who monitors me

[Spiral]

You don't need to but a metre, you can get them for free. I got an Accu-chek Aviva from Roche (the manufacturer) when I rang their Customer Services - 0800 701 000 - with a more general enquiry, plus the whole kit and caboodle to transfer the data to my PC for free. They will send you all sorts of freebies, including batteries when the ones in the meter run down.

I'm off work this week and have spent some of the last couple of days seeing what I could blag from the customer services of the major manufacturers It was only Roche that sent me a free meter, but most of the manufacturers give the equipment you buy or are given by your diabetic care team a "lifetime garantee" and will replace the meter, batteries, finger pricker etc etc as they run out or break.

If you do buy stuff make sure you ask for the VAT exemption - you have to fill in a form and may need to be persistant :roll:

peppiB, if you look after someone you should be offered a carers assessment from your local social services or Joint Mental Health Team. your health should not suffer because you look after someone. If the person you look after needs a sitter so that you can go out - even to vital medical appointments - you shuld be given the help you need to do this. Contact your local carers organisation - they will be in the phone book or your local social services department can give you the number.

 

[dipsticky]

Spiral. Like your style. Get what you can, no holds barred. Cool.

D

 

[peppiB]

peppiB, if you look after someone you should be offered a carers assessment from your local social services or Joint Mental Health Team. your health should not suffer because you look after someone. If the person you look after needs a sitter so that you can go out - even to vital medical appointments - you shuld be given the help you need to do this. Contact your local carers organisation - they will be in the phone book or your local social services department can give you the number.

Spiral - Local carers have a drop in centre which I can attend for a cup of coffee IF I can find someone to look after my charge whist I do it! They can't do anything else. In a constant battle with social services - they reckon because she is only in her 30's they have no respite accommodation available - theirs only covers children and OAP's! They will lock her up in a secure mental hospital but that is not suitable for her needs.They have no budget funds to do anything else. Social worker also informed me that my health is irrelevant to them, which is a great kick in the teeth for me. Am having a break next week and a friend is having to lose £320 in pay to look after her for me (he offered as he said I looked exhausted) Shame, if I was an MP and needed my moat cleaning or a house renovating for me to sell on, funds could be found for that. What a country we live in!!

 

[hanadr]

To Peppi and Blondie
This should not be happening, but sadly, it's not uncommon.
It's almost as if some Healthcare Professionals :shock: Have bought in to the idea that T2 diabetes is the patients' own faul and that they don't deserve care.
You should have been given access to a training course, Such as DESMOND. Couldn't Social Services help out for that time for Respite Peppi?
You should have a meter and test strips available for at least the learning period. Your HbA1c( a record of how good your control is over 4 months) should be done NOT LESS than once a year and probably twice.
Look up the NICE guidelines on Diabetes care, They're online.
Print them and take a copy to your GP. Get in touch with your local PALS( patient liaison service) and PCT. Surely, even crossing the city would be better than this?
Peppi, do you belong to a carer's group? They might be able to help out too.

 

[peppiB]

hanadr - I was booked on a DESMOND course, but couldn't attend because I couldn't find a 'baby sitter'
Carers association or social services couldn't help.

I have a meter (bought my own initially, but when I saw GP and DN and they saw how I had taken control of my diabetes (diet, low carb which they both support, and swimming for exercise as I am disabled and can't walk far) they gave me a meter and strips on repeat. I also suffer asthma and my asthma team call me in every 3 months for a check, including blood (but not HBA1C, although I did persuade asthma nurse to include it last time) Diabetes crew have yet to call me in - I have to remember dates and just make a routine appointment for them. It is 13 months since they last took my blood or urine! Makes me smile that 1 lot don't speak to the other (same surgery) nor do they read records when results come in. 3 months ago I was told in a letter to make a GP appointment to discuss blood results as asthma doctor thought I may be diabetic! Doh!!!!! Think I already know that :roll:

 

[Dobbs]

I think for a doctor to advise a diabetic NOT to test their own levels is nothing short of criminal. I bought a meter a month ago, and it's only since then that I've felt in control of my condition (type 2). I regret the wasted time before I bought it. I'm still in my frequent-testing experimental phase, but can imagine that once I get a good idea of how I react to different foods I can test a good deal less. I'm still learning, though - because there was nothing low-carbish in the fridge this morning I had a bowl of health-food store granola with blueberries and milk for breakfast and an hour later I was 13.0!

 

[Spiral]

Spiral. Like your style. Get what you can, no holds barred. Cool.

D

The drug companies are falling over themselves to give things away. When I worked in a different department a few years ago we got loads of freebies (pens, post-its, filofax, variouis medical bits and bobs, notepads etc) and one of my prescribing nurse colleagues was very good at getting them to pay for the odd team lunch so that we could put on training events etc.

If you have been given a testing meter by your GP it will have been "donated" by a drug rep (sharp suit, flash car with voluminous boot for the samples that they carry as a matter of course). The drug companies make huge profits out of the NHS, and there are some concerns about this, and they see the freebies as direct advertising. They give things away to create brand loyalty - you have to but the ongoing supplies.

