Gadget_man
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 73
- Type of diabetes
- Prefer not to say
- Treatment type
- I do not have diabetes
Please excuse me if you've read this somewhere else on the site but I can't find where I perhaps wrote it so I'm recapping here, with further information.
I recently started checking my blood glucose levels after being invited by a friend to join a 'health & fitness programme' he's involved in, a euphemism for let me sell you some high priced food supplements that probably have no medical or scientific proof that they're any good. Anyway, to humour him I watched the video and was surprised by a claim they made in it which said that everyone needs a sugar hit from food first thing as their blood sugar is always low first thing in a morning and we need some sugar to get us going and feeling good. I was certain that diabetics wouldn't really want to be following that advice and so, having access to a brand new test meter I decided to check my fasting blood glucose levels and see if I could prove, or disprove, this statement.
I was shocked when I did this because I found that my readings didn't seem to be anywhere near what they should be against what are thought to be the range for a non-diabetic. So I decided to get an appointment with my GP and persuade her to send me for a full test. In the meantime I continued to test both fasting and postprandial levels, which did continue to give concern.
I've written the response to my visit here http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/questionable-gp-knowledge-advice.115225/
so I'll not write all that again.
Anyway, today I went to see the nurse to check my meter against the 'only accurate one' the GP accepted. Interestingly I had a very similar, difficult conversation with the nurse as I did my GP, being told that she didn't see the purpose of checking my meter against hers etc etc. But she finally agreed and the readings were 4.8 from mine and 5.6 from hers. I'm not going to argue about what the significance of all that is, I'll keep my ideas of what they mean to myself for now, but what was interesting was the general content of the discussion.
Apparently I should only follow advice from medical professionals as they are the only one's who can give proper advice. I should only follow what the NHS says with regard to diabetes treatment and not follow what others might say they find useful and have found works. I must only accept the guidelines from NICE as they are the authority in this country on such matters.
I wonder if anyone would care to comment?
I recently started checking my blood glucose levels after being invited by a friend to join a 'health & fitness programme' he's involved in, a euphemism for let me sell you some high priced food supplements that probably have no medical or scientific proof that they're any good. Anyway, to humour him I watched the video and was surprised by a claim they made in it which said that everyone needs a sugar hit from food first thing as their blood sugar is always low first thing in a morning and we need some sugar to get us going and feeling good. I was certain that diabetics wouldn't really want to be following that advice and so, having access to a brand new test meter I decided to check my fasting blood glucose levels and see if I could prove, or disprove, this statement.
I was shocked when I did this because I found that my readings didn't seem to be anywhere near what they should be against what are thought to be the range for a non-diabetic. So I decided to get an appointment with my GP and persuade her to send me for a full test. In the meantime I continued to test both fasting and postprandial levels, which did continue to give concern.
I've written the response to my visit here http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/questionable-gp-knowledge-advice.115225/
so I'll not write all that again.
Anyway, today I went to see the nurse to check my meter against the 'only accurate one' the GP accepted. Interestingly I had a very similar, difficult conversation with the nurse as I did my GP, being told that she didn't see the purpose of checking my meter against hers etc etc. But she finally agreed and the readings were 4.8 from mine and 5.6 from hers. I'm not going to argue about what the significance of all that is, I'll keep my ideas of what they mean to myself for now, but what was interesting was the general content of the discussion.
Apparently I should only follow advice from medical professionals as they are the only one's who can give proper advice. I should only follow what the NHS says with regard to diabetes treatment and not follow what others might say they find useful and have found works. I must only accept the guidelines from NICE as they are the authority in this country on such matters.
I wonder if anyone would care to comment?