Ask Diabetes UK!

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HelenA21 said:
Hi,

Excuse my ignorance, but are Diabetes.org.uk and Diabetes.co.uk connected, or are they completely different organisations?

What are the main differences between them?

Best Wishes
Helen
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They are completely separate. ( though often confused for one another by unsuspecting Newbies)
diabetes.org.uk is the charity, Diabetes UK, and this forum comes under their umbrella.
diabetes.co.uk is a commercial organisation, (paid for mainly by advertising, I think.)
 
Hi Hanna.
It's been interesting reading some of the posts on the forum regarding problems with getting devices, needles and testing strips prescribed by some GPs.
I live in SW France and have had no problem whatsoever. Recently my testing device started playing up and, as there was no response from the manufacturer, my GP gave me a prescription for a new machine (different make), lancets and testing strips - no argument.
Perhaps DUK could carry out some research into the differences between the UK and their European neighbours in their approach to prescriptions for diabetes related equipment.
 
@patchworks101 - firstly welcome to the forum.

You wouldn't have had any trouble here either - because you are a Type 1. (well occasional cock-ups even with T1s still occur, admittedly, but they soon get sorted out)

If we could persuade our Government at any time to do anything they weren't hell bent on doing anyway - we'd all need hospitalising for severe shock. The mere thought anyway that a government would ask or take advice from another country seems a bit far-fetched too LOL Apart from the fact of course they have suddenly become Europhobic as a body so the mere thought of asking a European body for anything not directly in our favour and connected with Brexit, also seems unlikely!

The main single reason T2s have such difficulty obtaining test strips - is lack of funding for the NHS from the UK Government.

If everyone in the UK had a co-pay on drugs same as the population of France does - and total lack of availability of certain drugs in some Departements (I can give you an example of this happening if you don't believe me) cos each one can and does have different rules, perhaps glucometers - or rather the test strips since the companies give the meters away free anyway - wouldn't be such a problem here?

(And in case you were wondering, my husband and I are Francophiles and spend at least a few months of each year touring France in our motorhome and have both French native and English ex-pat residents as friends living in various places there. Personally we only wanted the EU to change in some ways - not divorce ourselves from it again - but we can't always get what we want - as was proved yet again last Thursday! LOL You can only please some of the people, some of the time!)
 
HelenA21 said:
Hi,

Excuse my ignorance, but are Diabetes.org.uk and Diabetes.co.uk connected, or are they completely different organisations?

What are the main differences between them?

Best Wishes
Helen
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing Helen.
 
And this forum doesn't seperate T1s and T2s, which is a bonus - many of their concerns are much the same.
 
mikeyB said:
And this forum doesn't seperate T1s and T2s, which is a bonus - many of their concerns are much the same.
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The number of messages here is inferior, so a forum subdivision isn't a big priority.
But even if some research is indicating that T1 and T2 are more correlated that the medical sience is stating nowadays there are some big differences on the day do day routine. T2 normally have to buy meter and test strips because don't normally risk hypos and are told that they shouldn't measure the BG.
There's also a bad omen on T2 that are considered by general public fat gluttons that deserve the condition for their sins - alas also from some T1 - luckily the T1 I know in real life are all smart people.

But I have to agree that for adults the challenges diabetes poses are very similar.
 
Seems active enough to me, while quiet enough for threads, and post, not to get lost too easily. Allowing people to follow a discussion.
 
Hello Diabetes UK, just wondered if this forum is available as a mobile app too ?
 
patchworks101 said:
Hi Hanna.
It's been interesting reading some of the posts on the forum regarding problems with getting devices, needles and testing strips prescribed by some GPs.
I live in SW France and have had no problem whatsoever. Recently my testing device started playing up and, as there was no response from the manufacturer, my GP gave me a prescription for a new machine (different make), lancets and testing strips - no argument.
Perhaps DUK could carry out some research into the differences between the UK and their European neighbours in their approach to prescriptions for diabetes related equipment.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your comments. Its good to hear that you had such ease of access with your GP regarding new equipment. Generally, if a device is faulty and an item is available on prescription, then GPs in the UK will replace them (it is essential equipment for those managing diabetes with insulin), however the issues currently in the UK for anyone T1 or on insulin (there are similar issues for those managing diabetes with diet/medication), is either a restriction of the number of strips they can have or the choice of meter they use, with some individuals finding that they are being requested to use cheaper, less effective pieces of equipment.

