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Still waiting

D

Dollyrocker

Well-Known Member
Messages
223
I'm getting really frustrated with my Diabetes team, I had a few days on a CGM over a month ago now and they still haven't followed up like they said they would. Yesterday i finally managed to get through to the diabetes centre, this is no mean feat, last time it took me over 3 weeks to speak to anyone despite having left half a dozen messages for someone to call me back, agaoi I have had to leave a message as the Nurse was unavailable. I was told she would call me back and 36 hours later she still hasn't.

It's a good job I'm not having serious difficulties as I'd probably be dead by now!

I'm starting to wonder if this is a delaying tactic for anyone who enquires about a pump and looks like a good candidate, maybe they're trying to push me into the next financial year! :evil:
 
Hi Dollyrocker
Is there any chance of you getting an actual appointment to see the DSN or the Consultant. Can you actually find out the Consultant's Secretary phone number and ask her to actually get an appointment to see either of them?
Would you be able to take somebody with you if you could get the appointment through the Secretary? I always prefer to see people in person rather than waiting for an appointment, especially as I like to see people's body language when they are talking to me....it gives a lot away as to what they are actually thinking and saying..
 
Thanks guys. I finally got a call back this morning and I'm seeiing the dietician on the 9th December so I will be polishing up my carb counting knowledge so I can get over this (hopefully last) hurdle.

I've done the BDEC course twice now, I'm pretty happy that I know what I'm doing, I just have to convince the dietician. Are there any other online resources that might help?


It was the DSN that was meant to be sorting the appointment for me a month ago :roll:
 
Hi Dolly

I also had to see a dietitian before I got my pump and no I didnt do a DAFNE course. I figured out myself how to work out carb ratios from jotting down the amount of carb that I ate and testing bg levels 6 times day and kept increasing/decreasing bolus insulin until I was at a reasonable target level before and after eating. Once I did that, I was then able to look at the amount of insulin I injected and divide that into the amount of carb I ate and worked out the ratio from that.

When you see the dietitian take your bg monitoring book with you to show her. She will ask you what food you eat and will also ask you to tell her the carb value, so make sure you know. Once she feels that you are ok using bolus insulin and that your bg levels are okish, a pumpin you will go.

Good luck, just be patient . Probably the funding process will start in Jan so you should have a pump by March.
 
Meant to also say which will help you out no end with the dietitian is to get a copy of the book Carbs and Cals -amazon or ebay. Take that with you to appt and you will dazzle.
 
Thanks iHs, I'll check out that book

That's exactly how I started off working out my carb/insulin ratios, the DSN changed them after the CGM aand now I'm high all the time so I'm putting them back
 
Dolly

Try and strike a happy medium between what the dsn advises carb ratios and your own. It's important that you try to strive for a fasting bg level of about 6 or 7 before you eat and then using the correct ratio, you get no more than 3 above. If you are less than 8 mid morning or mid afternoon, then you should really eat a snack otherwise the action of the bolus insulin will carry on lowering you and land you in a hypo. Not sure if you already know this but just in case you are not aware, thought I'd mention it.

When bolus/basal was first launched in UK 2002? many of the hypos were being blamed on basal insulin incorrect but as time has gone on, more has come to light on the bolus and many people are either not using the correct amount as a carb bolus or are over correcting iftheir bg levels are too high.
 
Hi iHs,

The basal/bolus thing seems to be constantly evolviong!

I think I have my basal nearly right now, I know I was taking a liittle too much pre CGM and it got adjusted but now I think it needs to go up 1 unit to be correct :roll:

I'm struggling to get the tratios perfect as apparently I'm sensitibve to insulin and can't get small enough fractions of doses (another reason why a pump would be good) even the half units seem to be too much or too little sometimes.

My pre-meal readings are now in the 8s which is a little high for my likings but at least they're not 3s any more. The least said about my post-meal readings the better, I can't seem to find anything that works on this regime, I think I need staggered doses to cover it properly
 
iHs said:
Meant to also say which will help you out no end with the dietitian is to get a copy of the book Carbs and Cals -amazon or ebay. Take that with you to appt and you will dazzle.
Click to expand...

Aha, I downloaded the carbs and cals app on my iphone earlier, looks like it's much the same as the book!
 
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