Thinking about private diabetes care

[jlarsson]

I would love to know how.

You correct something and you watch it climb and you assume on trust that it will eventually stop climbing. But sometimes it doesn't, because there are one billion things to take into account and you missed one of them. So you have to watch, and by the time you realise the correction wasn't enough, you are already too high. So you watch it go too high, thinking, do I take more now or do I wait? Do I wait a bit longer? How about now? Another ten minutes? Another five? One more minute?

You're gambling with your own health, at least three or four times a day, and each time it happens takes a couple of hours so you're basically ALWAYS in this situation, every waking second. If I ever get used to that and feel "quite alright" about it then I will really have gone crazy.

I went through that exact frustration, I nearly unintentionally killed myself from it, but I eventually learned and my guesstimates got more accurate. I understand your frustration, believe me, but over time you will learn from it and get better. You're better prepared than I was when diagnosed, I had access to better treatment when I was diagnosed than those who were diagnosed before I was, and so on.

 

[SallyEzra]

Hi Phoenix69,

Whilst I have been a T1 diabetic for 30yrs, I have only had to use private diabetic consultants a few times. Most times I have had to use private consultants has been because the nhs has been on a cost saving drive which has resulted in them transferring me to an insulin they are targeted to get people onto, but which really hasn’t worked for me. I have always had a tendency towards hypos & in all cases where the nhs has transferred me onto a cheaper insulin it eventually resulted in frequent serious hypos. I have then had to use private diabetic consultants to sort it out & get me back onto a system which works better for me & my lifestyle.

I have had some great nhs care also. For example the team at UCH in London was fab when I was a student. My current hospital is very poor in my opinion & changed my basal insulin without any proper consultation & simply put me on a cost effective insulin that they were targeted to put patients on. So I saw a private consultant again who, after several blood tests & 2wks of Libre data changed my basal to Tresiba to keep me safer until he could refer me back to my nhs hospital with the rationale for a pump. At the moment I am pregnant & have fortunately been able to transfer myself to another local hospital for Ante natal/diabetic care with a really good team who I worked with before when I had my first child.

So in short, yes, when I feel that my local nhs team is weak & failing me in good diabetic care, I then invest on a ‘pay as you go’ basis in private care to resolve it all.

 

[KK123]

I am in a private health care scheme but it doesn't cover diabetes. When my family have had occasion to use the scheme they are usually seen by the very same Consultants as in the NHS (all of whom are trained and knowledgable) but as Susie said, the only extras you get is quicker appointments and people who take the time to talk to you properly, good job seeings as you are paying them thousands. Also I think that any medication you are given is ALSO given as a private prescription so I am presuming you would still be seeing your own GP to get your lifelong diabetes medication for 'free'? Who could afford insulin etc (sorry USA, I think you do have to pay????). The NHS is excellent generally speaking but they just do not have the time to explain anything or listen to you properly.

 

[JMK1954]

As far as I am concerned, the major problem with having diabetes is that doctors, particulrly GPs, tend to believe that any symptom you have must be caused by diabetes. It's as if they don't realise that having diabetes does not mean you cannot go down with every other medical problem in the book as well. I have experienced repeated failures to dignose non-diabetic problems because of this.

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @JMK1954 Oddly enough i’ve had the opposite with 2 different GP’s in trying to convince one that my tendonitis was directly linked and another that my monthly periods were causing insulin resistance, I tend to take any professional opinion with a pinch of salt these days.

 

[SallyEzra]

Hi KK123,

Yes, you are correct, generally the prescriptions given in private healthcare need to be paid for by yourself. However, each time in my life that I have needed to see a private diabetic consultant to sort out the correct insulin regime for me, they have always written to my GP to get the medication added to my normal NHS prescription & also written to my NHS consultant to advise what they are doing with me and why.

Like you we always have had a private healthcare policy, but obviously for me, with pre-diagnosed T1 diabetes, that is not covered by that policy. I think you are correct too, that generally on a healthcare policy you tend to see consultants that also work within the NHS, but quicker & in a nicer environment. However, when you 'pay as you go' there is more flexibility for you to choose who you see to support you & often the people who seem to be more advanced in their field no longer work in the NHS. I am doing the same thing at the moment with care for my pregnancy, I have selected a clinic that has the best results in what it does (used them before in my first pregnancy) and then 'pay as I go' for monitoring my pregnancy. This is because the level of cover for pregnancy seems fairly restricted on most healthcare policies in the UK.

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi KK123,

Yes, you are correct, generally the prescriptions given in private healthcare need to be paid for by yourself. However, each time in my life that I have needed to see a private diabetic consultant to sort out the correct insulin regime for me, they have always written to my GP to get the medication added to my normal NHS prescription & also written to my NHS consultant to advise what they are doing with me and why.

