Diabetic nurse appt - frustrated

Maggie75

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Messages
127
Hi everyone,

So I had my DN appt today, firstly I was sent to wrong reception so missed my appt and had to go back 3 hours later, not a good start. She then took my blood pressure which of course was high because I was not happy with having to come back, told that will now need to be monitored as well.
My last HBA1C was 69, up from 64, asked to be put back on Rybelsus which I was prescribed last year by another DN and had to come off due to mental health not being good and unable to handle side effects. Now being told today I will not be put back on Rybelsus as it's a 'stage 3 medication' and apparently I don't require that, back to Metformin only, 1 tablet a day for 2 weeks then increasing to 2 per day if I can handle the side effects.
I'm not understanding this at all, how was I able to be prescribed Rybelsus last year to help with weight loss and T2 diabetes when my results were better than they are now. Also asked about the Mounjaro injections, explained I was happy to pay privately for them but just wanted to check they were safe for me to take, she has said no, take the Metformin for 3 months, get bloods done again and if I'm doing well she'll refer me to a specialist to prescribe them through the NHS, I'm not understanding how that works, so if through Metformin and a low carb diet I get my weight and diabetic numbers down she'll then refer me for weight loss injections?
Her reasoning for this is that you have to take these injections basically for the rest of your life to keep the weight off, she said she has lost 5 stone on them herself, so where's the difference with me and her? I was not at all happy, just felt completely dismissed, and she also told me not to check my blood sugar myself, wasn't necessary for me, at that point I just got completely frustrated and told her she was talking nonsense, how else would you know what certain foods are doing to your blood sugar. Don't think I'll have been her favourite patient today, just beyond frustrating with some of these people now. Sorry, had to vent a bit, need to bring to BP down.

Maggie
 

Chris24Main

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Staff Member
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833
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
It's tough.. the level of misunderstanding around a lot of this is pretty substantial. My blood pressure was substantially higher in the hospital just before my last consult - like, a lot higher than I measure myself, so I totally get the effect of that frustration.

At the very least, we deserve consistent information, and sometimes that isn't what we get.

I totally remember feeling just angry, coming out of the surgery about a year ago, but that anger isn't going to help in the long term either - so now I feel - some of the HP's are just struggling under lack of time and out of date information - but they are themselves under enormous pressure and sometimes don't have as much freedom as we think - they have their guidelines and can't stray too far from them. It's tough all round.

What I would say though, is that some of this new generation of meds -including Mountjaro and Rybelsus - all mimic the action of a hormone that itself mimics Glucagon - which is in an eternal balancing act with insulin; so if you use that anger to motivate yourself to keep insulin down through what you eat - you may find Glucagon going up, and you can get some of the benefits of these meds without the side effects. Understand that I'm in no way suggesting anything about your actual prescription, only that many here, and I include myself in that, have had some success in turning T2DM around by changing what we eat.
 

Melgar

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1,334
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hopefully you got a degree of satisfaction @Maggie75 telling her she was talking nonsense, despite your understandable frustration as being told you don’t need to test your blood sugars. Of course you need to test them. I would have said the same to be honest. I think as soon as they start telling you to test your blood sugars they may have to provide you with a meter and strips.
 
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Rachox

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Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Is there any way you can get an appt. to see the original nurse who prescribed the Rybelsus last year. I take it, I started on it about a year ago after Victoza injections which I had taken for a year became unavailable. I was previously on Metformin but needed to lose weight so was swapped to the Victoza. At the point I was switched to Rybelsus I was no longer at the 35 or above BMI requirement for GLP-1 meds. I think it would be well worth getting a second opinion.
 
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Maggie75

Well-Known Member
Messages
127
Thanks so much for your replies, I'm still annoyed with the misinformation and disinterest of the NHS with this but if nothing else it teaches you to do your own research and look after yourself with diabetes because these people just aren't interested. The metformin has already started its horrible side effects, just seen another news article tonight about the benefits of the weight loss injections, to be honest I'm seriously considering just taking them now, I'm aware there will be side effects with them as well but at least I'd be losing weight at the same time. I'm not going to rush into it though, still need to research more and obviously if I order them it will be from a reputable pharmacy. Thanks again for your advice.

Maggie
 

Outlier

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,001
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
It's damned annoying that at a time when one could really do with a capable professional helping hand it is such a lottery whether you get someone helpful or not. Certainly there have been times when my people management skills have been deployed to the nth degree when I could have done with some help I was clearly not going to get plus attitude that was out of place. However. We have these skills to use, and we have resources to explore. Keep the endgame in sight, and we are all here in support and able to guide each other through this morass of unnecessary difficulties. A good point has been made touching on budget pressures affecting decision-making where what is sensible or indeed essential (blood testing kit for instance) the bean counters won't allow (their time will come. Some of them will become diabetic!). None of this is personal. All of this happens to some of us. You can get hold of this by the throat and win through.

FWIW, my DN who was - let's say "unpleasant" on my initial diagnosis - is now 3 and a bit years later, nice as anything. This is because I resisted the impulse to maim her at the time and instead proved how well I could control my T2 by diet. Me, I can now be insufferably smug while occupying the moral high ground. So can you. More importantly, you can improve your health and let that speak for you. Hugs.
 
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