good experience with diabetic nurse

[serenity648]

I first saw this nurse about a year ago. She was very scathing of the idea of low carbing, or self testing and quite frankly told me to do neither. This was when i was diagnosed.

I came on here, and took all the advice i could. The next time I saw her, about 6 months ago, my HbA1c was down considerably and she wanted to know how i had done it with no drugs. Although her arms were folded and she was clearly not convinced, she did listen to me and said nothing negative.

I saw her again yesterday and she was a different person once she had seen my new result. My HbA1c is now 49, and, although my cholesterol has gone up 0.3, its the good cholesterol which has gone up.

She chatted with me for 20 mins, asking about how I had achieved this in a year, what I did etc.

It felt so good to be listened to, and maybe she will be able to somehow share this knowledge with other patients, as far as she is able under NHS guidelines. I gave her this website, and hopefully she will pass it on to others.

At a time when there is so much negative about healthcare people, its good to share a positive experience.

 

[zand]

That's so good to hear

 

[dbr10]

I first saw this nurse about a year ago. She was very scathing of the idea of low carbing, or self testing and quite frankly told me to do neither. This was when i was diagnosed.

I came on here, and took all the advice i could. The next time I saw her, about 6 months ago, my HbA1c was down considerably and she wanted to know how i had done it with no drugs. Although her arms were folded and she was clearly not convinced, she did listen to me and said nothing negative.

I saw her again yesterday and she was a different person once she had seen my new result. My HbA1c is now 49, and, although my cholesterol has gone up 0.3, its the good cholesterol which has gone up.

She chatted with me for 20 mins, asking about how I had achieved this in a year, what I did etc.

It felt so good to be listened to, and maybe she will be able to somehow share this knowledge with other patients, as far as she is able under NHS guidelines. I gave her this website, and hopefully she will pass it on to others.

At a time when there is so much negative about healthcare people, its good to share a positive experience.

That is very good to hear. It's a bit like trying to turn around a supertanker, plus they would have to admit that they have been giving people the wrong information for 40 years. I have also been given the impression, more than once, that HCPs do not make a proper distinction between type 1 and type 2, but lump us altogether.

 

[Prem51]

Perhaps the increased publicity about doctors who are advocating LCHF, like Dr Malhotra, is getting through to hcps, let's hope so.

 

[serenity648]

I know she is still constrained by what she has to say according to the NHS script. But not actively trying to stop someone choosing to low-carb, and giving people this website address is a step in the right direction. If she did more than that I think, maybe, she could be risking her job?

 

[psignathus]

My diabetic nurse (the one who takes my bloods etc.) is always quite nice and very interested in how I turned this around. I have seen her quite a lot and, unlike the doctor is very inquisitive as to what I eat. The only bit I can actually see her struggle with is the fact I do not eat fruit or cereal. she actively winces when I say porridge is bad She even agrees that the whole cholesterol thing is nonsense. She told me hers is well over 7 and she eats about 3 or 4 eggs a day and really does not consider cholesterol relevant to my or most peoples overall risk. The doctor however is a bit of a cholesterol nut.

 

[yiannis_]

I am a diabetic nurse but not a diabetes nurse. Most of us I think see practice nurses rather than diabetes nurses. I've been disappointed though with discussions with diabetes nurse specialists. One tried convincing me that a type 2 who uses insulin is now a type 1, another told me she NEVER discusses the Newcastle diet as "no diabetic would want to put themselves through that". I'm a specialist nurse in another field and feel a big part of my job is listening. I should also be able to discuss the latest research however controversial it may be (cannabis) is the thing many of my patients are interested in at the moment. There really is no excuse for the **** practice those with diabetes have to endure, I get the feeling my colleagues see a rotund diabetic and just write us off.

 

[DeejayR]

This is very encouraging for you. Spread the message as often as you can. My GP leaves me alone as long as I can keep my annual haemoglobin test result at prediabetes level and the nurse just does the tests, ticks the boxes and passes the time of day pleasantly but as quickly as possible. I feel they are saying T2 is my problem and they don't intend to make it theirs. I can live with that. Literally, I hope.