Changes Coming to Slow Aging and Delay Chronic Disease Development

Significant changes are coming to Slow Aging and Delay Chronic Disease Development. This may be the best news. We are lowering the subscription price from $7 a month to $5 a month. There is a good reason for that. We will no longer be a site that only translates new medical science for the benefit of our readers. We will continue to do that work, but we are adding other services that more directly address the needs of those who struggle with chronic diseases. We don’t want our price to be a barrier for the people who need our services the most.

People who have chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, artery disease, chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, or a history of heart attack or stroke have very different needs from most individuals. The main thing that they require is health information that they can trust. We accept no advertising support. Our only support comes from subscription prices. That means we only serve our subscribers and provide them with the most valid and up to date medical information. That is especially important when it comes to health information. We are completely dedicated to providing you with medical information that helps you deal with your health challenges in the most effective way possible.

Managing a chronic illness is different. You only spent brief amounts of time with your healthcare professional, but your chronic illness is with you always. That means that you are the one who must manage your disease most of the time. You are the one who must pay attention to diet, exercise, taking medications faithfully and so forth. Your ability to manage your disease yourself is the most important factor in determining how well you do. Self-management of chronic conditions is critical.

You need certain information to support effective self-management. For example, if you have type 2 diabetes or artery disease, it is important that you understand the nature of your disease, what can be done about it, how you can help, and why it is worth your time. Now go to the picture at the top of the page. In the header just over the artery picture you can see a button that says patient ed. That button gives paid subscribers access to education that is carefully organized and designed to help them achieve best practice medical care or optimal medical therapy (OMT) for their chronic disease and that makes a huge difference.

Compared with the care that most people receive (usual care), OMT is much more protective for patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients on OMT have one fourth as many heart attacks, one fifth as many strokes, and one sixth as many patients go on to dialysis. They are healthier and survive 8 years longer. Their likelihood of being hospitalized for congestive heart failure is reduced by 70%. It is the same if you have had a heart attack. If you are on OMT after a heart attack, you are ten times as likely to be alive in 5 years compared with someone in usual care and your treatment will cost thousands of dollars less per year. Our first patient lessons include courses on high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, aspirin as a blood thinner, and stopping smoking. Those are the five elements of OMT in diabetes. OMT in vascular disease is largely the same, it just drops the diabetes lessons. Our patient education is available 24/7/365 in the comfort of your own home. You can access it on your phone.  

We are also dedicated to changing our healthcare system so that it serves patients with chronic diseases more effectively. If you look just to the left of Patient Ed, you will see Student Ed. Most healthcare professionals today do not provide OMT. Young people who are in high school and college and are considering a career in medicine need to know that the new science of chronic disease and aging is the new frontier in medicine. That is the area of medical science that will advance most rapidly in the coming decades, and it will be a very exciting career choice for that young person that you care about.

If you look to the right of patient ed, you will see clinician ed. We have just begun to work on this section, but it is an important part of our plan to bring together the educational resources for students, patients, and clinicians on the same site so that they are all singing from the same sheet of music.

This education initiative is part of a bigger change in our activities from merely talking and writing about change in our healthcare system to leading it and serving as a resource. We are doing much more than providing education. We are bringing together all the resources needed to support your community or employer in making OMT available to you. If you are participating in one of our broader programs access to our educational material is free. We can also provide discounted rates for groups. We hope that you like what we are doing and welcome your comments on how we can make it more valuable to you.

Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and artery disease tend to run in families. Many of you are only too familiar with the serious complications of these conditions. New scientific discoveries mean that you can easily and dramatically reduced your risk of complications. Tell the people you love about this resource so they will be safer too!