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Diabetes aftercare?

K

kemmy

Newbie
Messages
2
Location
Essex
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in October 2013. Leading up to the diagnosis (It took about 8 weeks of me having persistently high blood glucose readings averaging around 18 - 21 m/mol before my doctor reluctantly gave the diagnosis), I had read about the aftercare regime that is available and what I should expect e.g., diabetic clinic etc. However, to date (5 months after diagnosis), I have had an eye screening test and an appointment for a one-day 'structured education programme' in April. I also went for an HbA1c blood test last week. My doctor has prescribed me medication (metformin, Gliclazide and simvastatin) but when I mentioned that I expected to be sent to a specialist diabetic clinic, he shrugged this off and said I should be patient. Is this right? Is the one day course scheduled for April the same as the DESMOND course? Do I need to be referred to a chiropodist at all? Should I
l be referred to a specialist diabetic nurse?
Any thoughts on this will be much appreciated.
 
Hi. Support varies a lot between surgeries and NHS areas. Most T2s get support from the local surgery. This varies from very good to useless! You should have an annual consultation at the surgery and probably every 6 months if your HBa1C is quite high e.g. above around 6.5 - 7% in old money. Some surgeries have diabetes specialist GPs and also a Diabetes Nurse (DN) or just one. Referral to a diabetes clinic would be for T1s or serious T2 cases or if the surgery has no diabetes specialists. I was never offered any courses and most are reserved for T1s but you can always ask. You shouldn't need a chiropodist unless you have any feet problems but the annual check will include checks for foot nerve damage. Make sure you find out the results of your HBa1C by making a GP appointment or at the minimum asking reception for the results (they have to tell you them so don't be fobbed off). If you are overweight, then the Metformin will help but the Gliclazide might push your blood sugar too low if the dose is too high and your pancreas has good islet cells. Let us know if you are not overweight and what age you are? Having a lower-carb diet will help get the blood sugar down. Also, do get hold of a meter so you can monitor progress.
 
You can look up the minimum standards expected from gp's from NICE or nhs website.

They do not have to send you to a podiatrist unless for some reason you cannot examine your own feet. Otherwise you may well be expected to pay as the rest of the non diabetics will have to. However, they should check the circulation in your feet with a few pricks and a hammer once a year. If you can get nhs to brunt the costs of this then jts a bonus to you, but not a diabetic standard that has to be achieved by a gp.

You are not automatically sent to a consultant as a type 2 unless your gp has tried every med and cant get you stanilised. If you do get sent it's a bonus.

Self care and education is a big priority for gp's to get all diabetics to achieve. So this is why more courses in one shape or another are taking place. It is most important to anybody taking insulin to attend courses, and this is GO's 1st concern


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Thanks for this. It's very helpful. I'm 5'7" and weigh in at 14stone so am overweight (but have lost 1.5 stone since diagnosis due to changing my diet and still aim to lose more). I guess I'm being a bit too anxious(?). I do have a monitor and my readings are averaging about 6.5 now so I guess I'll see how things go for now.
 
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