Shocked

I just had my diabetes review with the diabetes nurse. I should have been delighted with the hba1c being 45 (about 6.3 per cent), especially as the nurse had reduced me from 2 x Metformin 500 mg a day to 1 x Metforming 500 mg eighteen months ago but was absolutely shocked when she said that my levels were so good the last few times that she thought I was not diabetic and she was going to take me off the computer!!! I was diagnosed in with type 2 diabetes in 2006 with a fasting blood glucose of 17.0 mmol/l. My blood pressure went up to 160 systolic pressure and the doctor I saw put me on the 2 x Metformin 500 mg a day which she was not pleased about. After eight months I saw the diabetes nurse again and my hba1c was then 6.8 per cent and I continued on a lower carb diet and the tablets until 18 months ago. I told the nurse I definitely was diabetic still as if I eat something too much carb/sugar my levels go in to double figures after two hours. I did have access to test strips on prescription for a few months but since they were stopped buy my own strips. She said 'oh so you test?'. I also reminded her that I had been diagnosed with a fasting blood sugar of 17.0 and she checked this and said 'oh yes you are right'. She had also forgotten I was still taking one tablet a day so now she has told me to drop that tablet too and come back in two months time for another hba1c test. I told her I would not want to eat less as I only weigh 7 stone now (I am short but am still thin at that). She asked what exercise I do and I said I walked the dog 5 days a week 2 miles usually and did gardening and housework although now I have bad neck and shoulders which I just had a scan for and am waiting for result of this. I also told her I suffered from the short term complications such as thrush, thirst, going to the loo a lot, teeth abcess, blurry vision and even toppled over in the street like I was drunk once before and after being diagnosed and would not want that to happen again.
I feel gutted that I have done so well managing my condition and have this happen. If I was to be treated as non-diabetic then I would not have access to tablets if I needed them and the health checks I get such as for retinopathy, my feet being looked at, the flu jab (I get asthma if I get bronchitis).
Has anyone else been told they are not diabetic just becuase they have acheived good hba1c test? I feel that if it had been someone else who would not argue their case they could be taken off the diabetes register when they are diabetic this would be down right dangerous for them.

Thanks Mo, I do have some test strips (bought by myself). I am pleased to here that you have lost such a lot of weight Pez I think it is a good thing to stay on the register and not just for motivation. Over the last 7 years since I was diagnosed I have read that we cannot be 'cured' of diabetes but we can achieve good control. I have also read that even if we have good control after a number of years complications may arise. I was reading the latest Balance magazine and on the 'ask the experts' page there is a reply to a lady from London who asks 'Does a cure exist?' after she had seen a Channel 4 program about a group of women who were told that they were no longer had type 2 diabetes. The reply from the dietician Pav was that is '....currently no cure for either Type 2 or Type 1 diabetes.' Pav also wrote that 'Most people with Type 2 diabetes can control the condition very well without medication. However, they do still have the conditioan and should continue to have annual reviews of both their HbA1c and screening for complications.'

Annew I am pleased that you can control your diabetes without medication. When you mentioned that the surgeries have targets and gave the target of 9 what does the 9 mean?

I feel that we should be patted on the back for achieving good control instead of being scared of being taken off of the register although I appreciate that some people may like to come off. If she had asked if I wanted to come off it wouldn't of been so bad. Since 2003 I have taken medication to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol so need to have blood tests for this. I have only had an annual review since 2006 and my feet are seen every six months by the podiarist (I have mild treatment for corns and hard skin on the ball of my foot) and never get weighed so I am hardly taking up much of the DN's time and would take up more of her time if I started to have short term complications such as thrush, bladder infections and chest infections as I saw her first a few years ago. I have never had any advice from her. Oh she did ask if I wanted to see a dietician again. I wondered why I would when I was doing so well? At first I did see a dietician but she told me she knew nothing about diabetes and when I wrote down what I ate at breakfast I was told that was fine. From a nutrition point of view perhaps a bowl of cereal, toast, banana and glass of orange juice is but not for diabetics. I began eating the above as having gone on a 'low fat' diet and did not realize this was not a good thing to do.

Annew - yes it would be interesting if there is a 'target' of the number of people on the register for diabetes? I have even wondered if they are carrying out some kind of experiment to see what happens when people with good control come off tablets, my DN seemed to have forgot that I was still taking one Metformin a day. My DN has said before that Metformin is very mild and if that is so there won't be much change. When I went down to 1 x Metformin 500 mg I did alter the diet to compensate but which is why there was not much change with the hbA1c which was 43 the time before but I don't feel that I can cut down that much more. She asked me if | wanted to see a dietician but this is difficult because I have IBS as well. I am sure she would tell me to eat more carbs so I declined.

Lindyloo - it would be interesting to see how you have done in your annual review

David - I am pleased that you are sorted out and on tablets that agree with you now, my stomach is playing up and I have come off the Metformin and don't understand that?

lake and grey - I find that although my fasting bg is not bad if I eat things higher carb my bg rises a lot too.

Sugartoohigh - I see you have just been diagnosed and although, in the press etc, diabetes type 2 seems easy - just diet and exercise it is not so simple as this for a lot of people and there are lots of things to learn. Remember Rome was not built in a day and you don't have to learn it all at once as you may find you are overwhelmed and can't take it all the information in in a short space of time but don't worry it will. To make it even harder there are changes that occur with reference to advice or practices so we have to keep up to speed as well. I am finding out things I did not know.

Andy - re the cheaper insurance, in theory not on the register not diabetic but say this scenario what if a person comes off the register and has a stroke or heart attack or something else and goes in to hospital and they found the blood glucose to be high and they said 'I have news for you you are diabetic?' What to say, like 'but the DN said I did not have diabetes any more and took me off the register'. What if then the person died and then on the death certificate it stated the person had diabetes? Would the family be denied the insurance? I can see there are going to be problems ahead of some kind of another and not just with insurance.