doctors know nothing

[delta]

hi there basically where allways running low on strips so rather than wait for the
pharmacy to sort out the prescription i took it up the doctors myself
the woman at the dispensary there told me i'm doing to many checks i should only need to check my son once a day. is she nuts or something
then a couple of days later i get a call from his doctor (not his diabete's doctor)
to say he was concerned as to the amount of checks i was doing.🙄 i know theres a credit crunch on but surely that does'nt mean we have to cut down on these sort of things lol! i normally check my son about 6 to 7 times a day. does that sound about right to you

 

[mustbdan]

Reply to strips

I think he needs to learn a bit more before he starts preaching to others !! I use on average 6 day as at the minute my levels are not stable for shore, two days ago my level shot upto 30.3 so if i didnt check mine more often than once a day i wouldnt have a clue were i was ! If it keeps us out of hospital or using more medicines (which would cost more than a couple of testers) then keep using them i do and its our health we're checking and not the goverments bank balance.

 

[aymes]

at the very minimum he should be checking before each meal and before bed plus before and after exercise and if he feels unwell so 6 or so a day sounds reasonable.
I've had problems with my surgery over getting insulin ( when I changed from novomix to novorapid/lantus my gp refused to give me novorapid because ' it was contained in the novomix'!!! - well yes but that clearly wasn't the point!!!!) I found a call from the diabetes clinic soon sorted it out though it may be worth asking them to speak to the doctor for you if you're still having issues. Or failing that I'd have though diabetes uk would have some guidance they could supply them with?

 

[Lizzie]

Is your son a type 1? If so he should be checking about 5x a day, more if he is ill or has anything like unexpected exercise, meal out etc. It is terrible that doctors are doing things like this, if they want to save the NHS money then they should look at their massive wage packets, especially GPs, not do it at the expense of patients' health.

When I did DAFNE my nurse gave us each a letter explaining we needed to test 5x a day, and also if we wanted ketone strips or to change strips or insulin or whatever because of what we learned on the course. Ask your hospital doctor or nurse to write your GP a letter saying why your son needs to test and how many times a day they reccommend testing.

Incidentally, I am interested that your pharmacy usually deals with your son's prescription. I would love that arrangement, my chemist is a lovely man and is open til 7pm so I would not have to rush back from work to get there before it closed, as I have to at the surgery. I asked if he could deal with my prescription, I filled out an official form allowing him access to my hospital record, but the GP would not allow it for diabetics apparently.

This may seem like I have an unreasonable bias against GPs, but I feel it is entirely reasonable given the things they have done in the past. Once I went to them wanting to go on antidepressants and the doctor did not let me get a word in, she immediately launched into a tirade about how I would get all these complications if I did not test my blood sugar, she was really aggressive and by the end I was in floods of tears. She did not seem to care, just said I had exceeded the appointment time and should leave. It was left to a fellow patient to console me in the waiting room. Or, another time, I wanted to add ketone strips to my prescription and the GP said they were already on there. Turns out he did not know the difference between ketone strips and blood strips. Or, once the GP wanted me on statins (at 25!). He started looking for some info on why I should be on them. He spent the whole 15 minute appointment time searching online and in his books and found nothing. I could go on. I am sure there are great GPs out there somewhere who work really hard and justify their giant pay packets, and their patients adore them. But I haven't met any.

 

[sofaraway]

since when is the dispensary women qualified to give you medical advise for your son?!
I would speak to your sons DSN and see if s/he can speak tot he GP and explain why your son needs to test .
I don't think 6 times a day is excessive. testing is only excessive if it gives you no useful information to act on.
Luckily I have never had a problem getting the strips I need, but I know alor of people have difficulty, but generally type 1's get it sorted fairly quickly.

 

[rosie]

Keep battling for the precription - think we as a group are probably soft cost cutting targets.

I've been told by one of the practice nurses that I shouldn't test so frequently. I generally test once a day but more if I'm trying different food. It must be working as I've managed to avoid medication for nearly 18 months since diagnosis and my last HB was 6.7. I'm still paying for my prescriptions so it must have saved the NHS a fortune so far. The second practice nurse actually encourages me but she is diabetic herself!

 

[jenks]

i've been diagnosed type 1 for 4 months and was told to check at least 4 times a day but with the hussle and bussle of normal life i check about 7 times a day just to make sure i dont hypo. Im sure we'd all agree we'd rather check more and avoid hypo's rather than drop.

The problem with doctors nd the helth proffession is they dont know what its like so have no real idea what going on and how it feels. |Why isn't their doctors with diabeties that cant actually give advice based on personal experiance rather than some lines from a book??? their must be at least 1 out their somewhere.

 

[sofaraway]

I'm still paying for my prescriptions so it must have saved the NHS a fortune so far.

rosie are you controlling your diabetes with diet and exercise and no meds?

 

[Alistair]

i've been diagnosed type 1 for 4 months and was told to check at least 4 times a day but with the hussle and bussle of normal life i check about 7 times a day just to make sure i dont hypo. Im sure we'd all agree we'd rather check more and avoid hypo's rather than drop.

I'm new to all of this, only 6 months so I'm probably looking at this from the wrong way. I test BG to make sure I'm not going to high rather than to low. My body tells me when levels are falling to low at which point I will test just to confirm. Am I doing it wrong?

Alistair

 

[Admin]

Alsitair - I check for highs rather than lows on the whole - had never thought about it before - but that is what I do! Apart from if am extremely high and get thirsty I do not get symptoms - whereas lows are much easier to 'feel'. So no! You are not doing it wrong - and there is no right of wrong - everyone has their own ways and as long as it works for you then it's right!

