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Congratulations you are no longer diabetic .. really?

Lemonie

Well-Known Member
Messages
244
Location
Fylde Coast
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I wasn't going to post about this but it's still annoying me weeks later. Last time I went to visit the doctor she had read my notes about how I had turned my life around and managed to get off all my meds and am now diet controlled only. She then turned round and congratulated me on me being no longer diabetic which really p*$!ed me off tbh.

I have lost a lot of weight and now run 3 times a week, weights twice, swim 3 times and cycle just about everywhere. I do low carb (30g) high fat as well as being dairy, gluten and nightshade intolerant and I can't have any processed foods. I work hard every day when I don't feel like exercising or just want to be able to go to the butty shop or get a takeaway instead of spending hours in the kitchen prepping food. I don't mind doing all this as the benefits to my health are immense but to have someone then turn around and basically just trash all the hard work I put in to controlling my diabetes and just say that you are miraculously cured really annoyed me.

If I were to eat anything I wanted apart from the weight gain my figures would start to rise immediately and it wouldn't be long until I was back on the meds. Is an alcoholic who doesn't drink no longer an alcoholic or are they just a controlled alcoholic? As a result they have pulled my testing strips and lancets which I don't use very often anymore but have been invaluable whilst training to try and figure out when and what to eat so I can exercise safely. Testing before a run feeling normal and being 2.9 before beginning a long run is something I needed to know and adjust! And breathe ...
 
I feel your pain, and totally understand where you are coming from.

Every HCP I have spoken to recently seems to think that I must have found an ancient lamp buried in my garden and the genie inside it granted my wish to be cured.

They don't seem to understand, or care about the amount of work you put in to make the huge lifestyle changes required to achieve non-diabetic results, and appear to think it was all luck.
 
I think @Lemonie what you Doctor probably meant is that you are 'very well controlled/no longer at the point where a diabetic diagnosis would be given. (Congratulations btw-you've done really, really well !) I don't think you can ever become undiabetic for the reasons you gave- if you reverted back to your old ways of eating/behaving then your BG would rise again but you can be 'in remission'.

I know that some people don't like that expression and just prefer to say 'well controlled/at non-diabetic levels'. It's not a label that ever disappear from your medical notes (at least i don't think that it does) in the same way that an alcoholic who gives up becomes a 'recovered alcoholic'. Not to say that if he/she fell off the wagon they wouldn't become a drinker again. I understand your annoyance, it is the kind of remark that belittles what you have achieved but don't let it get to you.xx
 
So when you cannot keep up your current lifestyle to keeping bgs low then whose to blame?
I couldn't but I wasn't aware I was diabetic in the few times I felt more normal.
No one knows the exact point of time we become diabetic nor when we do not.
I cannot sustain a life of living in a gym and swimming pool.
I struggle to walk at mo due to bulging discs so it's mostly out of the question.
I know how to reverse diabetes but it's doing it at the level I need to do it.... for life!
I currently cannot.

Hopefully once my back is fixed I will. Or try to without causing or making depression worse.
 
I understand totally how you feel. I have never been on diabetes meds and I have never seen a GP for diabetes issues (not once) so when I had to see one for something else I mentioned the tablets he had put me on were raising my levels. He was perplexed as to how I knew this until I told him I test frequently. He rolled his eyes and the matter was dropped. The next day I looked at my on-line medical records only to find he has marked me as "diabetes resolved" backdated to June 2014 when I had my first HbA1c under 48. This was completely without any discussions. Not even any questions as to how I did it. No conversation at all. I was furious, and still am if I'm honest. Apart from anything else, as I am no longer recorded as a diabetic, I can't claim the VAT on my testing equipment. Not legally anyway
 
Wow!
You get to see your doctor?
Testing supplies were actually prescribed?
You are so lucky - the internet is the only diabetes 'contact' I have.
I have not seen my doctor since the day I was diagnosed, and was just given the news and a prescription for Metformin and Atorvastatin.
I did see nurses and the 'education' people, but no one at all for about a year.
Good job I don't care about it.
 