Like you we always have had a private healthcare policy, but obviously for me, with pre-diagnosed T1 diabetes, that is not covered by that policy. I think you are correct too, that generally on a healthcare policy you tend to see consultants that also work within the NHS, but quicker & in a nicer environment. However, when you 'pay as you go' there is more flexibility for you to choose who you see to support you & often the people who seem to be more advanced in their field no longer work in the NHS. I am doing the same thing at the moment with care for my pregnancy, I have selected a clinic that has the best results in what it does (used them before in my first pregnancy) and then 'pay as I go' for monitoring my pregnancy. This is because the level of cover for pregnancy seems fairly restricted on most healthcare policies in the UK.

Sally - I'm not challenging or criticising your post in any way, however, I did just want to say that your NHS GP can make a named referral to a particular Consultant within the NHS system, which includes outside your normal area. If they do that, it is worthwhile that when making that referral it is specified that you see that Consultant, personally, and not a member of their team.

So, anyone looking for a referral from their GP is wise to do their research beforehand, if they have a preference at all.

 

[NoKindOfSusie]

I went through that exact frustration, I nearly unintentionally killed myself from it, but I eventually learned and my guesstimates got more accurate. I understand your frustration, believe me, but over time you will learn from it and get better. You're better prepared than I was when diagnosed, I had access to better treatment when I was diagnosed than those who were diagnosed before I was, and so on.

I'm not frustrated, I'm frightened. I will not get it right all the time. I will screw up. It is impossible for anyone no matter how experienced to get it right 100 per cent of the time. So you go through this knowing it will get you in the end, it is literally the feeling from the dream where you're being chased by something and you know it is getting closer and there is nothing you can do about it. It is literally the sick awful feeling from that dream that everyone has but it's for real, and it's 24/7. I'm not sure how a person is supposed to deal with that let alone deal with it and have any sort of life.

 

[jlarsson]

I'm not frustrated, I'm frightened. I will not get it right all the time. I will screw up. It is impossible for anyone no matter how experienced to get it right 100 per cent of the time. So you go through this knowing it will get you in the end, it is literally the feeling from the dream where you're being chased by something and you know it is getting closer and there is nothing you can do about it. It is literally the sick awful feeling from that dream that everyone has but it's for real, and it's 24/7. I'm not sure how a person is supposed to deal with that let alone deal with it and have any sort of life.

Are you intentionally trying to annoy people? You're not unique, most of us have been in your shoes, stop acting all misunderstood. We all have bad days, even the people who takes exceptionally good care of themselves. Even if you didn't have diabetes, you would have bad days, just like everybody else does. You can either deal with it, like we have tried to help you with, or you can ignore it like you seem to have and just get worse.
Learn from your mistakes and ignorance, things will get better. Then things will get bad again, but with experience you will adapt to changes. Your body will change whether you have diabetes or not, your metabolism will change. That food you like that from experience requires 5 units of Novorapid will all of a sudden require 6 units, which you won't realise until your numbers start to look odd. This is why Libre/Dexcom is a huge improvement to life quality, you get those changes in almost real time. Learn. This can't be repeated enough.

 

[mountaintom]

I'm not frustrated, I'm frightened. I will not get it right all the time. I will screw up. It is impossible for anyone no matter how experienced to get it right 100 per cent of the time. So you go through this knowing it will get you in the end, it is literally the feeling from the dream where you're being chased by something and you know it is getting closer and there is nothing you can do about it. It is literally the sick awful feeling from that dream that everyone has but it's for real, and it's 24/7. I'm not sure how a person is supposed to deal with that let alone deal with it and have any sort of life.

Are you aiming for 5-7mmol/L ?
I suggest riding a bit higher for a while and taking it easy. You’re not even a year into diagnosis like me. Steady BG’s is the aim for now. Not perfection. Don’t be so hard on yourself. I obsessed over it at first and it’s not good for you. I feel a bit freer now. It won’t cause complications or death. Eat some chocolate. Bolus for it. Experiment. I’ve been waking on 10/11/12’s. My dsn and GP know about it. They’re happy. It’s steady. I’ve been diagnosed. I’m not in the high 20’s every day like I was pre-diagnosis.

 

[Brunneria]

Hi Everyone,

Just a reminder that this thread was started by @Phoenix69 to discuss the pros and cons of private healthcare.

As usual, if @NoKindOfSusie would like help with her diabetes management, she can start a thread of her own instead of derailing this one.

Thank you.

 

[Alison54321]

I'm not frustrated, I'm frightened. I will not get it right all the time. I will screw up. It is impossible for anyone no matter how experienced to get it right 100 per cent of the time. So you go through this knowing it will get you in the end, it is literally the feeling from the dream where you're being chased by something and you know it is getting closer and there is nothing you can do about it. It is literally the sick awful feeling from that dream that everyone has but it's for real, and it's 24/7. I'm not sure how a person is supposed to deal with that let alone deal with it and have any sort of life.

Complications are nasty things. Obviously better glucose control helps to prevent them. But they aren't your only friends. Complications are caused by endothelial dysfunction. There are a number of things endothelial cells need, a diet high in folates, vitamins C, A, E, and other anti-oxidants, plus physical exercise.

 

[achike]

NHS provides acceptable standard of care. Unfortunately, the same NHS staff transmute to private care staff. However, they give you more time but you pay heavily for their care.