Should They Be Doing More?

[Starchild73]

Hi all, newly diagnosed type 2, and new here, hoping for some thoughts and advice on my situation.

Bit of background, in February I had an intense pain attack in my right leg one night, it scared the life out of me, worst pain I have ever experienced. Went to the doctor, who said it was cramp and put me on Diazepam, which had no effect. For quite a while I was suspecting I could be diabetic as both my parents are, but silly me stuck my head firmly in the sand

The pain was unbearable so I went back and saw another doctor who gave me Pregabalin, this has considerably dulled down the pain but it's still there, again I told her about my diabetic suspicions and she was horrified when I told her that my mother had tested my blood sugar that day and it was 22.8, she booked me in for a fasting blood test the next day as an emergency case. That came back showing 13.5, and the diabetes rollercoaster began.

My main gripe (and the point of this essay, sorry!) is that it took another 2 weeks for a follow up appointment with my doctor, he was pretty unhelpful about my pain, told me to lose weight, and upped my dose of Pregabalin to 450mg a day and told me to make an appointment to see the nurse. Waited another 3 weeks to see her, all this time I was trying to control my diet as best I could, cutting out all the stuff I thought upped my sugar levels but they were still ranging between 18 and 26. Saw the nurse Monday, she gave me a meter and told me to test myself once a day, 2 hours after a meal. I asked her what they were going to do to treat me, tablets, insulin? She replied they wouldn't be doing anything for 4 months... what??? They don't seem concerned at all about what's going on inside my body. Today my sugar is 22.5, I feel spaced out and pretty **** awful, my eyes are so blurred I can't hardly see straight.

Shouldn't they be giving me something? If I already have neuropathy surely that means that my diabetes is quite advanced and they should be acting now, I just feel confused and down about the whole situation, has anyone has this length of time pass before starting treatment?

 

[cugila]

Quite frankly your treatment appears to have been abysmal so far. Are you able to see another GP in the Practice.......if not ask for a referral to an Endocrinologist. If that all fails get yourself off to another GP Practice and change GP's.

Pregalbin also has a side effect of sometimes messing up BG levels. Are you taking any other medications even those not Diabetes related ? If you already have Neuropathy then lowering the Bg levels by any means will help reduce or even reverse the symptoms.

Here is some information we give out to newly diagnosed Type 2's. Have a read and see if there is anything in there which may help you reduce those high Bg levels etc.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different .

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

Ken

 

[Starchild73]

Thank you for that info, I'll certainly try testing myself before and after meals to see what affects me and keep a note. Having a blood sugar under 8.5 mmol/l seems a distant dream at the moment.

I sometimes take diclofenac for my arthritic knee, but apart from that nothing else. I've read pregabalin can have effects on BG levels, but again nobody at the doctors has talked this through with me, in fact they have hardly said anything to me at all, I feel totally in the dark, all that I've learned has been from the internet! I've been told I have to see just one doctor as he is the practice diabetic specialist, frankly he's been useless so far. I just can't understand why they aren't doing anything for me, it's like they have diagnosed me and sent me away to get on with it, unless the situation changes I will have to do as you suggest and think about changing doctors.

 

[cugila]

Hi SC.
We were all in the dark so to speak when first diagnosed. This Forum is great for helping to 'shed some light' on things. Any questions just ask away, there is usually somebody with an answer.

As for the levels.......we all thought the same and we read stuff here and got answers to our questions....much better than any advice from some HCP's. Stick with us here and tell us how you improve with the advice and support you get here. There are some fantastic success stories here, low and non low carber's. Just read some of them if you want some inspiration.

It might look bad right now but Diabetes can be controlled very well and you can lead a healthy, lively life. You might need to give your GP the 'boot' though ........ :twisted:

Keep well.

Ken

 

[carty]

I have a rubish GP also ,but I have asked to see dietician and ,diabetes nurse and had bettter care from them Some times you have to stand up for yourself this forum helps a lot..keep reading peoples posts and you will get more confidence to deal with your DB CAROL

 

[Synonym]

Hello Starchild and welcome.

I have to say that your ‘treatment’ so far mirrors what happened to me and you have my sympathy for what you are going through too. :shock:

I would say that in the end I was very grateful that, by default, I ended up using the combined knowledge of this forum instead which enabled me to control my own condition. So, although it seems really dreadful at the moment, take heart and get hold of it yourself and you will be so glad that you did.

Ken has put a very helpful advice post above which will help you enormously. 8)

Many of us have found that the starchy carbs are the foods which we have had to cut down or cut out and the only way to find out if that is what you need to do is by self testing. Keep a food diary and test before eating and 2 hours afterwards so that you can see how your food affects your BG levels and act accordingly.

Trawl through the various threads and if there is any other help you need do ask, there is usually someone here.

 

[Cowboyjim]

Sorry to hear another horror story. But maybe the 'good' ones don't post here...

When I got the bad news I was given metformin pretty quickly but not helped much apart from that just given leaflets etc. No talk of meters etc. Though I got to see nursey about 2 weeks later and an appointment for a retinopathy check which is something else I am surprised about... get one done!

Maybe you could note your meals for a day and post them here and we can 'shoot them down' (only kidding). But everything is personal so this will only be a guide.

I echo what the others have said nil desperandum! You are not alone and will get over this, well, get it under control and be much happier because you did it yourself!
ATB 8)

 

[Starchild73]

Thank you all so much, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who this has happened to! I'll certainly have a read around here, it seems a wealth of good info

As regards the retinopathy check, will I have to wait for them or can I get one done myself? I've often been with my mother when she gets hers done at an optician. I'm a bit worried as for a while I've had little thread type lines in each eye, I don't wish to leave my sight to chance in the face of my GP's apathy :|

 

[Synonym]

Hello again

Try not to worry overmuch as you are now in the system and although the wheels grind exceeding slow an appointment will arrive! :roll: I have decided that it always seems a long time when you are waiting, especially when you don't know what is happening. :evil:

If you are really concerned ask the GP's receptionist to check if there is an appointment in the pipleine.

In the meantime the very best thing you can do is work out what foods you can tolerate. 8)

 

[Cowboyjim]

Not sure you have to be referred by the quack... I have been twice and they sent me a letter. You go to outpatients kind of thing. Maybe you could just ring your local one and have a chat. They are really keen to get folks in there and you could make up something about lost paperwork etc. Ours is on on a different computer system from the GP so... tell them about your condition, lay it on a bit and they'll probably send a car for you! They told me that too many people don't turn up... whaaat? Are these people crazy? Just goes to show.
ATB 8)

 

[Starchild73]

Thanks guys, I'm probably being a bit over anxious, it's just so many people have had shocked faces when I've told them about the lack of action so far. I'm keeping a food diary now, hopefully I can pin down exactly what is causing the BG to go sky rocket high