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Inflammation and blood sugars?

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
J

Joker

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All,

I'm new to this site... but have a big problem I need your help with please?

I was in an accident 2 months ago while I was cycling home from dropping my daughter off at school. A car hit me and really hurt my back. I am getting better and doing really well with physiotherapy and I thought things were going very well.
BUT.... the drivers insurance (who has been paying for my physiotherapy) has told me I needed to see one of their doctors to make sure everything was healing and I agreed, no problem! I went to see the Dr yesterday and he asked me to list everything that had caused a problem while my back was hurt. Other than the usual house work, working, walking the dogs.... I told him it had upset my blood sugars (I have had type 1 diabetes for 29 years). He told me that couldn't happen and only if I had an infection, there would be no way it should've been out of control. I explained how inflamed and swollen my back had been and that I was in serious shock after the accident. Both would cause my sugars to be unsettled. I also explained that I was prescribed very powerful painkillers which I would never have been able to feel a hypo with... which needed more regular testing. He completely denied this and told me he would stand up in a court of law and say that this wasn't true. Nobody had said anything about lawyers or suing... I was furious!!!!

I came home in tears and have tried to call my diabetes nurse... left a message. On top of all this, I also have a daughter with a disability which has also been very difficult to manage. But the Dr has said that because I couldn't find the appropriate carer to look after her while I was ill... that's not their problem.
Where did this accident become my fault???? They asked me the question of how it had upset or caused a problem to me and I named it... only to be (basically) told I am not telling the truth????

Can anyone tell me they would also have upset blood sugars under this situation???? It's the first time this has ever happened to me and I am so upset....

Thanks for your help
Jxx😱
 
Hi J,

I would have said that it would have upset your sugar levels...especially immediately afterwards when you were in shock, as your body is likely to release adrenalin (and sugar) raising your levels (if I've got that right)

I'd just get your diabetes team to write them a letter of possible consequences and impact and let that silly solicitor get his knickers in a twist.

They're just trying to rile you I'd imagine.

Good luck, and you know you better than anyone else, so stick to your guns.
 
If you are still stressed by the accident and are still in pain this will play havoc with your levels. Maybe ask for specialist advice and get it put into wiritng.

I hope you feel better soon
 
Hi Joker, welcome to the forum 🙂 Very sorry to hear all this! I would expect that a combination of various factors would be enough to upset your blood sugar control - the pain from the injury would be stressful, which releases hormones that can drive some people's levels up just as much as an illness or infection might. No doubt you have been less able to exercise given the nature of your injury, and I know from my own experience this can have a deleterious effect on my levels and I have to increase insulin but not always predictable by how much.

Clearly this doctor doesn't have any first-hand experience of Type 1 diabetes or he wouldn't be so adamant that the accident couldn't affect your levels - I'd say it almost certainly would affect them! You make a very valid point about the painkillers too, as they would quite likely mask some of your hypo symptoms.

My consultant said to me only the other day that nothing surprises him these days about diabetes - yet this doctor seems to think that he knows absolutely everything! I hope your DSN can reassure you - you should not have been made to feel this way, and it appears this doctor is truly in the pay of the insurers, rather than being a professionally unbiased assessor of the facts 🙄
 
Hello, I'd go along with what the others have said - stick to your guns and get a letter from your Diabetic Care Team saying that stress and inflamation DO affect blood sugar levels. The accident was NOT your fault and you should not be made to feel that you are in the wrong. Makes me angry on your behalf 😡

Please let us know what happens......good luck.
 
Sorry to hear about this.

I think someone commented a while back on them having elevated levels after an operation, not due to infection but due to the healing process. In addition if the injury has caused you to be less mobile and thus less active this could adversely affect your levels.

I hope that your DSN reassures you and that you start to feel more yourself soon.
 
Hi,

Thanks so much for your comments! So nice to have others who agree. I'm hoping to speak to someone from the diabetes team today... so I will ask if they could write something. I did struggle with my blood sugars and I am SO angry that a doctor has the ignorance to tell me this isn't true. When I was adamant I knew what I was talking about, he said he had been a GP for nearly 20 years so he knows only too well.... before he could even finish he sentence I said I had lived with the condition for nearly 30 years. He still had the nerve to tell me it wasn't true.

Thank you all so much again... I will let you know what happens.

Jxx
 
Joker said:
Hi,

Thanks so much for your comments! So nice to have others who agree. I'm hoping to speak to someone from the diabetes team today... so I will ask if they could write something. I did struggle with my blood sugars and I am SO angry that a doctor has the ignorance to tell me this isn't true. When I was adamant I knew what I was talking about, he said he had been a GP for nearly 20 years so he knows only too well.... before he could even finish he sentence I said I had lived with the condition for nearly 30 years. He still had the nerve to tell me it wasn't true.

Thank you all so much again... I will let you know what happens.

Jxx
Click to expand...

If he's been a GP for 20 years I do wonder how many cases of Type 1 diabetes he's actually encountered in that time? Type 1 is a relatively rare condition and many GPs may never deal with a case, or perhaps only one or two in their entire career. I think your 29 years of 24/7 easily trumps his paltry few days! 🙂
 
Regardless of the insurance peoples' doctors opinion, they still have to pay for your treatment, right?

That type of injury would almost certainly require extra vigilance with the blood sugars......
 
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