- Messages
- 535
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I've been reading this forum a lot recently and it's struck me that when people are first diagnosed, the treatment from their GP seems to vary hugely and I was just wondering why.
So, you read things like "I was diagnosed with an HBA1C of 68 so I was put on insulin". "My HbA1c on diagnosis was 72 so I was put on Metformin" etc. There doesn't seem to be consistency about what reading should trigger what treatment.
My experience was having an HBA1C of 97 at diagnosis, and my GP saying he could prescribe metformin straightaway but it had possible side effects, or I could try to lose some weight (my BMI was 31) and modify my diet. I chose to do the latter.
I just find it surprising that some GPs go straight to prescribe insulin for a much lower HbA1c than mine was, others seem to think metformin is the only option for anyone, and others (like mine) think of diet modification even with a high HbA1c.
Of course, in many cases on here we don't know the background history of the posters so there may be other factors which lead a GP to decide on one treatment rather than another. I was just really taken aback reading a poster earlier who said she'd been put straight onto insulin because her initial HbA1c was 67. I would have thought other options would have been tried first.
So, does anybody know if there are guidelines for GPs around what treatment to offer? Or is it just dependent on the GP - in which case I was very lucky with mine.
So, you read things like "I was diagnosed with an HBA1C of 68 so I was put on insulin". "My HbA1c on diagnosis was 72 so I was put on Metformin" etc. There doesn't seem to be consistency about what reading should trigger what treatment.
My experience was having an HBA1C of 97 at diagnosis, and my GP saying he could prescribe metformin straightaway but it had possible side effects, or I could try to lose some weight (my BMI was 31) and modify my diet. I chose to do the latter.
I just find it surprising that some GPs go straight to prescribe insulin for a much lower HbA1c than mine was, others seem to think metformin is the only option for anyone, and others (like mine) think of diet modification even with a high HbA1c.
Of course, in many cases on here we don't know the background history of the posters so there may be other factors which lead a GP to decide on one treatment rather than another. I was just really taken aback reading a poster earlier who said she'd been put straight onto insulin because her initial HbA1c was 67. I would have thought other options would have been tried first.
So, does anybody know if there are guidelines for GPs around what treatment to offer? Or is it just dependent on the GP - in which case I was very lucky with mine.