Back to the docs I go!

[EveryCloud]

So after going to A&E last week and being told to speak to my own doctor, I finally got word back that my HbA1c was high. I don't know the number as I was told this over the phone. I was then told that I would need to see a diabetic specialist. I then chatted with the receptionist on the phone and she said the earliest appointment to see him was in the middle of March! March! I said that was a no go and basically told her I needed to see someone asap as I felt I was dying, and that BG numbers in the high 20s are seriously bad for my health, she went away came back and managed to get me in today. Now this is where the fun begins. I can almost put money on that it is someone I have not dealt with before, who will look at my notes and say 'Ah, Type 2 - here have some more pills' and I will have to argue and explain that at original diagnosis I was type I adult onset but that isn't in my file for whatever reason. I will have to tell him how awful I feel all the time. I will have to tell him about me bursting into tears because I am so frustrated that I can't even eat an apple without feeling that I need to go for a 10 hour nap.
I forget where I am going with this and it is becoming a rant, as usual from me! I always feel like I am shunned off, even at the hospital 'go home and see your own doc' calling an on call doctor that told me to go to A&E in the first place and no, no doubt a specialist who will tell me to try another pill. :'(

Sorry for the long winded speil! Just need to vent.

 

[MH2010]

Aw, good luck at your appointment.

 

[tim2000s]

Put your tin hat on and go in with an "I'm not leaving until I think you are helping me attitude". Make them listen if they start off badly.

 

[azure]

Remember it's your appointment not theirs. Don't let the doctor/consultant do all the talking - make sure you talk and they listen, and that you get the result you want.

If your diabetes type has been wrongly recorded, a serious look and talk of a complaint might focus their minds.

Try to be firm but calm, even if you're feeling upset or nervous.

Good luck

 

[amgrundy]

I know the feeling when I was diagnosed too, you have to make them listen to you, I have a good doctor who does listen to me, but you know what, I am not sure if he takes everything in I tell him, this is the impression I get. No wonder we get frustrated and upset, I have been in tears too when I came out of the doctors, we need to stick together on here which we do as you will see with other peoples comments. Chin up start again.

 

[EveryCloud]

I always go in ready for a fight, but they seem to be masters of deflection... lol.

 

[azure]

I always go in ready for a fight, but they seem to be masters of deflection... lol.

Then make sure you're a master/mistress of persistence

 

[tim2000s]

The Broken Record technique is your friend.

Doctor: Deflect
You: Let me just bring it back to...
Doctor: Deflect.
You: Let me just bring it back to...

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome. I think you need to focus on the key facts when you talk to the GP. Discuss your Hba1C and any current meter readings. Review your current medication and whether Insulin is now needed. Any HBa1C over around 7.5% when on all the tablets should mean insulin (see NICE Guidelines). BTW I'm surprised you aren't taking Gliclazide which many T1.5s would be taking before insulin as I did; do discuss with the GP. Not surprisingly you are a bit stressed out so try to keep to the point about the next steps for medication as that's what matters apart from diet of course. I assume you are having a low-carb diet to try to hold the blood sugar down?

 

[dbr10]

Sorry for the long winded speil! Just need to vent.

Very upsetting and frustrating for you, and the stress will make you feel worse. Never mind having to repeat everything at every appointment because they don't read the notes. My father has had that experience with another medical problem many, many times.

 

[EveryCloud]

I might just keep quiet an look at him cold and hard... Se where he goes himself. Usually I mention insulin and they automatically get defensive. I will explain that I am a vegetarian and that it is not like I sit at home and eat burgers all day, nice salads for me. I don't follow a strict low carb, but I try to avoid bread and rice. I am overweight but not by much at 15 stone for a 6ft 1 male.

 

[petepontiac]

Good luck stay calm and focused then if you are not getting anywhere just keel haul them and swing them from the yard arm aarrrgghh

 

[noblehead]

Good luck, hope all goes well.

 

[AndBreathe]

I might just keep quiet an look at him cold and hard... Se where he goes himself. Usually I mention insulin and they automatically get defensive. I will explain that I am a vegetarian and that it is not like I sit at home and eat burgers all day, nice salads for me. I don't follow a strict low carb, but I try to avoid bread and rice. I am overweight but not by much at 15 stone for a 6ft 1 male.

Surely if your bloods have been running rich for some time (affecting your HbA1c), you will have testing records to corroborate this? I would also think, if you are T1.5, that you should have strips etc., on prescription as over time your blood sugar "performance" is likely to change, as your pancreas wears out to a state where it can no longer support a decent score?

Take your evidence with you. Take your meter and testing results. If you can download from your meter or app you record things in, then do so and take either a print out, or even better, a tablet where you can display and scroll through your results. This is your evidence.

If you keep a food diary, this would also be extremely useful, so that you can match your food intake (all those lovely salads) with your blood scores.

For me, I find emotion rarely works in getting to my objectives. I try to deal in hard facts, and of course those are difficult for the Doc to rail against.

Good luck with your appointment.

If your T1.5 diagnosis isn't noted on your records, I would also ask why and set about having that altered; by asking whomever diagnosed it to confirm it in writing or making a complaint under the Data Protection Act, where you have the right to have erroneous data corrected on records (for obvious reasons). If tests were never done, but someone took a flyer on the change of diagnosis, that could be a bit trickier, but your evidence based approach is the way to work towards fullsome testing to ascertain it once and for all.

 

[EveryCloud]

Well. I have been. Doctor was amazingly nice and he is getting more bloods taken. He has Doubled my blood pressure medication for the time being and will be taking my next blood results and going from there. He has also said that he is pretty sure I am type 2 but he will be keeping a closer eye on me. Actually came out feeling that someone actually cares and isn't going to just throw more and more pills at me.

 

[tim2000s]

BTW I'm surprised you aren't taking Gliclazide which many T1.5s would be taking before insulin as I did

The OP is on Linagliptin which is does something quite similar to Gliclazide, plus suppresses Glucagon.

 

[AndBreathe]

Well. I have been. Doctor was amazingly nice and he is getting more bloods taken. He has Doubled my blood pressure medication for the time being and will be taking my next blood results and going from there. He has also said that he is pretty sure I am type 2 but he will be keeping a closer eye on me. Actually came out feeling that someone actually cares and isn't going to just throw more and more pills at me.

So, I'm still confused by how you got a T1.5 diagnosis that never made it to your records? Was that diagnosis by another doctor, at another surgery, or hospital? Or, do you refer to yourself as T1.5 as you fit that profile more accurately?

 

[EveryCloud]

It was my original doctor that said I didn't fit the bill. I also never responded to Metformin the way they hoped. My docs exact words were 'You are not the usual age range and you are not THAT fat' So I was kept off work for 3 months so they could monitor me. And then I was given linagliptin. The next doc I seen kept referring to me as type 2 and updated my doctor's line to 'Type 2 symptomatic of type 1' no GAD antibodies tests done. But this is where all the confusion comes in.