Anyone else had problems when requesting a change in insulin?

Started following Dr. Bernstein’s diabetic solution end of June, figured out by the start of August my novorapid wasn’t sustaining long enough to catch the protein so needed a longer regular insulin to do the job. Got everything down to a tea, stronger and healthier than I’ve ever been. Was active anyway but now it’s unbelievable how much more I can do.

So I went to my gp to discuss this, who also happens to be our practice “diabetes expert” he then tells me he will refer me to my diabetic nurse. I wait til late September to sit down with her, thriving from the changes I’ve made by following dr b. i’d seen her previously in July and showed her my great success at almost halving my hb1c following dr b’s book was self funding my own cgm with an almost flat line that she has never seen before. Said it was amazing and she hadn’t seen anyone do that in such a short space of time. All I did was cut out the excess carbs they advised. Non of these have even heard of Dr. Bernstein let alone the benefits of diabetics following a low carb diet.

Now I’m being told that she needs to raise this as a case study with a consultant at the agt meeting in a week. I was with her 8 days ago. This simple task of changing my insulin to one who’s profile best matches the food I eat i find is unbelievable and just wasting valuable time and making me have more injections and having to stack doses virtually just to cover protein.

Anyone else had any nightmare experiences like this??

catapillar said:

If you are under the care of your GP and the practice diabetic nurse and they don't have the knowledge to assist you with an insulin to suit your requirements seek a referral to an endocrinologist.

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It’s not the practice diabetes nurse, it’s our local diabetic nurse specialist, 30 years in the job. Asked her about switching to regular insulin and she looked puzzled. Is human insulin that much more expensive than analogue?

Hi @Grumpy ole thing , I was already very stressed in August when I found out that I needed a change and the so called diabetic specialist gp we have at our practice who was suppose to be brilliant and could aid in such problems as changing insulin’s was no help. So a referral was needed to the nurse. Then to my utter amazement as I was reeling off all the info to our regional specialist diabetic nurse that she hadn’t a clue, Thier ignorance to low carb an unawareness of Dr. Bernstein perhaps the most famous endo and type one is enough to tell me I’m in my own and will be better that way. My knowledge alone surpasses both theirs. Which is very sad and worrying. I managed to crack this with his book and a lot of effort on my behalf.

CarbsRok said:

The regular probably confused her as it's an American term just name the insulin you want to try and see how you get on.

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That was where the use of good old google and a smart phone were of use, I had looked at the english before hand but then with some searching I found the right one. By the end of the appointment actrapid was the one I needed or Humulin s both our British names for regular or novolin r that I asked for.

catapillar said:

1) novorapid is an analogue insulin.

2) Regular insulin is a human insulin. Or can be a human insulin eg humalin r.

I don't follow Bernstein, but my understanding is he recommends NPH (insulatard), an intermediate acting insulin, as an alternative to rapid acting to deal with protein? I don't think NPH is a human insulin. And it's older and less expensive than the human analogues.

What exactly did you ask the DSN for?

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He did used to use nph, I’m not sure he still does though, think he is using novolin r.

I asked for regular insulin, the same as novolin r over in the states. However still rang no bells till I did a search, I’d even had a nice chat with novo Nordisk as well regarding this matter. All I needed was a prescription for a vial..