- Messages
- 15
- Type of diabetes
- Don't have diabetes
- Treatment type
- I do not have diabetes
- Dislikes
- Beuracracy
Hi all.
My name is David age 61 (Oct).
we live in SE Essex between Southend & Basildon.
I am not diabetic but my wife is Type 2 diabetic and I am overweight enough (BMI 46) to be in the diabetes risk category, whenever I see my GP this is mentioned.
My wife's medication has just been changed from a second tablet, can't recall the name of it, to a VICTOZA 6mg/ml (prefixed Liraglutide) in addition to metformin at highest dose.
For a number of years she had no meter from our GP just a blood test every 3 months.
Personally I find that approach stupid and an NHS cost saving excercise, whilst I get that it's the 3 month rolling values that are important, waiting 3 months between each means one cannot manage ones bloods on a timely basis and a monthly test with the GP reviewing the changes over a 3 month rolling timeline would be more appropriate, especially for newly diagnosed patients to get on top of the changes required to their lifestyle.
Therefore I got one of the free meters from the manufacturers and bought the test strips & lancets ourselves.
Even with this she was unable to adequately control her blood sugar levels.
She now has a meter from our GP, and I have obtained the free cable from manufacturer to be able to offload the results to a PC for us to review.
My wife is also obese and has never really eaten a lot, personally I believe she has a very low metabolic rate and this is part of her problem, I am constantly reminding her that she needs to eat regularly but she says she is not hungry and so goes the vicious circle with her blood sugars and eating.
To top it all, we have a severely physically disabled son, whilst he no longer lives at home, he still requires our support for financial & health management and he himself underwent bariatric surgery and my wife has been visiting him 3 days a week for the last year, spending all day wife him and motivating him, but it takes its toll on her and she then cannot motivate herself to manage her diabetes.
She has told the Diabetes GP, who happens to be at the other practice surgery and only sees my wife for her diabetic reviews, that she has read that "stress" can influence blood sugar levels and that we have a disabled son.
He just poo pooed this, until her last appointment when a young Asian doctor trainee was also present and my wife mentioned the age of our son (34) and his conditions and the trainee said you have had a lot to deal with over a long period of time.
She also has had asthma since a child and the nurse has changed her medication for this (NHS cost saving?) and that isn't working for her, adding more stress.
I went along to support her at one of her reviews (18+ months ago) with the diabetic GP, he had his jaw resting on his hand whilst talking to her looking at his pc screen, totally impersonal.
So I left it for a few minutes listening to his questions and her answers, I then interjected with "the reason I am here today is that my wife tells me you don't listen to what she is saying", this got his attention and he took his jaw off his hand and looked at us both.
I then explained the issues she had with his approach and why I had sought a private appointment with a consultant arranged by our usual GP and that he had best start listening to what my wife says as putting her on medication that gives her constant thrush is unacceptable regardless of whether it brings the BG levels down, as it's an unacceptable form of medication for my wife's needs.
She won't join a local diabetes group to talk with people who have been through this either, she hates opening up to strangers.
Hence this post to see what other options exist for me to try with her to provide support.
@daisy1 seems like you are the fountain of all knowledge on here from some of the posts I have read
My name is David age 61 (Oct).
we live in SE Essex between Southend & Basildon.
I am not diabetic but my wife is Type 2 diabetic and I am overweight enough (BMI 46) to be in the diabetes risk category, whenever I see my GP this is mentioned.
My wife's medication has just been changed from a second tablet, can't recall the name of it, to a VICTOZA 6mg/ml (prefixed Liraglutide) in addition to metformin at highest dose.
For a number of years she had no meter from our GP just a blood test every 3 months.
Personally I find that approach stupid and an NHS cost saving excercise, whilst I get that it's the 3 month rolling values that are important, waiting 3 months between each means one cannot manage ones bloods on a timely basis and a monthly test with the GP reviewing the changes over a 3 month rolling timeline would be more appropriate, especially for newly diagnosed patients to get on top of the changes required to their lifestyle.
Therefore I got one of the free meters from the manufacturers and bought the test strips & lancets ourselves.
Even with this she was unable to adequately control her blood sugar levels.
She now has a meter from our GP, and I have obtained the free cable from manufacturer to be able to offload the results to a PC for us to review.
My wife is also obese and has never really eaten a lot, personally I believe she has a very low metabolic rate and this is part of her problem, I am constantly reminding her that she needs to eat regularly but she says she is not hungry and so goes the vicious circle with her blood sugars and eating.
To top it all, we have a severely physically disabled son, whilst he no longer lives at home, he still requires our support for financial & health management and he himself underwent bariatric surgery and my wife has been visiting him 3 days a week for the last year, spending all day wife him and motivating him, but it takes its toll on her and she then cannot motivate herself to manage her diabetes.
She has told the Diabetes GP, who happens to be at the other practice surgery and only sees my wife for her diabetic reviews, that she has read that "stress" can influence blood sugar levels and that we have a disabled son.
He just poo pooed this, until her last appointment when a young Asian doctor trainee was also present and my wife mentioned the age of our son (34) and his conditions and the trainee said you have had a lot to deal with over a long period of time.
She also has had asthma since a child and the nurse has changed her medication for this (NHS cost saving?) and that isn't working for her, adding more stress.
I went along to support her at one of her reviews (18+ months ago) with the diabetic GP, he had his jaw resting on his hand whilst talking to her looking at his pc screen, totally impersonal.
So I left it for a few minutes listening to his questions and her answers, I then interjected with "the reason I am here today is that my wife tells me you don't listen to what she is saying", this got his attention and he took his jaw off his hand and looked at us both.
I then explained the issues she had with his approach and why I had sought a private appointment with a consultant arranged by our usual GP and that he had best start listening to what my wife says as putting her on medication that gives her constant thrush is unacceptable regardless of whether it brings the BG levels down, as it's an unacceptable form of medication for my wife's needs.
She won't join a local diabetes group to talk with people who have been through this either, she hates opening up to strangers.
Hence this post to see what other options exist for me to try with her to provide support.
@daisy1 seems like you are the fountain of all knowledge on here from some of the posts I have read
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