Join AstraZeneca in the Diabetes Can Break Your Heart Movement

This post was sponsored as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

It was last winter when my Mom was diagnosed with Diabetes. One moment she was eating what she wanted, teaching her second graders and being Grandma. Then she gets sick, lands in the hospital and comes out with high BP, colon cancer (cured now, yay) and a diabetes diagnosis. Now she needed to learn to manage insulin, eat differently and pay attention to symptoms.

Having diabetes is more than checking blood sugars and eating on schedules. Having diabetes puts you at risk for weight gain, needing to learn nutrition changes and the new risk of heart failure. It was heart failure that surprised me. I honestly never knew of the connection of Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Failure. This is why we have a new movement!

As time goes on, we learn new things in the health field. We even learn that everything we thought we knew was wrong at times. We know health can be directly related to diet, diet related to health, diagnosis bring more risks and medications have new side effects.

So, for many who have lived their entire lives with Diabetes (T2D), perhaps they had not been educated about their higher risk of heart failure (HF). In fact, up to 50% of patients with Type 2 diabetes may develop heart failure. What is scary is we have yet to find a cure! We need to educate ourselves and take action early to help reduce their risk of developing heart failure!

Here are some facts that I don’t want you to just read, but make mental notes to not forget! Talk to loved ones with diabetes and encourage them to have this conversation with their Physician or Endocrinologist next check up. Make sure they (and you) sign up to be the first to hear about the nationwide tour and receive updates for their diabetes and heart health at DiabetesHeartBreak.com.

DCBYH_External Trailer Video_CC_11.7.19 2 from Erin Sluka on Vimeo.

This Diabetes Can Break Your Heart started by AstraZeneca is a national movement that aims to cut the trend of heart failure development in individuals with Type 2 diabetes. Remember, diabetes can break your heart – don’t let it!

• After HF diagnosis, the survival rate is 50% at five years; 10% at 10 years.
• Up to 50% of people with T2D may develop Heart Failure
• You’ve probably been focused on lowering your A1C, not your risk for HF. The reality is, you need to do both.
• Diabetes can promote thickening of the walls of the heart and other structural changes, ultimately interfering with pumping
• The damage to your heart may have already started, even before you were diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes
• The single most immediate action that patients with T2D can take is talking to their doctor about their risk of HF and identifying a plan to help reduce this risk.

To assist in finding heart failure risks early in these patients is an integrated VR experience that uses cutting-edge technology that bring to life the symptoms of heart failure. The Diabetes Can Break Your Heart movement wants 2020 to be the year we educate and activate communities around the inherent link between T2D and HF using an innovative and immersive experience. Let’s start the discussion! Sign up today and stay informed!

References

1. American Diabetes Association. 10. Cardiovascular Disease and Risk Management: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2019. Diabetes Care. 2019;42(suppl 1):S103-S112.
2. National Institutes of Health. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Heart Failure. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/heart-failure. Last accessed September 16, 2019.