nurses comments

[jal16]

When I was diagnosed with T1 and lying in the ER the lovely nurse told me I had to urinate in the container otherwise they'd stick a tube in my willy. A bit later another lovely nurse was sticking a cannula in my arm, and seeing me wince, she said with an air of superiority, "you'd better get used to this, you're going to be getting a lot of needles".

Not much of a bed side manner then, that's all you wanted to hear

 

[jal16]

I think your DN is talking relative nonsense without knowing it. If your blood sugar is far too high then it does get stickier but not to the extent she implies. There are many reasons for elevated blood pressure and Docs are too keen to offer bp pills when the bp is only slightly elevated and it does naturally get higher as you get older. The most important thing for anyone with diabetes is to monitor bg levels with meter, so do get hold of one.

Hello, funnily enough I had to go and see the same nurse yesterday for fitting of a blood pressure monitor. It was the first time I had met her face to face, previously was just on the telephone. She was quite nice to be honest but did lack some knowledge. My thyroid tests came back labelled "normal" (they are borderline) but when I told her I am finding it very difficult to lose any weight at all, she still said it must be linked to my thyroid. Also, I told her I'm not taking my Metformin yet as I do like to go out for a few drinks at the weekends and it says it can be dangerous, she just said "well we really need you to take them as we do need to get your blood sugars down", she then asked me how much of a diabetic I am? Am I pre or am I a diabetic? I thought she should really know that as my notes were on the screen. Anyway, she is a nice woman and I didn't want to mock but I did tell her I am on a low carb diet and Metformin doesn't necessarily bring your BG level down, but protects the organs and I'm due to go to see a Dr to see if there is a different tablet I can take. I think I saw a kind of patronising little smirk emerging, like Im wasting my time. I myself would prefer to do it without tablets to be honest. My HBA1 reading was 100 last August, 70 this January and now I test my blood every other day, normally when I'm not at work and yesterday it was 8.1 (fasting) which compared to some readings in the 16 region a few weeks ago is in the right direction and that's without medication

 

[dbr10]

When I was diagnosed with T1 and lying in the ER the lovely nurse told me I had to urinate in the container otherwise they'd stick a tube in my willy. A bit later another lovely nurse was sticking a cannula in my arm, and seeing me wince, she said with an air of superiority, "you'd better get used to this, you're going to be getting a lot of needles".

Obviously chosen the wrong profession.

 

[mentat]

Not much of a bed side manner then, that's all you wanted to hear

Bad manners, more like! Thankfully I was emotionally strong back then and it didn't get to me. I was an adult at diagnosis, perhaps they thought I was type 2---not that that excuses it in the slightest!

 

[lorsand]

blood pressure
whatever you do when u go for a check up sit down for ten min ..
before you have it taken i have learnt this over a lot of years
do not rush if your hospital or docs is like our its a heck of a job to park ,..
i am on bloody pressure tablets and they do avery good job
on of the main reasons is eyes and kidneys to keep pressure down and not get over whatever s leave that up to you to keep fit
me have had transplant and eye lazer you do not say how long you have been type 2 another thing is buy a moniter as at home you are away from the white coat syndrome and they cost 25.00 to 40 pound but may be worth in the long team good luck REMEMBER SIT DOWN FOR TEN MINS it will help insist on it as all the clinics will do is rush you in and out
good luck vic insulin 59 years

I'm a Renal Nurse, also when taking blood pressure do not cross your legs, laugh or talk as it can all give a raised false reading.

 

[vic hill]

lorsand
great to see a renal nurse on the forum 3 and half years on dialysis some great nurses and docs we had in our unit in suffolk
have to put up with grumpy old gets like me..... to much fluid . to many clothes on ref weight .but you all go beyond the call of your profession patient . understand . but above all try to help get better which happen for me with donated kidney now on 9 years and counting and a diabetic blood pressure on 170/ and when off some times to 90/100/
but still here
vic

 

[newlifehelp]

I do find the nurses can be a bit patronising, especially when they are talking to you about your weight, and "you really should be more pro-active in reducing it" when she is my size.
The killer for me was when she was trying to describe carbohydrates as if I was a child. Just pathetic

 

[neety41]

As a practice nurse i usually ask people to do 7 days of readings at home, 2 readings in a morning and 2 in the evening, we then add them up and do an average, usually they are a lot lower at home and this gives us a more realistic reading

 

[Willow_14]

Hi, I think nurses are great and do a fantastic job but my telephone conversation on Friday after work looking forward to my weekend left me feeling a bit low. She wants me to have a bp monitor fitted for 24 hours as it was raised, however, she went on about how because I am diabetic I had to imagine my blood being like syrup and it getting stuck in my veins . She added "its hard enough your blood pumping around your veins with high bp but if you're diabetic as well, its a life threatening disease and unfortunately although you may not like to think about it, usually leads to heart disease. We're just trying to look after you. We do like to offer the best care to diabetics such as yourself (they don´t offer monitors for type 2 and don't encourage testing, just giving out lots of medicines for everything else that may be associated with it Sorry for moan.