 

[Northerner]

I've heard so much about people getting hassle about their use of testing strips, I'm almost expecting to get it myself each time I renew my prescription! I guess I've been very lucky with the quality of my treatment so far (6 months). My GP did ask me once how often I tested and why, when I asked for an increase from 100 to 200 strips per prescription, but seemed satisfied with my explanation.

I thought all diagnosed diabetics got free prescriptions?

 

[heidi Blakemore]

Hi Delta,

Elle my daughter test's her blood's some times 7-10 times a day and my doctor never question's why?
I must be lucky! he has been the most wonderful doctor ever, when she was first diagnosed the insulin did not agree with her (mixtard), so he swapped it to levamir long lasting and novo when she eat's taught us how to calculate the carbs ect, and lucky enough we can request repeat's online which are then delivered to the pharmacy were I pick up!

I would take this up with your diabetese consultant to see what he thinks, as the strips are my way of reassuring that elle's is ok!!

 

[stephenmcdonald]

i totally agree wiv u- you should be able to test your son's blood as often as you feel is required. i dont have diabetes myself, i am a student health professional and will work for and wiv diabetes patients soem day soon. speak to your DSN and hopefully it will be sorted. someone is mixed up here- doctors/dispensers are responsible for the correct management of their patients, and not for financial management of the NHS

 

[sofaraway]

I thought all diagnosed diabetics got free prescriptions?

only if on medication or insulin, thse controlled only on diet are not exempt

 

[rosie]

rosie are you controlling your diabetes with diet and exercise and no meds?

Hi Nikki, Yes so far I've managed to control my diabetes with diet. I don't know how much longer I'll manage to remain drug free but the longer the better! My last count was 6.7 which is .2 up from last reading 6 months ago. Suspect I'm going to end up on the statins very soon though - not looking forward to that.

 

[delta]

Is your son a type 1? If so he should be checking about 5x a day, more if he is ill or has anything like unexpected exercise, meal out etc. It is terrible that doctors are doing things like this, if they want to save the NHS money then they should look at their massive wage packets, especially GPs, not do it at the expense of patients' health.

When I did DAFNE my nurse gave us each a letter explaining we needed to test 5x a day, and also if we wanted ketone strips or to change strips or insulin or whatever because of what we learned on the course. Ask your hospital doctor or nurse to write your GP a letter saying why your son needs to test and how many times a day they reccommend testing.

Incidentally, I am interested that your pharmacy usually deals with your son's prescription. I would love that arrangement, my chemist is a lovely man and is open til 7pm so I would not have to rush back from work to get there before it closed, as I have to at the surgery. I asked if he could deal with my prescription, I filled out an official form allowing him access to my hospital record, but the GP would not allow it for diabetics apparently.

This may seem like I have an unreasonable bias against GPs, but I feel it is entirely reasonable given the things they have done in the past. Once I went to them wanting to go on antidepressants and the doctor did not let me get a word in, she immediately launched into a tirade about how I would get all these complications if I did not test my blood sugar, she was really aggressive and by the end I was in floods of tears. She did not seem to care, just said I had exceeded the appointment time and should leave. It was left to a fellow patient to console me in the waiting room. Or, another time, I wanted to add ketone strips to my prescription and the GP said they were already on there. Turns out he did not know the difference between ketone strips and blood strips. Or, once the GP wanted me on statins (at 25!). He started looking for some info on why I should be on them. He spent the whole 15 minute appointment time searching online and in his books and found nothing. I could go on. I am sure there are great GPs out there somewhere who work really hard and justify their giant pay packets, and their patients adore them. But I haven't met any.

i'm sorry to hear about your troubles but this seems to be the norm at most surgery's they should just leave it upto the diabetic doctors or ourselves to sort out😡

 

[delta]

since when is the dispensary women qualified to give you medical advise for your son?!
I would speak to your sons DSN and see if s/he can speak tot he GP and explain why your son needs to test .
I don't think 6 times a day is excessive. testing is only excessive if it gives you no useful information to act on.
Luckily I have never had a problem getting the strips I need, but I know alor of people have difficulty, but generally type 1's get it sorted fairly quickly.

yes my son is type 1 i have been known to check him in the night when he's asleep and then again half hour later it gives me a good indication of what is happening glucose trend wise

 

[delta]

Hi Delta,

Elle my daughter test's her blood's some times 7-10 times a day and my doctor never question's why?
I must be lucky! he has been the most wonderful doctor ever, when she was first diagnosed the insulin did not agree with her (mixtard), so he swapped it to levamir long lasting and novo when she eat's taught us how to calculate the carbs ect, and lucky enough we can request repeat's online which are then delivered to the pharmacy were I pick up!

I would take this up with your diabetese consultant to see what he thinks, as the strips are my way of reassuring that elle's is ok!!

they put my son on to novamix. but i found it was running out to quick so put him back on mixtard 30. which is better but no one ever metioned a long acting with novarapid. i think this would be better for my son you sound like
you have a good doctor there

 

[jenks]

the reason i check more for low BG is that my day to day work is pretty active and i find that my BG is droppin most of the time. My problem with hypo's are i dont always have the time or ability to stop and sort it so i check to avoid them and the all too familiar sugar binge.
High BG's aren't somethin i'm really bothered by for the forementioned reasons so i guess im pretty lucky compared to most of the people here.

 

[margaret]

Hi Nikki, Yes so far I've managed to control my diabetes with diet. I don't know how much longer I'll manage to remain drug free but the longer the better! My last count was 6.7 which is .2 up from last reading 6 months ago. Suspect I'm going to end up on the statins very soon though - not looking forward to that.

Hi Rosie, Just to let you know statins aren't all bad news. I know that there seems to be alot mentioned about the side effects, but I've been on them for over 1 year with no problems.