HBA1C down from 75 to 55

Had my first HBA1C check since before Covid last month, had my diabetes review with the diabetic nurse at the doctor's surgery yesterday.

Was told to keep doing what I'm doing, as my control is great compared to before.

Mentioned that I'd been using the freestyle Libre 2 and the diabetic nurse was shocked that I pay for these.

She was unable to help with getting it prescribed as she was told this needs to be done by secondary care.

Partha Karr tells me on twitter this is categorically wrong.

Has anyone had any success with their GP prescribing the libre sensors without going through the hospital since the guidelines changed?

I have been referred to secondary care now, but in my experience this has usually been a long process.

My next HBA1C is looking like it'll be closer to 46, if the libre app isn't too far off, so the difference in control is amazing.

Nicki70 said:

My Libre 2 are prescribed by my GP practice. They did write to the hospital consultant to seek his view and he suggested that due to change in guidelines and various other health issues that the GP should fund the Libre 2 for a period of 1 year initially. Two weeks later it was on repeat prescription from the GP Practice.

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That's great!
I would love this.

Hopefully when the referall is sorted I am able to get these on prescription.

Unfortunately I'm now in a position where the cost of the sensors is unaffordable so once my current sensor ends, I will be back to finger prick testing until I can get the prescription sorted.

I'm hoping for a fast referall process, but we'll see what happens

NicoleC1971 said:

Patha karr is right of course but the local people make you jump through hoops namely attendance on a carb counting course (google the online version called BERTIE to tick this box). Find a Diabetes Specialist Nurse to help you map the route for your own area. Once you have the prescription then it is straightforward and I am so sorry that this hasn't been organised for you. Time to get pushy! As you don't want to go back to rollercoasters and 75.

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I actually already went through the Bertie course before even receiving my first sensor, so that may help me in getting it prescribed quicker.

Thank you though, very helpful.

I'm hoping that once the referall goes through I can get the prescription without too much back and forth.

It should be quite clear how much the libre has helped me, and hopefully theyll look at that and say "yeah, it's definitely worth you having them on prescription" or something.

I thought it would be a lot easier with the guidelines change, and maybe it will be once the referall goes through.

I moved into a new area about 9 months ago, and never got round to setting up appointments with the doctor or anything until now, due to busy work schedule. They just filled my prescriptions and left me to it after moving.

NicoleC1971 said:

Yes. You need to mention how much less hypos you now have too , hba1c speaks for itself and also how much better your quality of life is/ The clinicians are massively in favour of it so it really is paperwork and the NHS mills grind exceeding slow....

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Thank you, I will definitely mention this.

Quality of life is greatly improved, so that'll come up as well.

It's really interesting to actually see the impact that stress can have on diabetes also, before, in a stressful time, I'd barely notice it, but seeing all the data so easily, it's quite shocking to see the impact of a stressful time, and to be able to react so quickly.

Yaya10_10 said:

Cgms change the way we look at diabetes.

U could have low hba1c and that was due to having

lots of hypo rather than good diabetes control.

Tir becomes a great tool with us.

That is technology

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I think my 75 was due to lots of hypos.

This time around I can say it wasn't from hypos, my time in range for the first month or so with libre 2 was around 80%, and this would have covered the last 5-6 weeks leading to my HBA1C. Much of my time out of range was above target rather than below, while figuring out ideal pre bolus times.

My time in range now is closer to 70%, but I put this down to stress which meant my insulin/carb ratio needed adjusting.

I've had a few really good days over the last couple months with 100% time in range though.