I have passed your comments over to our Policy Team to see if we are making any considerations around how other countries approach issues of prescribing equipment. Perhaps @Stefan Diabetes UK may be interested in your post too. As part of our Diabetes Voices Team, he has looked a lot at the difficulties people have been facing around accessing test strips and campaigning to drive improvements. Thanks again 🙂
 
The Gov said:
Hello Diabetes UK, just wondered if this forum is available as a mobile app too ?
Click to expand...

Hello - the forum site is 'mobile friendly' so should work well on any smart phone. There is not yet a Diabetes UK Forum App, but we're always open to feedback and suggestions 🙂
 
patchworks101 said:
Perhaps DUK could carry out some research into the differences between the UK and their European neighbours in their approach to prescriptions for diabetes related equipment.
Click to expand...

Further to my last comment, here is a reply from our Policy Team 🙂

"Hi @patchworks101, thank you for sharing your experience. This is an interesting idea that could show up some of the issues that we have in this country. The French health system is more generously funded than in the UK – they spend 11 per cent of their national income on healthcare in contrast to 8.5% in the UK so they will have more ability to fund medical technology. It would not be straightforward to collect the data in a comparable way across Europe. However, we are in touch with our French counterparts about the Freestyle Libre. The manufacturer Abbott have made swifter progress getting the device funded in the French health system than in the UK."
 
I am constantly fire fighting widely fluctuating blood sugar levels and I worry for my long term health. However my Hb1ac is very good. The last three were 6.4, 6.7 and 7.1. However I only achieve this by keeping a constant watch including at 2 hourly intervals throughout the night. I don't have the same pattern from one day to the next.

HOWEVER, my diabetic consultant tells me that it's the HB1ac result that matters for good health and the fluctuating blood sugars don't matter. This flies in the face of everything I've been told for years. What is the perceived wisdom please on the long term effects of variable blood sugars?
 
That's a really good question, @LorraineP - I will be interested to see any replies. I'm curious to know which insulins you're on? I had random pattern-less and increasingly fluctuating bgls when I was on Lantus - but my HbA1cs were all between 6 - 7. I wouldn't say my bgls are great now (I've changed to Tresiba) but they're better, and there is much more of a pattern to them which makes it easier to adjust insulin doses sensibly.
 
Hi Juliet, I got my first pump a year ago and I'm on Novorapid. I bought a Freestyle Libre at the same time so both pieces of kit help me to fire fight better hence the better average BG but the fluctuations are still there. I've been told for years that it's not good to have variable results even if the Hb1ac is good but now suddenly I'm being told the opposite. It doesn't make sense to me so I'm wondering what other people have been told.
 
No-one's mentioned fluctuating results to me, except to tell me not to have so many hypos - easy to say, less easy to do! I've been told my HbA1c was too low (it was 42 at the time, which is around 6, I think, so not really low, in fact just barely down into the range for non-diabetics!), but no-one seems to worry either about highs or about spikes and plummets.
I have a Libre and a pump on my to-do list, but I have really bad cognitive dysfunction so sorting anything new takes a huge amount of time and effort for me.

@Hannah DUK - does DUK have any thoughts about wildly fluctuating sugars, especially when combined with good HbA1cs, giving the impression of good control?
 
Bill Stewardson said:
I was wondering the same thing Helen.
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I see this question awaits an answer ??

I ask because I am hoping to take some concerns to well placed people within the NHS/D community, using the existing site(s) May have been helpful.
 
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