, ⑥ diabetic glaucoma, and ⑦ diabetic refractive changes. The most common of these is diabetic retinopathy, which is an important cause of blindness caused by diabetes, followed by diabetic cataracts, which is also the most common complication of diabetes that damages vision.

4. Diabetic neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy is a general term for the various lesions of the nervous system caused by diabetes. It covers the autonomic nervous system, central nervous system, motor nervous system, peripheral nervous system and so on. Among them, diabetic peripheral neuropathy is the most common complication of diabetes. Peripheral neuropathy is further divided into polyneuropathy and peripheral neuropathy. The lesions may be unilateral, bilateral, symmetrical or asymmetrical. The prominent symptoms are numbness and swelling in both lower limbs, accompanied by tingling and burning sensations, which are very difficult to bear. Some patients may experience spontaneous pain, lightning-like pain or knife-like pain.

5. Diabetic lower limb gangrene

Diabetic lower limb gangrene is caused by long-term poor control of diabetes, which leads to arteriosclerosis and pathological changes in the large and small blood vessels in the lower limbs. Its occurrence mechanism is: when arteriosclerosis occurs in the lower limbs of diabetic patients, the vascular endothelial cells are damaged, the aggregation function of red blood cells and platelets in the blood is enhanced, the blood is in a hypercoagulable state, thrombosis is promoted, the lumen is narrowed and the blood vessels are blocked, causing ischemia and hypoxia in the lower limbs or middle part, and even gangrene.