The word chronic is one of the medical terms which people misinterpret. Chronic doesn’t mean serious or severe illness. “Chronic” means something lasting for a long time usually years or even lifetime and “acute” means something lasting for a short time say days.

Chronic conditions (I am deliberately trying to avoid the term “disease” here because that label seems inappropriate many times- disease labels the person as broken, not ok…and this labelling is one the hindrances in caring for chronic conditions). Chronic condition when blood glucose goes high is called diabetes. People with diabetes are no different from people without diabetes. They are equally strong. Then why do they need to be “managed”. Because there is higher possibility of these people having heart disease in future (just one example). It is not necessary that if you have diabetes you are going to have heart disease. It is also not necessary that if you do not have diabetes, you cannot get heart disease.

It’s like you are driving a car at a higher than recommended speed. It means that your chances of accident are higher than someone whose speed is within the limits. And it is up to you at what speed you want to drive your car. It’s your life. But there are other people who can be affected by your accident, so it is your responsibility towards yourself and others to drive slowly.

Similarly, it is your responsibility towards yourself and your family and loved ones to manage your chronic condition in a manner to reduce risk of heart disease to as low as possible.

As an endocrinologist, we walk this journey of managing chronic conditions with patients. We get attached to their outcomes. We work to make an uncertain future better. If we have managed well and avoided some unforeseen complication, we will never know because that never happened.

There are other specialists who manage people after they have developed the problem like heart doctors. The patient knew he had a problem and they work to make them better and the outcome is visibly there.

An endocrinologist working with patients for years doesn’t often get to see immediate amazing outcomes. She just walks the journey with her patients…hoping she is helping them, hoping she is making a positive change in their lives, without expecting them to always realise that.

Sometimes she comes across patients with Cushing’s disease, acromegaly, hyperthyroidism where a timely diagnosis and treatment can cure patients. These are rare diseases which endocrinologists feel very satisfied to manage.

Managing gestational diabetes is another satisfying condition where you deliver a happy end, but with the emphasis that this end is a beginning of a new long journey again. Three of my diabetes patients delivered this month, the glucose levels are better now and they are moving to a next phase of life…it’s always lovely to be able to see the results of good care.

…but mostly we learn to be humble in trying to walk the long arduous journeys with our patients who are mostly thankful, sometimes indifferent and occasionally ungrateful. We learn not to take it personally but all in a stride.