It can strike at any time and at any age. When someone develops a chronic disease, it can cause debilitating, life-altering changes that penetrate every aspect of daily life.
That’s more than half of the current population, for perspective, and close to half of the projected 2030 population.
There’s also a tremendous cost burden. Chronic diseases generate a disproportionately large segment of U.S. health care costs; of the nation’s $4.1 trillion in annual health care expenditures, chronic illnesses and mental health conditions account for 90 percent.
At an individual level, the price tag doesn’t look any better. Estimates for the treatment and management of chronic conditions—on average—tally more than $6,000 annually per patient.
Beyond the Numbers
“For example, if you have Type 2 diabetes, you are often checking in with your provider every three months. Four visits a year, times $300 a visit, plus the amount spent for medications per month ... quickly adds up,” nurse practitioner Lola MacLean told The Epoch Times.MacLean has worked in family and internal medicine for the past five years. In that time, she’s noticed a spike in the number of patients suffering from chronic conditions.
“Especially those related to metabolic disorders, [like] Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression,” she said.
Many chronic diseases require specialist care for management. Providers in these fields have also witnessed a surge in patients.
“Indeed, I have noticed an uptick in the number of patients with chronic diseases, particularly those with respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD [Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],” according to John Landry, a licensed, registered respiratory therapist and founder of the education platform Respiratory Therapy Zone.
He noted that chronic respiratory diseases often require expensive medications, frequent doctor visits, and hospitalizations.
“I find the estimate of $6,000 USD for the annual cost of treating chronic diseases to be plausible,” he told The Epoch Times. “This doesn’t even take into account indirect costs such as time off work for the patient and their caregivers.”
Uphill Battle
For Deb Borchert, a trip to the hospital is almost as routine as folding laundry. The 47-year-old Wisconsin mother of two knows most of the emergency room staff at her local hospital by their first names.She suffers from a condition known as hypokalemic periodic paralysis, which causes consistently low and dangerous potassium levels. It’s an illness that has landed her in the hospital more times than she can count over the past 20 years.
On March 10, she arrived at the emergency room with her miniature medical assistance dog, Molly. Her specialist’s phone number was already on file, and she was promptly admitted for treatment.
There was no red tape or extra paperwork; Borchert was put in a bed and hooked up to IVs and machines that would help save her life. Despite her outwardly calm demeanor, she was on the threshold of cardiac arrest. Again.
“Your pulse oxygen drops, and your entire body just collapses. It can’t even function,” Borchert told The Epoch Times about the effects of her condition.
For most people, healthy potassium levels are between 3.5 and 5.2 millimoles per liter (mmol/L). Anything below 2.5 is considered life-threatening.
Borchert was admitted on March 10 with a potassium level of 2.2 mmol/L.
“I’ve had it since my 20s, but they’ve never known how to really treat it. Every time, they try different drugs, but I’m allergic to a lot of those,” she said.
It’s a tune heard often among those suffering from chronic diseases—a lengthy, exhausting, and sometimes dangerous trial-and-error process with treatment. Some conditions can also be difficult to manage with traditional Western medicine.
That’s the case for Julie Walters, whose 14-year-old daughter suffers from a rare form of epilepsy called PCDH19, which is caused by a gene mutation. It’s also challenging to manage with medication.
Moreover, it causes intense clusters of seizures that can cause the person to stop breathing. That’s a side effect her daughter has endured many times and, as a result, she sleeps with a pulse oximeter and supplemental oxygen nearby.
“It’s changed our entire lives,” Walters told The Epoch Times.
Walters is co-founder of the PCDH19 Alliance, an online support network promoting early diagnosis and supporting families struggling with the condition. She also runs The Connected Parent, which is a free platform for families and caregivers that also reviews resources.
She is acutely aware of how important resources are for parents who have children struggling with PCDH19 and other chronic diseases. Her daughter’s illness requires constant monitoring and vigilance. Family vacations, attending school, or just going out to dinner must be planned carefully since her daughter might have a seizure at any moment.
Things such as sharp corners on furniture, balcony seating, and other details that most people don’t give much thought to are the focus of strategy and planning in Walters’s household. But it’s absolutely worth it to watch her daughter grow and enjoy as good a quality of life as possible.
Many PCDH19 patients can go years without a seizure. Yet when seizures return, they can be harrowing. Walters recalled a nightmare episode when her daughter suffered a seizure that lasted for more than an hour, requiring hospitalization.
Cause and Effect
While Borchert and Walters battle conditions beyond their control, health care professionals say many chronic diseases are the byproduct of unhealthy lifestyle choices, diet, and excessive stress.One study asserts that noncommunicable diseases that are chronic account for 70 percent of all global deaths annually. They include various ailments that vary in severity, from food allergies to heart disease.
Some of these conditions are called “lifestyle diseases,” because of their established cause-effect relationship with daily choices.
Heart disease and obesity fall under this heading. And while certain illnesses may not stem directly from unhealthy life choices, they’re made significantly worse by them. Diseases such as diabetes, certain cancers, inflammatory conditions, and asthma are all under this umbrella to a greater or lesser extent.
“The vast majority of chronic diseases in the United States are related to lifestyle choices, and contributing factors include dietary choices, lack of regular physical activity, [and] mental-emotional stress,” MacLean said.
The CDC said the main factors contributing to this subset of “lifestyle diseases” include tobacco use, poor nutrition, a sedentary lifestyle, and excessive alcohol usage.
Further, the tidal wave of chronic diseases has occurred in lockstep with a sharp rise in ultra-processed food consumption over the past two decades.
An 18-year study published by New York University showed that consumption of ultra-processed food climbed steadily during that period and accounted for 57 percent of America’s daily calories by 2018.
During that study period, an additional 15 million people developed chronic diseases. Medical professionals say this is no coincidence.
Yet a more subtle shift from acute to chronic illnesses as the dominant U.S. health concern began in the 1950s. Some researchers place the blame for the current health crisis squarely on the shoulders of a lethargic medical industry.
Finding Strength
Borchert knows exactly what her illness has claimed from her.“It’s taken away my ability to do whatever I want and enjoy the best of what life has to offer,” she said.
But her condition has also given her a different perspective on life. She says you'd never know how sick she was at a glance or even during a normal conversation on her good days.
That’s the case for many, including Walters’s daughter. Chronic illness is a constant battle with an invisible enemy that, for some, has no end in sight.
But this is where Borchert found a surprising and important new mission: spreading kindness.
“What’s most important is kindness and giving back. If I see someone struggling or having a rough day, I‘ll do something nice. I’ll pay for their groceries if I’m ahead of them in line or buy their coffee,” she said.
Over the past two decades, Borchert watched her son and daughter grow into responsible adults, which inspired her to be a better person. The loss of so many little freedoms through the veil of her disease has given her an appreciation for the little things.
“When I was younger, I used to take those things for granted. I don’t want to be like that anymore. It’s made me more kind, more empathetic. There are so many chronic illnesses you can’t see.”
For Walters, her fellow “medical moms” have been a critical lifeline in her family’s journey, since it takes a proverbial “village” to tackle chronic disease, especially when there’s no cure.
“Community, friendships, and the alliance. My daughter has friends with the same mutation, and they chat every weekend,” she said.
“A lot of the families have created these friendships ... because they get it.”
