Diabetes Nurse.

Lilsis

Lilsis

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Out of interest and sorry if this seems a strange question but how many people see a Diabetic Nurse?

The reason I ask is because my Dr's practise doesn't have a diabetic nurse. I see one of the practice nurses for my annual checks then have a follow up appointment.. In between annual check ups I'm left to my own devises as it were. On the plus side, it's meant I've had to educate myself.. When I asked about seeing a DN after attending the Desmond(?) course I was told I didn't need to see one, even though on the course they said we should all have a dedicated team. I control my diabetes with diet and managed to get back into prediabetic range within 6 months. I'm aiming for full remission as I'm sure we all are.

I'm considering changing to a Dr's surgery that has a DN. Does seeing a Diabetic Nurse make a difference?
 
There are two kinds of Diabetes Nurse @Lilsis Many GP surgeries have a practice nurse with a ‘special interest’ in diabetes who usually sees the patients with diabetes. That nurse will know a little more than other nurses who might have different ‘areas of interest’, eg family planning.

But there are also DSNs - Diabetes Specialist Nurses. These are usually attached to hospital clinics. As their name suggests, they have more specialist knowledge of diabetes, insulin, pumps, etc. I’m Type 1 so I have DSNs I see at the hospital clinic and who I can phone.

If you’re happy with your care, I wouldn’t bother changing surgeries. Your team could be your GP and the nurse you see at the surgery. That would be perfectly normal for someone in your position.

Edited to add - no, you wouldn’t need to see a DSN. Occasionally people use ‘DN’ instead of ‘DSN’ for the same specialist nurses, which causes confusion because others use it to just mean the practice nurse who sees them about their diabetes. Seeing a practice nurse, as you do, sounds normal to me.
 
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Lilsis said:
I control my diabetes with diet and managed to get back into prediabetic range within 6 months.
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@Lilsis.

I agree with previous posts. As you have learnt for yourself and got back in the prediabetic range you probably know as much as anyone about what's best for you.

Of course there is always something to learn, and that could well be what gets you back to normal.

We moved to another surgery recently. My only regret was to leave the practice nurse who acted as DN. She listened to what I said and made helpful suggestions. The GPs were great at diagnosis and prescribing large doses of metformin. It was Dr Michael Mosley and Prof. Roy Taylor's whose books pointed me along the way to get my liver back to normal (which I needed to do for other reasons). The radiologist who scanned my liver confirmed the treatment was diet.

In case they help you, two things which have helped me control my weight are this article, including the bit about weight loss, and Michael Mosley's 5:2 Intermittent Fasting - I found a copy of his book lurking in a charity shop and now research has shown it's really effective for dealing with visceral fat.
 
Lilsis said:
The reason I ask is because my Dr's practise doesn't have a diabetic nurse. I see one of the practice nurses for my annual checks then have a follow up appointment.. In between annual check ups I'm left to my own devises as it were. On the plus side, it's meant I've had to educate myself.. When I asked about seeing a DN after attending the Desmond(?) course I was told I didn't need to see one, even though on the course they said we should all have a dedicated team. I control my diabetes with diet and managed to get back into prediabetic range within 6 months. I'm aiming for full remission as I'm sure we all are.

I'm considering changing to a Dr's surgery that has a DN. Does seeing a Diabetic Nurse make a difference?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what else they could do for you given what you've done. We are expected to manage the condition ourselves, with help from medicines if we need them and lifestyle courses that are on offer plus the annual checks to make sure there are no unwanted side effects. The NICE guidelines are quite clear and this is what they will follow.

I've been point blank told by my GP (And a friend who is a GP, and somewhat fed up with patients who do nothing but take pills and carry on as before) it's my responsibility to manage the condition. Unless on insulin I'm not sure there's any specialist knowledge out there that would benefit us - I was pretty much told at diagnosis to 'lose weight and cut carbs and exercise' which has worked well for me.

(The situation might be different for T2s on insulin, but I don't know.)
 
I've been lucky that I have a really good diabetic nurse called Helen.She's a nice person whose been a Godsend during the last two and half years.
 
Hi @Lilsis
I haven’t seen a DSN for quite a few years, in-fact I think the last one I physically met was at the hospital, when I went on insulin, thinking maybe 10 years ago ?
recently I have spoke to a DSN about 6 times in the last 3 months as I have needed important changes to my meds, plus my HbA1c was going back to being out of control (back in June) but with a few changes that’s normal now.

I have also received an email from a DSN also,
so although haven’t been officially told to email them if I ever need help, I guess I could

as @harbottle posted it seems the DSN’s seem to be attached to the care team working from the Diabetes team at the hospital/ out there in the community, these days rather than having a individual DSN based at each doctors surgery, well at least that’s the case around here anyway.
At my surgery we have several doctors and one of then also oversees all the Diabetic needs of the other GP’s patient as well as looking after his own patients, which is I think a good idea, especially as I’m now under him as my GP.

It sounds like your taking good care of yourself @Lilsis as within 6 months you have got your Hba1c down to pre-diabetic range :star: and got your eyes on remission
 
I know I have one as my other half spoke to her on the phone when I was recovering from surgery but haven't had a review or a face to face. My oncologist pushed for a face to face but got told my numbers were all good so not needed. I think he was more worried about the mental health aspect rather than the diabetes itself at this point and just felt I need to talk things through. I have found the dietitians supportive although they also raised some queries with the DSN who gave them the same reply about numbers being good. Bit disappointing but I'm reaching the point where I'm not sure I would benefit much anyway. I am only about 5 months in but I was getting weekly/fortnightly calls from other teams initially. Of course there may also have been the practical element of lets see if he's still around in six months time 🙂
 
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