Maintaining Success in Self-Care Behaviors: An Elusive Goal?
- Tom Elasy, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief
You know how you just get tired. Maybe I got bored. It's just hard to stick with it.” That was the response he gave me to, “What happened”?
He is a 48-year-old man whom I had a medical student see as a demonstration of “my” success. He weighed 350 lb when we started 18 months ago with a hemoglobin A1c (A1C) of 12.7%. Over the next year, he had lost nearly 30 lb, was quickly transitioned off insulin after 6 weeks of therapy, and was only taking metformin and a low dose of glipizide for glycemic control some 6 months after his initial visit. Eventually, he lowered his weight to 310 lb and his A1C to 6.4%, and he said he felt good. I thought he looked good. …