You don't ask, you don't get 8)

 

[Spiral]

Spiral - Local carers have a drop in centre which I can attend for a cup of coffee IF I can find someone to look after my charge whist I do it! They can't do anything else. In a constant battle with social services - they reckon because she is only in her 30's they have no respite accommodation available - theirs only covers children and OAP's! They will lock her up in a secure mental hospital but that is not suitable for her needs.They have no budget funds to do anything else. Social worker also informed me that my health is irrelevant to them, which is a great kick in the teeth for me. Am having a break next week and a friend is having to lose £320 in pay to look after her for me (he offered as he said I looked exhausted)

To get help from the NHS or local authority the first step is to get a Carers Act Assessment if you have not already had one. You might want to mention the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 and the Carers and Disabled Children's Act 2000. It is this second piece of legislation that recognises your right to an assessment (and support) even if the person you look after refuses help.

The person you look after cannot be "locked up" in either a secure mental hospital or a psychiatric unit (either for adults between 18-65 or people over 65) for respite care. To be admitted to a psychiatric hospital they must need assessment or treatment. Respite includes support and sitting services at home as well as care homes.

If the person you look has a regular social worker they are probably on an enhanced CPA (Care Program Approach). If this is the case, you might simply refer the social worker to Standard 6 of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. As a carer, your needs should be reviewed at least annually and come with paperwork including a written care plan for you.

Informal carers save the statutory authorities oodles of money and there are all kinds of services and support for them. However, this does sometimes hang on you asking the right questions - I remember one carer saying "how can I ask for it if I don't know it exists". This is so true :?

However, this link http://www.carers.org/articles/carers-assessment,94,CA.html will direct you to very sound information and advice. My local carers centre will provide a sitting service to help carers get to their drop-ins and support services.

However, caring can creep up on you very slowly and I know that people often underplay or make-light of what they do and they don't ask for the help they need. It might be worth thinking about how you phrase something when you talk to people who can help you.

You also need to talk about how things are on your worst days and mention the things that you have not done because of your caring responsibilities - the NHS and social services like things they can count! - especially if these things are related to your health and how you manage your diabetes.

What would happen to the person you look after if you were not there to do what it is that you do? This is something you should ask the social worker.

 

[peppiB]

thanks for the info Spiral

 

[Trinkwasser]

Just had a reply from MP. The reply is a letter to him from Local NHS Chief Exec quoting NICE guidelines ... Offer self monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education. Disuss its purpose and agree how it should be interpreted and acted upon.

From which she concludes....It would appear that Mr...... may hve misinterpreted this information and I would like to clarify that type 2 diabetics do not need to have personal monitoring equipment. He should be receiving regular reviews from the practice and may i suggest that he speak with his GP or practice nurse regarding any concerns he may have.

In other words, bog off and don't come back until you have less than the average number of legs.

Appalling but sadly not surprising. I bet her ducks have a better house than the MP's ducks

 

[skreechy]

Wow, reading through this thread has surprised me, It seems that treatment for type 2's has changed drastically since my diagnosis 3.5 yrs ago, or maybe it's cos my gp's either like me, or can't be a$%ed with me! They give me test strips on repeat, without question (yet) as and when I need more, my type 2 status has changed to type 1.5/type 1 though, so my testing is upto 2-8 times a day but I generally make an appointment, show the gp I know, what results I expect, and that I know how to achieve them, and that I need to monitor regularily to to do this, and I find them very helpful, Also I have a DN ath the hospital, who is very nice, and sends letters to the GP's to back me up, I find the nice and firm approach to be working, some times we (diabetics) need to show the GP's (who, are sometimes, not as clued up as we are) that we know a lot about our own situations, and we know what results we want to see, and that we aren't all "text book" cases, and the steps we're taking are all in the right direction for our individual well being.

Good luck to us all!

 

[crowjon]

I was diagnosed T2 10 years ago and fortunately caught it in the early stages. I was not asked to test but did have regular blood tests. When I moved to the IOW where we are so fortunate to have one of the leading world authorites on Diabetes - Aron Baksy. Aron ran a completely different approach to managing Diabetes, and testing was almost mandatory. He also put all Diabetics on an education course run by the Trust on how to manage Diabetes and what diet you should adhere to etc. Most newly diagnosed are given a tester and recieve all the paraphanalia on free prescription. Basic blood testing is done by the hospital every 6 months and a full suite of blood tests at 12 months. We are very fortunate that we have empathetic medical services who firmly believe that controlling Diabetes provides a better quality and longer lasting life and it also saves the Trust a lot of money by reducing the typpical diseases associated with unmanaged Diabetes. Aron has trained an elite group of Peer Counsellors, and regularly trains newbies who volunteer. The PCs are availble to all diabetics on the Island and provide a magnificent service and produce a regular magazine with all the latest news. So well done Isle of Wight! Maybe your PCTs should look at us to find out how its is done and how successful it can be. They may also consider how much case load can be reduced by this approach to the disease management. No we don't get any extra funding for what we do, the costs are managed well because of the approach taken to self management. Stress.... no way we have confident Diabetics who have been properly educated and well able to manage their disease. And no, not everything is perfect but it is improving all the time. I would add one last thing...., the dietry experts still do not listen to the debate about carbs, but at least the diabetic nurses are!