Being over the top

[ChillOut]

So this is a bit of a ranting post.... I had an accident, that plus an under active thyroid caused me to gain some weight and swing into the very border of type two diabetes.

Since, I have lost two and a half stone and I am now in the right side of my BMI journey, my weight fluctuates (with my activity) of around 5lbs - I am disabled, so some weeks I am on rest, I gain weight plus low activity makes my blood sugars play up.

I am sometimes 'diabetic' and sometimes not, in that sometimes my blood sugars are fine and sometimes they are not. This all depends on my activity, general health (infections make them high for example) and weight at the time. It also depends on how often I eat. 3 square meals is not good for me, so I eat small and often. Fasting makes my blood sugars high. I eat KETO.

My gripe is, I have just been admitted to hospital for orthopaedic stuff and they have a real hard on for checking my BG and doing blood tests...constantly. I have had chiropodists coming in to check my feet and nurses asking to see my bum for sores, squeezing my hands for circulation etc etc. They are always fine, but I am finding it highly irritating. My GP doesn't even ask me these things or ask me to check my blood sugars that often!

It all just seems really over the top and its irritating me that they behave so differently to my own endocrinologist. The other day my blood sugars went up to 11 (during fasting, it always does this!) and the doctor wanted to give me insulin?!!! What on earth??

I know many people with diabetes have these issues, but surely they can trust me to mention it instead of ordering a strip search every time a new nurse comes on shift?

I am managing my diabetes 100% with diet, exercise and weight loss - I do not want to be pumped full of drugs that just make me constantly vomit (though I did lose weight that way, but it isn't in a health way!)

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sounds like you are having a tough time @ChillOut

Is there someone senior on the ward you can have a conversation with to discuss how their approach is making you feel?

 

[trophywench]

Nurses and doctors inside hospitals neither know you nor how capable, sensible, intelligent or anything else you are, do they? They should always, these days, perform all these constant checks on 'us lot' because of the number of disasters that have happened in the past because they didn't. Personally I'm jolly glad they do - blood glucose can either soar or plummet in minutes when the body with diabetes meets something alien and no-one can predict this. Certain things usually make mine soar but occasionally do quite the opposite cos that is the nature of diabetes - ie sometimes unpredictable. T2s can also get diabetic ketoacidosis and it's just as life threatening for a T2 as a T1.

I was an inpatient on an ortho ward for a while in 2017 and was utterly gobsmacked at how quickly bed sores can develop if not dealt with properly before they actually progress - a couple of hours can make a huge difference.

Obs are always a ruddy nuisance - waking you up in the middle of the night to check your BP etc - but if they didn't do em they'd all get the sack.

Hope you'll have whatever treatment you need soon and can get home and back to sanity again as quickly as possible.

 

[ChillOut]

Sounds like you are having a tough time @ChillOut

Is there someone senior on the ward you can have a conversation with to discuss how their approach is making you feel?

I don’t want to upset them, they are after all just doing their job and I know that. But I feel like they are treating me like a child and being very over the top.

It’s very intrusive, I’m very aware of how to look after myself - diabetes and all - and I’d rather they asked if I needed that help that just assume so, you know?

I’ll rant a bit personally (or anonymously!) rather than upset anyone.

Nurses and doctors inside hospitals neither know you nor how capable, sensible, intelligent or anything else you are, do they? They should always, these days, perform all these constant checks on 'us lot' because of the number of disasters that have happened in the past because they didn't. Personally I'm jolly glad they do - blood glucose can either soar or plummet in minutes when the body with diabetes meets something alien and no-one can predict this. Certain things usually make mine soar but occasionally do quite the opposite cos that is the nature of diabetes - ie sometimes unpredictable. T2s can also get diabetic ketoacidosis and it's just as life threatening for a T2 as a T1.

I was an inpatient on an ortho ward for a while in 2017 and was utterly gobsmacked at how quickly bed sores can develop if not dealt with properly before they actually progress - a couple of hours can make a huge difference.

Obs are always a ruddy nuisance - waking you up in the middle of the night to check your BP etc - but if they didn't do em they'd all get the sack.

Hope you'll have whatever treatment you need soon and can get home and back to sanity again as quickly as possible.

I do understand that and the last thing I want to do is complain for them just doing their job, but they do have my notes from when I was admitted and it is very very comprehensive, all about my abilities and preferences, they could read that and realise I am not paralysed, just limited mobility. I can move and I do care for myself, therefor I do not need someone to come loot at my heels. I’m in my 20s and I am struggling with how condescending they are being so I dread to think how someone in their 50s feels, you know?

They maybe need to read people a little better and not assume everyone is unable to recognise a bedsore or a cracked heel?

All this said, I wouldn’t dare say to their faces as they are all lovely humans and I am incredibly grateful for what they do. But I always lose so much confidence and self respect in myself for the way people treat me in hospital. The constant comments and surprise at how independent I am and shock when I refuse a strip search because I know my skin is fine, yet they persist. It’s embarrassing.

Thank you both for listening to my rant, I hope you understand I am not ungrateful, I just don’t enjoy this level of attention at all!

 

[mikeyB]

That strip search is essential for people stuck in bed, so just go with the flow. Bed sores are often pain free, so you don’t know your skin is fine.

I gave up feeling embarrassed long since. I know to them it’s just routine, so if they don’t care, I don’t.

