Advice please

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MGR

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Hi. I attended A&E in January, had x rays and told by an AE consultant that I had tendonitis in my wrist. My job involves a lot of keyboard typing and driving. Given pain relief and advice plus splint.

Blood test at GP was okay.other than HBA1C had risen to 63 from 55. Type 1 diabetic for 24 years. No complications and first time apart from when diagnosed that it has been higher than mid fifties. GP wasnt interested with the fact my levels of exercise have fallen to next to nothing due to wrist problems. Have arthritis confirmed in my feet duecto old fracture sites. Main form of daily exercise is couple.of hours at an allotment. No advice offered and GP dismissive of A&E findings. Referred for nerve conduction studies for possible carpal tunnel(understand that has been linked to diabetes) although i have no numbness, no pins and needles and no issues on the underside of my palms.

GP seems to he focused on diabetes and one poor HBA1C result being the reason for pain in my wrist. Always had excellent control of sugars too.

Any one had similar problems. If you have no confidence in GP abilities regarding your diabetic care would you ask to be referred elsewhere for your reviews?
 
Could you ask for a referral to a specialist diabetes team perhaps?
Maybe call the DUK helpline for suggestions?
 
@MGR Have you ever been under the care of a consultant? You could ask for a referral to the hospital diabetes team maybe. If you’re not happy about the GP’s diagnosis, you can ask for a second opinion.
 
That's exactly what I did! I've had a year of thinking that I was developing complications and needed more support than 2 blood tests a year, feet tickling and the usual tick box review (No I still don't smoke) and the GP saying "No action". At my last review I asked for more support and a referral was made which came through in about 4 months, an astonishingly short time I thought given that I was told by a GP that it wasn't worth making a referral as it would take so long. I now have Libre prescribed, a 6 month review with the consultant and access to DSN team.

I don't want to get into GP bashing as they are struggling with a massive work load at the moment but it is increasingly daunting thinking "Maybe I need to speak to a Dr about this".

The conversation I had with a GP only this week was quite amusing for both myself and the GP. I'd been describing some digestive issues saying that I lack of appetite and felt full quite soon after eating. The conversation moved on and then as the GP summed up he said so you have early satiety, anorexia. At which point I interrupted him to say "I never said I had anorexia!" We then spent the next few minutes trying to work out what I had said and how that could have been misinterpreted for anorexia. Of course anorexia is the medical term for lack of appetite quite different to anorexia nervosa but the shortened anorexia is used interchangeably these days. I advised him that he needed to be careful using medical terminology when speaking to patients and he took it in good humour and said he agreed.
 
MGR said:
Hi. I attended A&E in January, had x rays and told by an AE consultant that I had tendonitis in my wrist. My job involves a lot of keyboard typing and driving. Given pain relief and advice plus splint.

Blood test at GP was okay.other than HBA1C had risen to 63 from 55. Type 1 diabetic for 24 years. No complications and first time apart from when diagnosed that it has been higher than mid fifties. GP wasnt interested with the fact my levels of exercise have fallen to next to nothing due to wrist problems. Have arthritis confirmed in my feet duecto old fracture sites. Main form of daily exercise is couple.of hours at an allotment. No advice offered and GP dismissive of A&E findings. Referred for nerve conduction studies for possible carpal tunnel(understand that has been linked to diabetes) although i have no numbness, no pins and needles and no issues on the underside of my palms.

GP seems to he focused on diabetes and one poor HBA1C result being the reason for pain in my wrist. Always had excellent control of sugars too.

Any one had similar problems. If you have no confidence in GP abilities regarding your diabetic care would you ask to be referred elsewhere for your reviews?
Click to expand...
It is not uncommon to come across GPS who struggle to deal with the details of T1 as they are what they are, general practitioners. I would definitely ask for a referral to the local specialist team, who are the specialists and can draw on a lot more experience.

There was an article in the most recent DUK Diabetes Update about links with T1 and various musculoskeletal issues. A clever person ( @everydayupsanddowns ) might be able to drop a link to it in here.
 
I think this is the research that @SB2015 remembered @MGR


It seems to have confirmed a causal link, rather than simply an association, between diabetes and various musculoskeletal conditions like frozen shoulder and tendonitis.

Hope you can get some effective relief of your symptoms, that free you up to exercise again. And yes, it should be perfectly possible to get a referral to be seen at a specialist hospital clinic.
 
Tendonitis and keyboards - when this first reared its ugly head generally, as well as splints you used to be able to get a gel-filled 'sausage' thing that you placed immediately in front of your typewriter (! - yes, that long ago!) so your wrists were independently supported whilst typing. You could bung it in the fridge, or along the top of a radiator if you also needed it to be hot or cold. Blooming lovely in use, even for someone who doesn't use a keyboard all day long. Never get that bit where you have to crack your fingers to stretch em out properly again.

I say this as someone who never learned to touch type.
 
Wrist rests are still a thing. You can certainly buy them online but not heard of any where you can chill them or warm them but there must be someone still making that sort.
 
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