Rubbish GP appt, again!

I'm sorry both of you had to experience that.

Your GP is quite right to quote NICE guidelines, one would hope that he would quote them accurately though. I can find no reference in the appropriate guidelines to suggest that SMBG in type 2s is not advisable - in fact NICE suggests that education is paramount, knowing what to do to bring your BG levels into the range that is right for you.

The Diabetes National Strategic Framework (NSF) which has been around for just over five years states, as part of standard 3 that

All children, young people and adults with diabetes will receive a service which encourages partnership in decision-making, supports them in managing their diabetes and helps them to
adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle. This will be reflected in an agreed and shared care plan in an appropriate format and language. Where appropriate, parents and carers should be fully engaged in this process.

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How on earth GPs hope to achieve this standard without giving us the tools to empower us to partake in decision-making astounds me. It is completely illogical to think that a third party can manage our health through some form of osmosis and without our active involvement.

The NSF is over half way through its ten year implementation plan, if our MPs can acknowledge that there are concerns over progress - despite the NHS' acclamation of how wonderful things are - then we should be actively suggesting to those in power that things should change.

Regards, Tubs.

Ask around - friends, pharmacist, fellow diabetics - see if you can't find a more competent doctor

I would think you have a RIGHT to your blood test results. Your doctor should not be witholding an HbA1c. I would phone up and ask for it. If it's not forthcoming, ring every half hour until you get it.

The only way to get good diabetic care for the majority of us is to discover how to treat ourselves. I no longer rely on my Doctor to treat me but of course I still need him for my prescriptions. I was diagnosed in the summer of 2005 even though I had a very painful leg ulcer for about six months. No one at my surgery ever thought about measuring my blood sugar. It took a nurse at my local hospital to measure the amount of glucose in my urine after I suffered a heart attack. I was initially prescribed Gliclazide. My BS was variable but in my ignorance seemed to me to be accepatable. My HbA1c was about 7.2 which was quite acceptable to the diabetic nurse. I was a good patient, going to the gym two or three times a week. When I was very active at the gym I would get a hypo. A visit to my trusty nurse resulted in my not being prescribed Gliclazide but Metformin. The reason I was given for Metformin was that this drug does not give hypos. At this point I was still very trusting and a little ignorant about the treatment of diabetes. My fasting BS now started to reach new heights. Very common for my BS to be 12 to 15 first thing in the morning. I tried to get back to see the nurse but was unable to get an appointment. I was getting all the typical symtoms of a diabetic who BS was too high. If I could not see the nurse I could always see the doctor. This proved an absolute waste of time. He told me my blood sugar was too high because I was stressed about my blood sugar levels. What a load of TOSH. I attempted to change my GP to a GP who was a diabetic specialist but to no avail, wrong POSTCODE. I was now in a situation with a GP and a diabetic nurse who did NOT know the difference between the actions of Gliclazide and Metformin. I started to research Diabetes on the web and sent off for a copy of the nice guidlines. With my new found knowledge (limited I know) I went to my GP and insisted that he followed the NICE guidlines on the treatement of diabetes. I am now taking Metformin and Gliclazide. All my diabetic symtoms have disappeared and my HbA1c went from 7.7 to 6.4. Every time I meet I diabetic, I ask them their HbA1c and who is their doctor. Those who doctor is a diabetic specialist tend to have a much lower HbA1c than those who do not. Most diabetic trust their doctor even though it is obvious that their diabetes is not being treated correctly. My sister trusts her GP although her HbA1c was 9.9, she has kidney desease and diabetic legs.

I belong to a local Diabetes UK group in Norfolk. The majority say that there is a real problem in Norfolk with the treatment of Diabetics. My main concern is that the majority of diabetics are being treated by non specialist GP. This is not true in many European Countries. In my own case my doctor showed far too much ignorance in the treatment of my diabetes not really knowing the difference between various diabetic medication.

At least I know what type of diabetes I have and I will continue to dictate what medication I should take.

I must admit that my PCT looks at my eyes, my kidneys, my heart and my feet every year without fail. However the most important to look after is my Bolld Sugar. This I would give them only two out of ten.

With the prevalence of Diabetes, diabetic groups need to push for better treatment for diabetics by insisting that the medical profession produce more diabetic specialists instead of the majority of us receiving third class medical care.

As far as my sister is concerned, she is now on insulin. She is feeling much better. It is a shame that I had to write to her doctor before her treatment was changed.

In concluson I must say that if a patient is knowledgable about the desease and is fully involved in its treatment then complications and HbA1c will be much lover

wpaisley said:

T
I belong to a local Diabetes UK group in Norfolk. The majority say that there is a real problem in Norfolk with the treatment of Diabetics. My main concern is that the majority of diabetics are being treated by non specialist GP. This is not true in many European Countries. In my own case my doctor showed far too much ignorance in the treatment of my diabetes not really knowing the difference between various diabetic medication.

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Not really surprising when you see the attitude of the local Chief Endo expressed in the comments here

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/335/7611/132

When I was an undergraduate in a life science, we called it "the Universal Bench Constant" i.e. that number by which it is necessary to multiply the experimental results, to get the outcome we first wanted. It's abviously being used actively in diabetic studies too. At least we were undergrads all those years ago and no-one's life or health relied on our machinations.

JJ4 I know where you're coming from! I was diagnosed just over a month ago, but had gestational diabetes 3 years ago, so had some experience...
Was given bg meter, 200 lancets, but only 50 test strips - this does not compute surely? :? The diabetic nurse said only to test once a week!! Having past experience I ignored her & tested x2 a day...until I found THIS website!! Then I tested all I could, went back to the doc for more strips & got told not to get "hung-up on testing" as the NHS couldn't afford it!! :x Thanks! Am now happily ignoring doc and testing all I need to, esp as I have started low-carbing. I'm gonna keep taking the slapped wrists from the doc as my Mum also has T2, but also lots of complications due to (as I now know) not so great info!

I'm sure together we can change things, slowly...

Up the revolution!!
CurvyP

When I was first diagnosed I had a variety of doctors see me because of the chest infection I had at the time. I made a special appointment because eof blurred vision over the weekend and took all my bg records for the previous four days (4 readings per day) which were all high (in the 20 s) and he said " Nothing to do with any medication you're on - here's some eye drops" - How is it that a GP doesn' t know (which I didn't until I read on the internet, bearing in mind this was all new to me) that one of the symptoms of high BG levels is blurred vision. Started to lose my faith completely in GPs after that considering the events that led up to my high BG levels (wrong dose wrong type of steroids).
I feel for you, cos I've been there ...