Hellooooo

[CLARE291079...]

Totally agree! For me personally, testing is merely a means of understanding the process and as we all know, everybody's body works in a very individualistic way. This is why I'm so set against this one size fits all society GP's would have us all abide by. I'm sure, after reading a lot of people's posts that one can count oneself very lucky if you're given the news and then whilst there, given a good explanation on what comes next, who you will see and what appointments to expect. After all you wouldn't give someone the news they have cancer and hold out a script and tell them to just get on with it themselves, so why should we as patients tolerate this when this pops it's head up? For some, the news is no less devastating. You feel like you've been blindfolded, dumped in a forest and told to find your way out oh and change your whole lifestyle while you're at it but nah.... No help will be there.
Is it just me but... Wouldn't you think since diabetes in one form or another is almost an epidemic at the moment, the NHS would put more into helping patients manage it better andaquicker in order to prevent many very long term debilitating and life crippling conditions that will drain the NHS even more in the long run? Or is that too easy?
Anyway, I'm sorry, rant over. How's everyone managing in the heat?
Oh btw... Changing to the meter everone recommends

 

[Ralph-YK]

Hi Ralph, I would if she wasn't a friend of his ant therefore hardly impartial. His son also works there. Think there is a GP complaints commission though!

I meant a complained about the doctors as much as the receptionist, and possibly a poke at the practice in general.
I don't remember the name of it. There is somewhere else to complain about the practice.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Hi Dave, I was told a mere 4 months ago that I was essentially diabetic, but to try diet changes first and excercise. My GP knows - obviously that I am wheelchair bound due to the arthritis in all of my joints, so when I glared at him and said "how do I go for walks? How do I join a gym and do the aerobics you're telling me to do?" His answer was and I quote... " Well move what you can then". . He thoroughly believes that I sit eating myself stupid all day everyday despite blood tests showing that my thyroid isn't working as it should either, but he's ... And again I quote his exact words "I'm not bothered about that". I actually eat very little. Pain and the inability to cook or to get into my kitchen in the wheelchair I currently have stops any of that, and has for years. I'm very reliant on my hubby who works from 8 am to 7 pm to cook dinner, and he knows my favourite is baked cod loin with fresh salad and 2 to 3 jersey jersey royal potatoes. Breakfast atm is a no goer as there isn't the time in a morning and lunch is usually a sandwich or tin of soup. After two further blood tests showing my average hbA1c was 9.4 mmol ( 55 on his scale and 43 is the upper limit he said ) it was a locum who told me this silly constant retesting had to stop and medication started. My GP is clearly unhappy at this as he and his receptionist keep telling me - and the rest of the world listening and no doubt everyone they speak to too. It's just been a nightmare for me and still is, I'm still shocked by him, angry at him and very frustrated by him. It's only thanks to the kindness I've been shown here, the support from my hubby and my own tenacity that I've got a good idea where I'm at and what I need to do next.
I may have a little rebellion in me when I say there's enough diabetics of one type of another to band together and challenge the nhs to do better by us all. Support in the first 12 months at least is - in my opinion essential in helping people understand what's happened to them and why, and in giving them all they need in terms of equipment, help and support free on prescription and a 24hr help line for when problems occur and a newbie has doubts on what to do. In order to prevent long term potentially devastating life changing consequences. If they can give smokers this in of help why not us?

Definitely do a full complaint about the doctor.

 

[Jakki098]

Hmmm
... I finally got the modified Metformin from my doc!
I'm confused. I saw the nurse yesterday, she agreed testing really is the only way to learn and gave me a Glucomen areo meter with lancets and 40 test strips, finger pricker plus armed me with pamphlets books and log books. She made an appointment to go on the two day "living with diabetes" booked a foot appointment for me, and my eye test is on the 23rd. She told me they don't really give meters to type 2's as they aren't in danger of hypo's but it's clear I've got my head screwed on know what I'm doing and why so it's very justified and the doc will prescribe the strips for me.
She told me my thyroid result was showing it's rather under active and he should be prescribing treatment for that too.
However, when I saw him. He was blunt.
"If you want to test, please yourself, I hold no interest in them and go only by HbA1c results. You can fund them yourself"
He also said the Cyanocobalamin the locum gave me for very low B12 was "unnecessary" and to "fund it yourself".
"Yes the results for your thyroid are low but I want to make sure it's not just a blip so will retest on 31st July" I've had 3 tests already and all 3 show the same!!
I've gone from getting a good hold on this diabetes thing, managing to settle the BG results from yoyoing from 2.3 mmol/L to 33.00 mmol/L to a steady 8.4 mmol to 9.9 mmol after food because of testing. Now I feel let down, and left wondering why I'm bothering when the GP himself clearly doesn't care about my wellbeing. He actually held the chair out and said "please sit carefully as I had a 180lb patient who broke the chair and I've had to replace it once" I'm nowhere near that heavy!!! Nowhere near it and that's the truth How dare he?! Even the nurse said I look great and had lost over a stone in the last month by altering my diet and doing more excercise. I feel so insulted, confused as to who's right and what my next steps should be. Just when I thought I was getting a grip...

