Yet another DN review

[UsmanMo96]

It seems as if this is the week for DN reviews wasn't going to post but what the heck. I have a couple of questions anyway.

Had my review a couple of days ago. HbA1c was 39 which I was quite pleased about. Anyway, thought she might be pleased too but just said your bloods are 39, that was it. I have lost 20 kilos in the last 6/7 months thought that might have been a positive but weight wasn't even mentioned. (Doesn't happen like that on GPs behind closed doors) No the one (and only) thing uppermost in her mind was my cholesterol which has gone up from 4.8 to 6.7. As it was inevitable that we were going to discuss this, I asked for a printout of my blood results so I had something in front of me Every time I ask for printouts there is a great reluctance to provide them, reception is the worst - they take the view why would I want them. When I insisted, I actually found out the problem was the nurse didn't know how to print these off, (training issue perhaps) she eventually managed to print a copy off.
Anyway to get back to the test results: It was actually quite a shock to me to find out that my cholesterol had risen so much but I was not impressed when she said WE have to do something about that. After a conversation about how my risk of stroke or heart disease had increased, I explained that I had already warned the doctor that my cholesterol would rise because I was eating low carb and was losing weight and expected this to be temporary, in any case my comment to her then was "I am not taking statins". She didn't comment about the low carb nor tell me I should be eating Eatwell which was a positive, but did ask what kind of foods I was eating. I thought this might be my opportunity to talk about the foods I eat and how low carb foods had had helped me gain control of my blood sugars but no, she just wanted to know what I was eating in case I was eating something which was impacting on my cholesterol. I realized this when she advocated eating omega 3 foods (which I do in any case) but also thought I might be eating too many avocadoes because of the fat content. Strange as I was reading that avocados are good for reducing cholesterol. Anyway you can tell by the tone that I am having a bit of a rant I came out of that meeting so downhearted that I felt like succumbing to cake! She has left me concerned about my cholesterol, not because of any potential heart disease, but rather I have always kept my cholesterol in check and don't know how to get it down if I need to. Should I be concerned? I entered my results into https://cholesterolcode.com/new-report-tool-launched/ and these came back as follows: ​

Total Cholesterol: 259 mg/dL 6.7 mmol/L
LDL Cholesterol: 201 mg/dL 5.2 mmol/L
HDL Cholesterol: 50 mg/dL 1.3 mmol/L
Triglycerides: 89 mg/d 1 mmol/L

---------RISK REPORT---------
Atherogenic Index of Plasma: -0.114 mg/dL = Lowest Risk Third
Low Risk <––-0.114––•––––––––––•––––––––––> High Risk
Go to tinyurl.com/ycccmmnx for more on AIP
Framingham Offspring: 0.7 Odds Ratio = Low Risk
Low Risk <–––•0.7•–––•–––•–––•–––•–––•–––•–––•–––•–––> High Risk
Go to tinyurl.com/y5fc5adl for more on this Framingham study
Jeppesen risk tertial: Medium Risk Third
Low Risk <––––––––––•––––[X]––––•––––––––––> High Risk

Hope I worked out the LDL number correctly.

It's the Jeppesen risk tertial that concerns me as it is showing Medium Risk Third (Standard Hyper Responder) but don't know if I should be looking to get this down and if so, how apart from eating lots of avocadoes?

Apologies for the long post. ​

I have a yearly review and I get my feet checked and my BP checked and talk through my a1c results and then she may do another blood test on the spot. Usually the nurses are so busy and sometimes they aren't amazed at the results I wouldn't be to worried as long as you're happy!

 

[Jordi77]

I'm getting there but that is because I only have one person to count on myself and that way you can only go by what you have been told and that is way over 20+ years now with the diabetes and what you can and can't eat and that way you can do what you want as you only have one life and you have to make it count and any way my family wouldn't know where to start so that tells me that they are clue less but I can do most things that I want to do except for the frozen shoulders and that I have had surgery on but I will be back for one more as got it again in another one and that is nothing going under the knife

 

[Ryhia]

I have a yearly review and I get my feet checked and my BP checked and talk through my a1c results and then she may do another blood test on the spot. Usually the nurses are so busy and sometimes they aren't amazed at the results I wouldn't be to worried as long as you're happy!

Yes the format of reviews seem to be structured in the same way just some of the procedures were skipped over. Don't know what I was expecting, perhaps the same level of service they offer to my husband who is asthmatic, it didn't happen, just felt as if I were a number not a person. I have never felt like that for an awful long time with the NHS. Also, its not that I don't appreciate how busy they are, our surgery is, more than most, patient base is vastly expanding, they have difficulty appointing docs and one DN has just left. Nothing against the NHS at all, used to work there many moons ago, just get upset at poor customer (patient) service.

 

[Ryhia]

I'm getting there but that is because I only have one person to count on myself and that way you can only go by what you have been told and that is way over 20+ years now with the diabetes and what you can and can't eat and that way you can do what you want as you only have one life and you have to make it count and any way my family wouldn't know where to start so that tells me that they are clue less but I can do most things that I want to do except for the frozen shoulders and that I have had surgery on but I will be back for one more as got it again in another one and that is nothing going under the knife

Sorry to hear about your frozen shoulder hope it gets sorted soon. You have got the right attitude, sometimes you cant make any different of it so you might as well make your life the best it can be, that's what I intend to do anyway. Keep strong. C.