That is shocking!
Do you want this revised?
Are you still getting yearly foot and eye tests?
 
Do you get your yearly diabetic reviews?
 
I am quite shocked that people are not seeing their GP's at least once a year for a review.

I am still new to this, having been diagnosed in February, but if it was myself, I would have been badgering to see a GP for review once a year, and if received a brush off I would have taking it to the Diabetic Clinic Nurse and maybe even to PALS.

I have learnt so much on these forums, and the experiences others have shared, that I know it is my diabetes, and it is my responsibility to lead a healthier lifestyle if I want my diabetes under control.

(Steps down from soap box)
 
I'm shocked too.
I nievely thought every diabetic had a yearly check up.
 

I have never seen a GP but I do have regular reviews with my nurse, and twice yearly blood tests. I haven't been abandoned! It is normal for GPs to devolve T2 diabetic care to a senior nurse, and because of this, the nurses receive training and on the whole are far more knowledgeable about T2 than the GPs are. I love my nurse. It is only in a few practices that the GP takes charge, probably the ones short on senior nurses.
 
ickihun said:
That is shocking!
Do you want this revised?
Are you still getting yearly foot and eye tests?
Click to expand...

Yes of course I will still receive my foot checks and retinal screening. I will see my nurse as before, once a year, and continue to receive my 6 monthly blood checks, although I suspect my nurse may want to reduce this to yearly now. She has been nagging me about it for a year or two. I have today received my eye screening appointment. I am also going to insist all my Q-Risk scores since my diabetes was apparently resolved are re-done to exclude the diabetic status. It will halve my results!!
 
So I guess if no shortage of dns than this would be common.
They are crying out for diabetic nurses.
 
My 2 GPs are knowledgeable in diabetes but no specialists.
I'm at their mercy once discharged from endo after bariatric surgery.
 
I never see my gp for a annual diabetic review.
I see the nurse every year, well when I keep calling to be reviewed.
 
I wouldnt be happy either. It takes a lot of focus and effort to get BG levels downwards as I am finding out. It is not fair that a surgery can be so flippant about it. I wonder if that is the NHS approved term or do other surgeries put “resolved” “reversed” “remission” etc. I wonder if any doctors on here can enlighten us. I think the fairest term would be “controlled by patients efforts”. Just my opinion
 
I have long since given up hoping for any praise for my efforts from the medical profession.

I swear, if i went in with a broken arm , they would want to weight me, blame my weight or something else for my broken arm, and tell me to be less clumsy next time.
 
I can only say well done and I think you ought to be on a poster in that surgery to inspire others. Diabetes is hard work . Like swans we are often furiously paddling below the surface. I don't know how your GP said it as the words as reported could have been received very differently by someone else. But in the context of simply taking you off the long list of diabetics she does have to worry about without recognisiing your role in your 'cure' seems like a wasted opportunity to me. I am type 1 so it feels as if I am always getting a B- as its always okay ( but could do even better if you tried harder); I would love to get an A* like you did!
 

There are 2 codes that GPs can use in these circumstances. One is "diabetes in remission". The other is "diabetes resolved". It is up to the GP which he chooses. "Diabetes resolved" is supposed to be used for those where the diabetes has completely gone, such as after bariatric surgery, or if it was caused by prescribed medicines like steroids that are no longer prescribed. "Diabetes in remission" is for those that have returned to non-diabetic levels through lifestyle and no longer on medication, but are still at risk. Apparently there is virtually no official advice on this, so GP's are often unaware of which code is appropriate. My GP chose the wrong one for me, but did add underneath "at risk of diabetes". This means I will be monitored accordingly.

By the way, I would never have known about being "diabetes resolved" had I not been able to see it on my on-line medical records.
 
Yes it is great to have access to own records which I didnt know about until you told me about it. Would the surgery not agree to changing it to “diabetes in remission” which seems fairer?
 
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