More than 60% of adults have a chronic disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. These diseases represent the top causes of death and disability, but with chronic health management from Yamil Benech Jimenez, FNP-BC, and the team at Benech Family Clinic, you have a better chance of preventing them. And if a disease develops, ongoing chronic health management helps you live a long, healthy life. To get the treatment and support you need, call the office in Houston, Texas, or book an appointment online today.

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What is chronic health management?

Chronic health management focuses on preventing and treating the diseases that cause seven in 10 deaths every year. While you can prevent most of these diseases, once they develop, they keep getting progressively worse. But you can maintain optimal health with ongoing medical management that slows down or stops the disease.

What diseases need chronic health management?

Benech Family Clinic specializes in diagnosing, treating, and managing all chronic diseases. A few of the most common that need ongoing health management include:

  • Diabetes
  • Arthritis
  • Asthma
  • Heart disease
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Chronic liver disease
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Cancer and long-lasting painful conditions like fibromyalgia also need chronic health management.

How does chronic health management work?

Chronic health management has one goal: to either prevent your disease or stop it from getting worse. The management you need depends on your diagnosis.

If you have diabetes, health management means keeping your blood sugar at normal levels. That is the only way to prevent high blood sugar from damaging your blood vessels and nerves, leading to serious complications like foot wounds, heart disease, and vision loss.

Heart disease management means reducing the stress on your heart, while also treating the underlying conditions that cause the problem, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

What happens during chronic health management?

Your provider completes a physical exam and runs the laboratory and diagnostic tests needed to verify your diagnosis. Then they create a care plan that meets your needs.

Chronic health management includes two essential treatments:

Lifestyle changes

The food you eat, the exercise you get, your overall weight, and whether or not you smoke significantly impact chronic diseases. These lifestyle variables are so important for preventing and treating health conditions that they’re always part of chronic health management.

For example, the food you eat holds the key to lowering blood sugar, reducing cholesterol levels, and dropping your blood pressure. Following a special diet helps stop chronic kidney disease from turning into kidney failure.

Exercise and losing weight go a long way toward preventing arthritis. They also ease your pain and keep joints moving after degenerative disease occurs.

Medications

When lifestyle changes can’t keep your disease under control, your provider prescribes the appropriate medication for your disease.

If you need chronic health management, call Benech Family Clinic or book an appointment online today.