 

[trophywench]

I didn't actually mind the bedsores/cracked heels checks - I cannot physically see a good part of my backside without a mirror anyway and with one leg in plaster from thigh to ankle, both my heels were having to do a lot of work they don't normally do, esp the one without plaster.

I was very happy with the extra BG checks - I was also doing my own since my pump communicates with the meter/remote control - because the first time ever in my entire life I had serious ketones but there again I'd managed to live happily for nearly 68 years without ever breaking a bone before and it did really hurt! LOL

I was also very happy that they aren't phased when anyone wets the bed - the stupid bedpans they now use - not unlike a grill pan I thought - just aren't big enough when you are drinking as much as I was needing to, to try and flush the ketones out, as you have to - hence even if it hadn't overflowed when I was filling it - they couldn't actually remove them without spilling the contents. Ah well - THEIR prob, not mine.

Thing I hated most TBH was the mega wide bed though which only had 'cot' sides on the top bit so difficult to get to when I'd slid down the bed with the weight of the plaster. Hey ho - my kneecap healed and I'm still here.

 

[ChillOut]

That strip search is essential for people stuck in bed, so just go with the flow. Bed sores are often pain free, so you don’t know your skin is fine.

I’m not stuck in bed, I’m able to get up and move around. If you get pressure sores from sleeping, then why isn’t the whole hospital strip searched?

I didn't actually mind the bedsores/cracked heels checks - I cannot physically see a good part of my backside without a mirror anyway and with one leg in plaster from thigh to ankle, both my heels were having to do a lot of work they don't normally do, esp the one without plaster.

I was very happy with the extra BG checks - I was also doing my own since my pump communicates with the meter/remote control - because the first time ever in my entire life I had serious ketones but there again I'd managed to live happily for nearly 68 years without ever breaking a bone before and it did really hurt! LOL

I was also very happy that they aren't phased when anyone wets the bed - the stupid bedpans they now use - not unlike a grill pan I thought - just aren't big enough when you are drinking as much as I was needing to, to try and flush the ketones out, as you have to - hence even if it hadn't overflowed when I was filling it - they couldn't actually remove them without spilling the contents. Ah well - THEIR prob, not mine.

Thing I hated most TBH was the mega wide bed though which only had 'cot' sides on the top bit so difficult to get to when I'd slid down the bed with the weight of the plaster. Hey ho - my kneecap healed and I'm still here.

Oh the bed pans are the worst!! I am so glad I haven’t had to use them lately, it’s so clumsy isn’t it? You would think there would be a better way before now. Glad your all healed and back to normality. How did you break it? Those plastered are no fun, getting into a car is interested I had one round my waist and down one leg, my goodness was that a kerfuffle!

 

[ChillOut]

Sounds like you are having a tough time @ChillOut

Is there someone senior on the ward you can have a conversation with to discuss how their approach is making you feel?

I took your advice and had a chat, they took it all on board and told me to let them know if there were any changes in my blood sugar or skin, they apologised for the intrusion and recognised I was able to manage it myself. I didn’t want to upset anyone but they understood my wishes and were very kind about it... which meant I had a full nights sleep, no strip searches at 3am and no blood sugars at 1am and 5am - so all good! Thank you!

 

[rebrascora]

So pleased you were able to resolve it. We all understand the need to rant here on the forum every now and then and it is better done here than kept in or taken out on our nearest and dearest who don't really understand. You sound like an extremely mature 20 something and I can imagine how frustrating and demeaning it must have been to be treated like a child. The hospital staff have a lot of work and responsibility, but hopefully your little chat will have alleviated both your irritation and their workload a little.... win-win!

 

[trophywench]

Glad you got it sorted to mutual satisfaction!

How did I smash my patella? I tripped up over a speed bump (I have intermittent claudication and after standing all morning at a charity event, my left leg didn't want to do the walking thing, so my left foot dragged unexpectedly (which can happen on the flat very occasionally, but being an upwards slope it was a sudden dead stop and of course I've driven over that very hump, but my eyes were in walking to the shop to get a loaf mode, not slow down for the bump mode) Anyway, the rest of me didn't stop or slow down so I instantly went full length and my left knee, landing just at the top of the upward slope took the brunt. Yes of course I did the thing old ladies always do when we go full length and did indeed put both of my hands out to save myself - but they landed on the down slope, being that much further forwards.

So - the really good news was - I didn't even have gravel rash on the palms let alone break either of my wrists!! LOL

The surgeon who put the jigsaw back together didn't seem to think it was as funny as me, for some reason - I'm a glass half full person, me. Skewers through it and a smooth wire entanglement woven above it, 12 months later he agreed the skewers shouldn't really be ticking out of the bone and making visible protruberances under my knee skin so they were cut off and the wire removed before last Xmas. Yeah the bumps went but virtually ever since my knee has been just as painful as immediately before the second op should I ever try to eg nudge a cupboard door or kneel on it - just instant agony.

That little problem was solved on holiday in August - an 8 month old 'teeny bit of stitch' abscess - all the gunk compacted and almost dry so had to be squeezed from every angle forcibly - but it still stank. Yukk. However - at last I can use my knee normally again, except I kneel even more carefully that I ever did before I did it - and I'd had to make sure I had something nearby to help me get upright again for some time anyway.

If you are going to wait nearly 70 years before breaking any bones - I wouldn't honestly recommend choosing a patella as a test!