 

[Eddy Edson]

That's disgraceful. Can you find a better doctor?

 

[Northerner]

I've gone from getting a good hold on this diabetes thing, managing to settle the BG results from yoyoing from 2.3 mmol/L to 33.00 mmol/L to a steady 8.4 mmol to 9.9 mmol after food because of testing. Now I feel let down, and left wondering why I'm bothering when the GP himself clearly doesn't care about my wellbeing. He actually held the chair out and said "please sit carefully as I had a 180lb patient who broke the chair and I've had to replace it once" I'm nowhere near that heavy!!! Nowhere near it and that's the truth How dare he?! Even the nurse said I look great and had lost over a stone in the last month by altering my diet and doing more excercise. I feel so insulted, confused as to who's right and what my next steps should be. Just when I thought I was getting a grip...

Jakki, you really must ditch this doctor, this attitude is totally unacceptable! 😱 Your nurse was absolutely correct in recognising you are highly motivated to test, you have already demonstrated the value of it to all who would care to listen and the likelihood is that it will lead to a much improved state of long-term health and higher quality of life if you are able to manage your diabetes well. It's also likely that you will be able to stay away from, or at the very least significantly delay, any extra medication.

You have every right to feel insulted, because you have been. Don't let this person undermine your determination and your efforts. I don't know if there is a body you can complain to, but if this is how his patients are treated then it needs to be addressed 😡

Please find another surgery, it's worth it even if you have to travel. Good luck 🙂

 

[Jakki098]

I have every intentions of doing so on Tuesday this coming week. It's another leap into the unknown for me, but anything is better than this. I have NO intentions of heading down the path he wants to send me on! The road that leads to more medications, heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, amputation and blindness. I'm going a different way altogether! The path of preventing those things. He can stick his archaic ideas and approaches where the Sun will never shine. I'm off! ... Thanks for the encouragement Northerner.

 

[CathyB]

Go Jakki! My gp is a little ignorant but yours takes the biscuit!!!! What a waste of an education he is 😱 Stress is likely to mess with your bg levels so please do take back control, find a surgery that supports patient care, start a food diary and map your test results to your meals until you get to grips with what’s working for you. I started by testing first thing, before and 2 hrs after each meal and again before bed, didn’t take long to see patterns! Now 4 months in I’m only testing a couple of times a week just to keep an eye on things.....it’s vital to me to feel in control of my diabetes rather than the other way around. Not knowing would put my anxiety through the roof An example of the benefit of testing for me is apples, I was having 2 small ones a day, my bg went up, I cut back to one a day, numbers settled nicely at 5.5, left it a month and recently started eating two again.......numbers have gone up a little, not a lot but enough for me to drop it back. You deserve better support Jakki so go get it 😎

 

[Jakki098]

Hi Cathy 🙂 thank you, yes, that's how it is for me. The stress levels of last week have seen my BG on average in the red around 13.6 to 17.7 mmol/L compared to after seeing the very understanding and settling nurse where I was a max of 8.4 to 9.3 mmol/L stress is a big issue I'm learning. This has to stop! I need help not hinderance. My daughter is a PhD student in Medieval History, aged 25 next week. She will probably live in Germany or France when finished next spring ( she's just come back from Perth, Australia for a month working in the History of emotions university there ) my hubby Marc, and I are both physicist - he in astrophysics me in quantum mechanics so we've all got so much to look forward to, including first grand children in time, travelling, lecturing, etc, I cannot and will not let blindness, liver disease, kidney disease, heart attack, strokes, or loss of limbs stop or alter dramatically our future. Not if it's within my power to do so, but as I'm sure everyone here finds out, you cannot do it alone. Help and support is as vital as the air we breathe. So, I really do want to thank everyone who has welcomed me, given me invaluable advice, encouraged me and helped me. You're all amazing and I'm utterly thankful I found you all. 🙂

 

[Eddy Edson]

Good for you, Jakki.

When medical doctors get a bit uppity I sometimes feel obliged to remind them that without PhD's they are "doctors" only by courtesy. This doesn't necessarily help the relationship, I admit 🙂

 

[Jakki098]

Hahahaha!! So very true!

 

[Brando77]

Your GP could be right about no gastric problems with Metformin.
I have an idea, I've concocted a test where your Doc and I can have lunch in a locked, airless room and stick around for a coupla hours and he can log down any changes in the atmosphere.....if he's still conscious. 🙂

 

[Jakki098]

Hahahaha!!! No gas masks allowed!! :O

 

[CathyB]

Your GP could be right about no gastric problems with Metformin.
I have an idea, I've concocted a test where your Doc and I can have lunch in a locked, airless room and stick around for a coupla hours and he can log down any changes in the atmosphere.....if he's still conscious. 🙂

Hahahahaha priceless