I am type 1 diabetic and I think most nurses are great but there are some which make you feel terrible, not intentionally but they do. I am 14 but there is this one nurse who talks to me like I am a baby and one time I had to talk to 2 at the same time and it was when I was becoming a vegetarian but it was like they were both ganging up on me. They started to think I had problems with myself like not eating because I feel like I am too large. But I didn't say any of that. I was just becoming a vegetarian. It made me feel really bad about myself but I relise that if there are ppl like that you just have to take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Willow_14]

Stay strong

 

[Annie86]

Hi, I think nurses are great and do a fantastic job but my telephone conversation on Friday after work looking forward to my weekend left me feeling a bit low. She wants me to have a bp monitor fitted for 24 hours as it was raised, however, she went on about how because I am diabetic I had to imagine my blood being like syrup and it getting stuck in my veins . She added "its hard enough your blood pumping around your veins with high bp but if you're diabetic as well, its a life threatening disease and unfortunately although you may not like to think about it, usually leads to heart disease. We're just trying to look after you. We do like to offer the best care to diabetics such as yourself (they don´t offer monitors for type 2 and don't encourage testing, just giving out lots of medicines for everything else that may be associated with it Sorry for moan.

Hi @jal16.

Unfortunately it is not the nurses or consultants overall choice as to who gets blood glucose monitoring. (I appreciate this isn't your only point). It is governed to a large extent by the national institute of health and care excellence and then by your local ccg (clinical commissioning group).
According to NICE guidelines those on blood glucose lowering oral medications are entitled to monitoring equipment and strips alongside anyone on insulin.
The main rationale behind this is that you are at minimal risk of having hypoglycaemia episodes without these substances. The other factor is that if not on insulin you are unable to make changes to medication such as increading/decreasing insulin to aid in better control.

By offering medication for "everything else" they are trying to prevent further complications that could potentially put your life further at risk and make it more difficult to control your diabetes.

Sometimes as health professionals you have to paint the picture black and white to ensure the message is heard. I know it isn't always nice to hear ..... God knows I've had plenty of awful consultations and ones where I feel quite emotional.

Keep your chin up but realise they say these things to help and support even if it doesn't feel like it x

 

[Annie86]

Hi Vic, thanks for your advice, I must remember to try that. I did rush in and wait until called. I was only diagnosed in January this year. I will try to get a monitor for the bp but they do panic me when it tightens up. We lived in Spain for a while and had machines in the Pharmacies that you could put 50c in and wait for them to give your reading. Like weighing machines here in Boots. I'm not sure if they have them here?

They are doing a 24hour monitor for this reason to a certain your bp wasn't just a fluke

 

[Kat100]

I thinks it's really good to have BP monitoring ... Saves lives ..

Actually I wish more health care professionals were pro active in offering tests , just to rule out health possibles or maybes ..
Doing your BP at home over 7 or 14 days produces better results ..then an average can be worked out ...
White coat syndrome is not good for BP ..

I wish all you all the best .. Kat

 

[JohnEGreen]

I check my BP every day as one of the reasons I was kept in hospital for an extra day or so is that after my op my BP plummeted to dangerously low levels and stayed low for over a week after I came home this is after being on medication for high BP for several years I now monitor BG, BP and Blood oxygen and pulse rate with a pulse oximiter.

 

[satkins]

My doc ordered a 24 BP check for me also. I'm on meds for hypertension and my readings at home where always a little high (130/90s) with some times lows of 117/75. He didn't want to change my meds until he got a better picture of what was going on. It's a good thing too (and he said so). My average over the 24 hours was 125/68. He said if we had just upped the dose it may have been a problem. I can't fault my doc. Yes he does prescribe meds but he's also willing to remove them when not needed. He says we'll check again in 3 months and if my BP is still down he'll switch meds or remove.