I still don't understand how often reviews take place, but I go with the flow. Had a call from GP, months after I had my review with DN. GP was delighted with all my results,Hba1c excellent, cholestrol lowered, bp ideal. I am still on metformin 2 x am and pm. Out of all this praise she said it is too soon to reduce the tabs. I asked why and she said that is the the way she works. I left it at that because I couldn't be bothered with the direction of conversation. The cynic in my DNA does wonder, if me taking the tabs makes her work easier, less need to monitor . ut surely the Hba1c would highlight any problems or is she simply over cautious. Just wondered. As she doesn't know me really, i assume she thinks if the tabs are reduced i will assume hey no more diabetic back to high carb diet. I am well aware, i will have to manage my diet 4ever, diabetes can be in remission but will always be there. I am rather bemused by her attitude. Oh and she is the practice Diabetes expert in the surgery.
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My GP...
- Thread starter Sharron1
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If I was you I would be asking to come off the tablets for say three months and then ask if you could have another blood test after three months to see if you can maintain the same levels as you’ve been achieving .will know yourself if you are doing you finger pricking whether it’s going up or down at my last blood count it was 58 I am only on one metformin in the morning and one of a night and hopefully on my next result it will be lower and then I will be asking to come off my tablets see if I can maintain it on my own and asking for a blood test in three months
Don’t Forget this is your diabetes not your diabetic nurses and you need to manage it your way
Don’t Forget this is your diabetes not your diabetic nurses and you need to manage it your way
That is a very good idea. Thanks
Cherrelle DUK
Much missed Online Community Coordinator
Hi Sharron, it really depends on your GP. Ideally your reviews would be 3 months but, especially during recent times, it can be much longer.
Equally, each medical pro has a different school of thought re medication. Typically if you reduce your numbers soon after diagnosis they are more flexible but others want to make sure that you're fully in control before they talk about reducing medication. However, it may be the medication that is having a positive impact on your numbers which is what the GP expects as that's the purpose of the meds so it doesn't always mean that you're ok to come off of your medication.
You're welcome to discuss this with them and find out their view and explain your goals so you can both put a plan together.
Equally, each medical pro has a different school of thought re medication. Typically if you reduce your numbers soon after diagnosis they are more flexible but others want to make sure that you're fully in control before they talk about reducing medication. However, it may be the medication that is having a positive impact on your numbers which is what the GP expects as that's the purpose of the meds so it doesn't always mean that you're ok to come off of your medication.
You're welcome to discuss this with them and find out their view and explain your goals so you can both put a plan together.
D
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I resisted coming off metformin, it may have other benefits, eventually the doctor stopped prescribing it anyway.
We did have a fair number of reviews, and I do talk with them about it though.
We did have a fair number of reviews, and I do talk with them about it though.
Tbh, it doesn't bother me taking the metformin, it is her attitude to having any meaningful (albeit) 10 minute conversation. It is weird
Being on metformin doesn't bother me, it is her very odd attitude to having a brief conversation about her 'strategy'. Shame I don't know my place!!!
trophywench
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I was fuming when I discovered 'my' GP told shedloads of ladies things like No we can't do that when eg requesting HRT including testosterone that we could actually do that - but HE wouldn't because it was against his personal beliefs. Whaaaaat ? So he said he'd prescribe HRT patches and I said But those are no use to me because I'm a naturist and if you stick em anywhere the sun shines on, the sun renders em useless! - that leaves me with the bits under my watch and my wedding ring, or just inside my navel - so what now? I just burst out laughing when he reached up for his copy of MIMS to look them up. Did he really think that I hadn't done that online to check the veracity when someone first told me that? Twerp.
Incidentally blokes on hormone therapy re prostate probs may also get prescribed Estradiol patches, so the same thing applies to them too.
Fun, not being a medic sometimes - cos one thing we also know a lot more about than anyone else ever on lots of occasions - is our own bodies. The main difference is, when we don't understand something - we admit we don't know - and seek help PDQ!
I'd have fun with @Sharron1 's GP saying that we aren't here to discuss the way she works, we're supposed to be discussing MY diabetes!
Incidentally blokes on hormone therapy re prostate probs may also get prescribed Estradiol patches, so the same thing applies to them too.
Fun, not being a medic sometimes - cos one thing we also know a lot more about than anyone else ever on lots of occasions - is our own bodies. The main difference is, when we don't understand something - we admit we don't know - and seek help PDQ!
I'd have fun with @Sharron1 's GP saying that we aren't here to discuss the way she works, we're supposed to be discussing MY diabetes!
Goodness.
I simply found her assumptions so irratating. She assumed i am desperate to drop the metformin.
I have never been and have told the DN often enough i am ok with it. I had little contact with the NHS in general and that has only increased since my diabetes. I find it astonishing that listening isn't a part of their job, but making sweeping assumptions is. Wonder if
that was a core module at med school?
I always tell
my students to ask questions, the best way to clarify information. Obviously my youngish GP must have missed that class.
Unfortunately, all of us have our own opinion and things that we do which we may not always be able to explain or we are not totally aware of another person's situation.
Even "the great diabetes guru", Dr Bernstein, has his beliefs - he believes all women with Type 1 diabetes should be on the pill because our monthly hormones cause too many challenges to managing our condition.
I assume that means we are not supposed to have children - if his approach doesn't cope with the monthly hormones, I have no idea how it work cope with hormones during pregnancy.
More personally, I had a situation recently when I saw a physio prior to major surgery.
The physio paid no attention to me or any of the details I had completed on the very long form about job, lifestyle, etc.
Instead, I was told how to do housework after the op - take rests during hoovering, only carry small amount of laundry at a time, don't fill the kettle completely when boiling water, ... I felt like asking if I was ok to pull my computer apart, fix the car and go for a 10 mile cycle ride. As an active engineer, I am more likely to do those things than the hoovering.
Even "the great diabetes guru", Dr Bernstein, has his beliefs - he believes all women with Type 1 diabetes should be on the pill because our monthly hormones cause too many challenges to managing our condition.
I assume that means we are not supposed to have children - if his approach doesn't cope with the monthly hormones, I have no idea how it work cope with hormones during pregnancy.
More personally, I had a situation recently when I saw a physio prior to major surgery.
The physio paid no attention to me or any of the details I had completed on the very long form about job, lifestyle, etc.
Instead, I was told how to do housework after the op - take rests during hoovering, only carry small amount of laundry at a time, don't fill the kettle completely when boiling water, ... I felt like asking if I was ok to pull my computer apart, fix the car and go for a 10 mile cycle ride. As an active engineer, I am more likely to do those things than the hoovering.
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trophywench
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I think most GPs have been suffering to some degree from patients consulting them and when they say OK I'll prescribe a course of whatever - the patient telling em that's not what Dr Google says they need. Hence I'd say Oh - that's not exactly what the NICE Guidelines/NHS Website say though, so I was expecting you to do this test or that test before deciding I needed whatever? - so he'd know I hadn't consulted eg our Sharon on Facebook !
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Thank you, a further conversation with my GP was an apology from her as she had phoned me in error and the original October 2021 review is the correct date. Deep breath...
- Relationship to Diabetes
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Ah that’s good to hear!
Leadinglights
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Sometimes odd things happen, my OH was given a prescription for steroids and when he questioned it, being reluctant to embark on yet more medication, the G P said the request had come from the Gastro consultant but when he rang them they knew nothing about it and following an extensive phone appointment with him, he had not recommended them and saw no reason to take them. So who knows.? Who was meant to have them?
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