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This really surprises me. I thought that you had a right to demand to be referred to a specialist if you are unhappy with a GPs treatment. Do any NHS rules experts here know exactly what a patients rights to see a specialist are?

The problem with self monitoring are that the NICE guidelines are really ambiguous for diabetics not on insulin. Any GP who doesn't want to prescribe strips could interpret them in such a way to support that decision. They could also salve their conscience with recent BMJ papers that argue...

The machines are cheap you can get them from any high street chemist for £10-15, and they are often given away at clinics. The expensive part is the strips. If you are lucky and have a sympathetic GP then you can get them prescribed. However, many GPs are reluctant to prescribe strips to...

It is possible, though probably unlikely. Anyone can get diabetes at any age, and although it does run in families it does also sometimes affect people with no family history. What are your symptoms? An awful lot of 15 year olds are constantly hungry, and most of them aren't diabetic! The...

What you are talking about is the HbA1c (glycosylated haemaglobin - sometimes also called glucohaemaglobin). This is one of the best ways of monitoring diabetes - it gives you very good picture of how good your control is, and people with a low HbA1c are far less likely to develop...

A Glucose Tolerance Test is rather more sensitive test for diabetes than fasting serum glucose (no doubt the blood test you had done), but right now it won't tell you anything very useful. Either you have pre-diabetes (IFG), or the very early stages of diabetes. In either case you should give...

Welcome to the confusing world of diabetes. :shock: I am afraid that it's not really a single disease. The original "diabetes", which has been known for quite literally thousands of years, is what is now called Type-1. Type-2 was discovered much more recently, and there are now known to be...

Not entirely - this is in the pre-diabetic range, and there is one important difference between pre-diabetes and full-blown diabetes, and that is that pre-diabetes is reversible (or as it is usually termed in the literature - it is subject to "indefinite remission"). If it progresses to...

I rather think that any low carb doughnut would be rather sad. To borrow a phrase from the late great DNA you would end up with a substance that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a doughnut. To be honest the best substitute for a doughnut is probably a doughnut. OK, diabetics are...

First of all, you really should talk to your doctor about this. There are a lot of knowledgeable and experienced people on here, but they are no substitute for a doctor and can't diagnose you at a distance. If your doctor isn't helpful, then ask to be referred to a specialist. That said, I...

I meant no criticism of the people in the NHS. The NHS is, in principle, a wonderful institution built upon lofty ideals. The vast majority of people who work in it do so because they are dedicated to helping others and generally making the world a better place. Nonetheless, it is - in far...

Oh no offense taken. In fact I agree with you about the NHS (much of it is an absolute disgrace), and I have deep concerns about the medical establishment. Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful and dedicated doctors out there, but my problems are with the way that medicine is taught...

You need to get your fasting BG (i.e. measured first thing in the morning, before eating) to well below 7 (around about 5 is probably ideal). This will probably take a while to achieve - although you should be able to get it down from 18.5 within a very few days. You will see occasional...

You are right, there isn't a lot of research being done on this. I suspect that this is for a number of reasons. Science (and most importantly science funding) is a human endeavor, and as such is subject to the foibles of fashion and politics like anything else. Treatments and potential...

Good luck with that! ;-) Some GPs are great - many are, err... not!

I am a scientist who has worked a lot with medics. Make no mistake, medics are not scientists, and many of them don't read the scientific literature much (or at all) - that is most of the problem. To be fair to them, most GPs do their best, but they have to deal with many hundreds of different...

There is a lot of diabetes about, and fame does not make you immune! Lots of well known people have (or had) diabetes - from Elvis Presley to Mikhail Gorbachev. Twenty seconds with google threw up this list of famous diabetics - I'm sure there are hundreds more.

It depends why you are testing. If you are simply monitoring your BG control, then a single test in the morning, before eating, will probably suffice. If you want to economize on strips then just do this a few times a week. Keep a record of these figures, and look for trends (don't worry...

An important thing to realize is that many GPs only know the basic rudiments about diabetes, and even then they are often also badly out of date. So called "diabetes nurses" are often not any better. Dieticians should be able to help you, but even there I have heard horror stories. It might...

You are getting there slowly :D What are the other tablets? I think it pretty unlikely that his eye problems are caused by drugs, although I suppose anything is possible. I strongly suspect that the problem is simply caused by changes in BS. If he has been very high for a while, and then...