janabelle
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 816
- Location
- London
- Dislikes
- Lack of choice of insulin for newly diagnosed patients.
Dog owners who let their dogs poop in the street-a hazard for most, but worse if you're visually impaired!
Having RP
Hi, I was going to add this to the "dietitian" post, but thought I'd start a fresh thread instead.
I had my first hospital appt since changing to pork insulin in May-I was told I would see a nurse within 3 months and a doctor within 6! Pathetic, I only saw the nurse and dietitian, and can't see the doc till next July!
I had a load of bumph from the IDDT about Synthetic v Animal Insulins, which I left in the waiting room suspect they were in the bin by close of clinic.
I saw the Specialist Nurse, who I have seen many times and she saw me at my worst on Lantus. I relayed my story of life after Lantus and the significant improvement to my health since changing to pork. She did comment that she was aware that diabetics were better controlled on animal insulin, but when I queried why newly diagnosed patient and patients with problems were not being offered it, she had no reply.
I then saw a clueless young dietitian, who just seemed to read from a recipe book. I told her about my low-carbing and my subsequent weight loss,and how it's the first time in 20 years on insulin that I have been able to lose weight. She told me she was concerned about the fat content, and that I should be having carbohydrate with every meal to give me energy. I explained to her how well I felt when I was low carbing and felt more tired injecting to take carbs. She then showed me a pie-chart showing what amounts of protein, fruit and veg, and carbs a diabetic should be eating-it was headed " Eating to lower your blood-sugar". It demonstrated that a almost a half of the meal should be carbs(showed a pic of cereal and bread), another almost half veg and fruit(showed grapes, bananas and veg), and a small amount of protein. I told her that eating a lot of fruit with the carbs would shoot my blood sugar up, and she didn't seem to understand that.
The whole visit was a complete waste of time. I am no more going to trust a green dietitian than the experienced consultant who advised me that it was ok for my BS to rise to 15 every day?
And how valuable is the HBA1c test anyway??
Mine has gone down from 7.2 to 6.1 and I was pleased, but on previous clinic visits when my levels were between 6 and 7 they said that was ok, despite me screaming at them that my blood sugar could rise as high as 22 some days and I was having constant hypos!
Does this test really give a good indication of BS control, or is it just so the medics can say everything is fine when it clearly isnt,and get rid of us! Why would they do that anyway? Well I also ask myself why all newly diagnosed diabetics are only offered synthetic insulin, when there is no scientific evidence that it's superior to animal, it's more expensive than animal insulin,and why some doctors restrict test-strips and I guess I'll never get the answers to those questions.
Also went to local Diabetes Uk meeting this eve, and what a depressing event that was. Met some lovely people, but the guest speaker Hospital Consultant failed to turn up, and we spent most of the evening discussing how awful diabetes care in our borough is. Most of the people there would have liked to question the guest speaker, me included so I was very disappointed :evil:
Jus
I had my first hospital appt since changing to pork insulin in May-I was told I would see a nurse within 3 months and a doctor within 6! Pathetic, I only saw the nurse and dietitian, and can't see the doc till next July!
I had a load of bumph from the IDDT about Synthetic v Animal Insulins, which I left in the waiting room suspect they were in the bin by close of clinic.
I saw the Specialist Nurse, who I have seen many times and she saw me at my worst on Lantus. I relayed my story of life after Lantus and the significant improvement to my health since changing to pork. She did comment that she was aware that diabetics were better controlled on animal insulin, but when I queried why newly diagnosed patient and patients with problems were not being offered it, she had no reply.
I then saw a clueless young dietitian, who just seemed to read from a recipe book. I told her about my low-carbing and my subsequent weight loss,and how it's the first time in 20 years on insulin that I have been able to lose weight. She told me she was concerned about the fat content, and that I should be having carbohydrate with every meal to give me energy. I explained to her how well I felt when I was low carbing and felt more tired injecting to take carbs. She then showed me a pie-chart showing what amounts of protein, fruit and veg, and carbs a diabetic should be eating-it was headed " Eating to lower your blood-sugar". It demonstrated that a almost a half of the meal should be carbs(showed a pic of cereal and bread), another almost half veg and fruit(showed grapes, bananas and veg), and a small amount of protein. I told her that eating a lot of fruit with the carbs would shoot my blood sugar up, and she didn't seem to understand that.
The whole visit was a complete waste of time. I am no more going to trust a green dietitian than the experienced consultant who advised me that it was ok for my BS to rise to 15 every day?
And how valuable is the HBA1c test anyway??
Mine has gone down from 7.2 to 6.1 and I was pleased, but on previous clinic visits when my levels were between 6 and 7 they said that was ok, despite me screaming at them that my blood sugar could rise as high as 22 some days and I was having constant hypos!
Does this test really give a good indication of BS control, or is it just so the medics can say everything is fine when it clearly isnt,and get rid of us! Why would they do that anyway? Well I also ask myself why all newly diagnosed diabetics are only offered synthetic insulin, when there is no scientific evidence that it's superior to animal, it's more expensive than animal insulin,and why some doctors restrict test-strips and I guess I'll never get the answers to those questions.
Also went to local Diabetes Uk meeting this eve, and what a depressing event that was. Met some lovely people, but the guest speaker Hospital Consultant failed to turn up, and we spent most of the evening discussing how awful diabetes care in our borough is. Most of the people there would have liked to question the guest speaker, me included so I was very disappointed :evil:
Jus
My PCT do HbA1c in one area of the hospital and other tests in a separate area and, of course, they can't share the same sample.
