Yes,
@Feefee, information from the Internet is confusing and as you say conflicting.
Part of that is simply (?) because when diabetes is the topic different countries have different criteria for diagnosis and also treatment. As well as different units of measurement. If I'm doing an open search I often put "UK" somewhere in the search question; since I don't have access to private medical care I need answers that are going to (ultimately) be provided by our NHS. There are International Conferences, which can create recommendations that are universally agreed; but even those don't necessarily get adopted by the NHS quicklybor even at all. Affordability will play a part in that.
A further confusion factor can be the media jumping onto a piece of research news and announcing that research as if its a "done deal" and will be available to the general public tomorrow (literally tomorrow) ignoring the lengthy processes that sit in between a scientific breakthrough and delivery to prospective patients.
Within UK, the NHS can in itself be very slow moving. One huge example is the adoption by UK of "fat in your food is bad for you" - blindly adopted over 25 years ago and thus most of us have become indoctrinated to this philosophy. Still blindly enshrined in much NHS advice for dietary matters and pushed at us by Health Care Practicioners (HCPs) because it's what they were taught and what the NHS still tells them. But it's just not that simple. Some fats can be bad and some can be good - and certainly our bodies need some fats in our diet to keep us alive. For the NHS to alter one of its core philosophies will take decades probably to review, agree adjustment or root and branch alteration, then implementing training and documentation. Meanwhile it's what we've been told while growing up or through much of our adult life and has become a mindset that will be hard to change.
Diabetes is often described as a slow moving foe and bad outcomes from being diabetic can take years to appear. Yet research has never been more prominent. The NHS awareness of just how widespread D is within the population and the cost of treating and managing Diabetes is huge. This is leading to a better understanding in certain areas of the NHS, with a fuller appreciation in relatively small pockets of the NHS that T2 is not just complex, but there seem to be significant differences or sub-types of T2 that need possibly quite different treatment paths. This sort of thinking in itself leads to confusing and thus conflicting views.
Most of that is not yet enshrined in NHS policy. This Forum discusses much of the newly emerging thoughts and ideas. This Forum is sponsored by Diabetes UK - in that DUK provides the tech backbone for the existence of this Forum. DUK works closely with the NHS and sometimes has to hold back on something that contradicts existing UK / NHS policy- whereas the Forum members will happily (generally politely) say what they think or know. So room for more confusion and conflicting advice.
But this is the real world that we live in. Historically individuals could write a letter to their preferred news outlet airing a point of view; they might even get something published by a newspaper or a pamphlet or even a book. The Internet has immeasurably changed the pace at which new ideas are circulated - some good, some not so good and worse. Hence confusing and conflicting: globally, nationally and locally. We have had, since 2022, a reorganised Integrated Care System. This was intended to achieve savings for the NHS and provide common processes within larger geographic regions. So far there is extremely little sign of that actually happening.
"Confusing and Conflicting" to me as a Patient and to local HCPs. My "tuppence worth" take is paused .... (for now). Sorry. Welcome by the way
@Feefee to this really helpful forum.
