DN who thinks she is treating a Heart Condition

[spendercat]

I just got back from my six monthly appointment with the DN at my practise. I have never actually seen a Doctor there. I saw the practise nurse when I was diagnosed. Thats how insignificant and commonplace Diabetes has become.

I have been diagnosed Type 2 for exactly a year, and she would like me to
1. Take statins - although my cholesterol is quite low and all my numbers well into the desirable range.
2. Stop testing - because I have got the Hbaic down to 6%.
3. Not take any medication to get my Hbaic down any further because 6% is really excellent.

She is quite clear that trying Metformin, as I wished, to further lower my readings is a waste of time as it is probably impossible to get any lower.
It is far more important to medicate me for A HEART DISEASE THAT I WILL INEVITABLY DEVELOP as a Diabetic, even though I have low cholesterol at present.
She was completely uninterested in any discussion about the BG spikes I am experiencing in the evening. Stop testing and take statins was all she had to say to me.

Is it me? Or does she really not know that many diabetics achieve Hbaic's in the 5% range, and that staying in the normal ranges probably prevents diabetic complications?

How can she call herself a specialist?

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Is it me? Or does she really not know that many diabetics achieve Hbaic's in the 5% range, and that staying in the normal ranges probably prevents diabetic complications?

How can she call herself a specialist?

I doubt if she is a specialist diabetes nurse as they generally work under an endocrinologists at a hospital specialist diabetic clinic, she is more likely just to be a practice nurse who probably runs the respiratory clinic as well as the diabetes clinic as the nurse does at my GP's.

I would say she is just giving you her opinion and the surgery's blanket policy for diabetics, she probably doesnt see many diabetics with A1c's in the 5%'s so doesnt know they are achievable. Surely it is common sense to have your A1c as low as is achievable. As for the statin make your own mind up, read all the pros and cons of them and then make an educated decision based on your own health, no one can force you to do anything.

 

[borofergie]

This is disgraceful. You are obviously an informed Diabetic who has worked hard to take control of your condition. What chance do the hoardes of less well informed Diabetics have when faced with so called Health Care "Professionals" who don't understand our condition, and continually dole out wrong (often dangerously wrong) advice.

Statins? ***?

Like you my Doctor refuses to give me Metformin because my HbA1c is too low (5.2%), despite the host of other benefits that I'd get from taking it (and the more interesting diet that I'd be able to eat).