Re: Things I wish I'd known when I was diagnosed with T2....
I wish I'd know how stupidly high and unstable the diagnostic criteria are for diabetes because had I known, I'd have pushed for better diagnostic criteria and been diagnosed earlier and done something about it earlier.
I wish I'd known how poorly educated the majority of clinicians are about diabetes and how ignorant they are of some of the symptoms of diabetes which aren't always the text book variety. I was ignorant of them myself, but then I'm not supposed to be trained and paid to know.
I've heard that clinicians are assuming now that a person who is diagnosed with diabetes has actually been diabetic for at least 10 years prior to diagnosis. If they can assume that, why can't they adjust the diagnostic criteria accordingly? If they can tell us we're prediabetic or borderline why aren't clinical measures taken at that stage instead of when full blown DMT2 has become established.
Put people on Metformin when they're condsidered to be prediabetic, not when they're already T2 and their health is already compromised. That way, people will be aware that it's a condition that needs serious attention before it takes full hold, that it can be helped, that other health damage can be averted and also - that will save a huge amount of money for the NHS and the Government in general because people won't need treatment for illnesses that are brought on by undiagnosed diabetes affecting the organs ie, depression, heart problems, lung problems, kidney problems, gynae problems etc.
But more importantly, it will benefit the patient who suffers misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, taking medications that are ineffective because they don't treat the cause of their symptoms, side effects, loss of work, loss of financial stability, debt - loss of quality of life or even loss of life.
Having experienced the change in my own long term conditions since being diagnosed and treated for diabetes, I'm angry as hell that the NHS are so bl***y slow to diagnose the condition and treat it. Having struggled with breathing problems for years I now find that in a few weeks I've gone from being housebound to being able to walk a few hundred yards and go swimming again.
I'm astounded at the difference in my state of mind, the clarity of my thinking and the change in energy levels - simply because at very long last, I got the correct diagnosis. The previous 20 years of my life, I have no doubt whatsoever, would have been very, very different had I known what was really wrong with me. :x Grrrr
