The Diabetes Nurse!!!!

[palas]

Diagnosed 11th April and had my second meeting with the diabetes nurse last night.

Have had to go to optician Sunday for new specs coz I can't read at all at the moment with my current prescription and am using my reading glasses for distance. Nurse said I shouldn't have gone - "but I can't read I said". This didn't seem to bother her at all, in fact she yawned continuously as I was relating my eyesight concerns...

Said my levels were good - currently in the 6s on average - but I was testing far too frequently. I'm testing before breakfast + 2hrs, and before evening meal + 2 hours. Once a week should be sufficient!!!!!!! :shock:

Asked when I might be able to reduce my metformin - given that my levels are good "oh, you might never be able to reduce it, in fact you might end up on insulin"......

"You might well have had the disease for 5 years" - given that I've no signs of any nerve damage anywhere I find that hard to believe. I had an operation in 2009 and they surely tested me then.... "oh yes, but you might have had normal levels that day"

Then I got then "you are likely to suffer from complications at some point" speech again.

Thankfully I won't need to go again until July - for my first A1C test. I think then I'll be refered to the specialist team where I live for an induction day (3 months on into the disease), plus the eye specialist for a retina check.

Is it only my diabetes nurse who's a harbinger of doom?? Or are they a common breed? Sorry, needed to vent.

 

[tree-peony]

what is WRONG with these people????? :roll:

kick her on the shins and run away :wink:

 

[Daibell]

Hi. The HCPs are so used to diabetes progressing partly because of the bad advice on carb intake that they try to prepare you for later complications. If you can control your diet it may be many years before you go beyond Metformin and you may never need to. It is possible you have had db for longer than you thought. I'm suspicious mine came and went over a period of a few years based on going to the loo overnight etc but one blood test showed no problem

 

[ladybird64]

what is WRONG with these people????? :roll:

kick her on the shins and run away :wink:

I haven't laughed out loud for a while but that just hit the spot! :clap:

 

[Unbeliever]

what is WRONG with these people????? :roll:

kick her on the shins and run away :wink:

I haven't laughed out loud for a while but that just hit the spot! :clap:

Why are you even laughing? T hats the best idea I have heard for years! :lol:

 

[jackyval]

My nurse isn't too bad, but my diabetic gp!!! When I told her I was going to try a low carb diet, she said " you can try what you like, but it won't make any difference, the diabetes will just get worse" !!!!!!!!!

Talk about making me feel like what's the point then?? :crazy:

 

[Unbeliever]

Its the whole clinic thing.There have been clinics for almost everything for years. Most did not require a grea deal od knowledge and there was little comeback. Even asthma cloinics are not as demandng as diabees clinics.

I believe it is a step too far for mos Practice Nurses most of whom didn't sign up for this sort of thing.

Many have little interest in diabetes and just read from the script. They just tell you what they are old to tell you and are not interested in the individual..

he test strip thing, is , of course , utter nonsense but at least you get some strips for the moment
She may have a point about your eyes though.
Newly diagnosed are usually advised not to see their optician for about 3months as many suffer from blurred vision which may a
improve wih treatment and changing your glasses wiould be a waste of money. Possibly she had so litle interest that she didn't even know why she was supposed to tell you not to see the optician..

Welcome to our T2 world palas.

Never mind . When you have kicked and run away come back here to find out how it can be done. We have champions on this forum!

 

[kerryh66]

I was feeling very pessimistic about seeing my DN but when I asked her about the advice relating to carby meals x 3 a day she said ignore it. It almost seemed as if she looked over her shoulder to see if there was anybody else listening...(obviously unless my surgery has taken to cctv in each room there wasn't)...I feel she is more enlightened than some I have been reading about on here.

 

[AMBrennan]

I'll charitably assume that the nurse didn't just want to make you feel terrible.

Nurse said I shouldn't have gone

Changes in blood glucose tend may result in changes in vision. For this reason, there is not much point in getting a new prescription when your levels are changing - such as after starting new medication.

Asked when I might be able to reduce my metformin - given that my levels are good "oh, you might never be able to reduce it, in fact you might end up on insulin"......

Again, perhaps not very well put but sadly not entirely unfounded. Metformin doesn't "fix" the problem the way antibiotics would cure a bacterial infection, so it is likely that your levels are OK because you are currently taking Metformin.

"You might well have had the disease for 5 years" - given that I've no signs of any nerve damage anywhere I find that hard to believe

Well, this is about how you define diabetes. Diagnostic criteria are fasting BG > 7 mmol/l or random BG > 11.1, so anyone with fasting BG = 7.5 is technically diabetic. Nerve damage is not immediate.


Further, the connection is probabilistic in the sense that having high BG makes complications more likely. Having BG diagnostic of diabetes doesn't mean that one will get nerve damage within a year.

"you are likely to suffer from complications at some point"

Again, a sad truth. The problem here is that complications can have fairly extreme consequences - minor foot injuries that are not noticed due to nerve damage resulting in amputation is the prime example.

 

[valceramic]

Hi, I am a diabetes nurse! I was also diagnosed with type two a year ago...now 3 stone lighter and on a low carb diet. I didnt attend the education day, but spent my time wisely reading the posts about low carb. I have not managed to reverse (!) the disease, but my HbA1c is low and I feel well.
Motivating my patients is the hardest part of my job with one exception... I have a problem with the NICE guidelines as they are so carb based. I do need to follow these in my job, but offer the alternative to my patients also. You do what you can.
As a side bar, my family say I look the best I've looked in years and they are so supportive of my 'diet'.
I do know how irritating it is to see a nurse who is locked in to the old ways, but my problem is also with dieticians who go on and on about ketosis.

 

[MaryJ]

Hi Palas

Welcome to the forum and yes unfortunately your nurse seems the 'norm', as valceramic has pointed out.

You are one of the lucky ones, you've found this place and have enlightened yourself. Keep at it, keep records and PROVE your doing well.

Valceramic - it must be murder having to toe the party line? Why oh why won't they change their advice or at least be open to the fact that they may be WRONG ?

mary x

 

[Cazz]

My eyesight changed at diagnosis but because I wear disposable contact lenses, it was easy enough to change the prescription for the contact lenses and not have to get new glasses. However starting on insulin (I'm type 1) didn't seem to make any difference to my sight and it's only five years down the line that my sight has finally changed back to what it was before becoming diabetic! Maybe for most people it does change back quickly but for me it didn't. It might be worth buying cheapo reading glasses from the pound shop as your sight adjusts back to 'normal'.

 

[mattzuma]

I have type 2 diabetes – two years in. Stopped drinking and smoking two years ago and I am quite fit and not over weight.
Two weeks ago I told my gp that I no longer wish to see my Diabetes Nurse due to a number of issues. I recently had a blood test to see what my cholesterol levels were. The nurse, on examining the results said my triglyceride levels were really high (9), probably as a result of me stopping taking Statins ( I had stopped temporarily to see if the pain in my joints would be reduced.) The nurse then showed me a web page where she had input my results and pointed out I was at a 50% risk of a heart attack within ten years. This info did not sink in till I arrived home. I became very distressed. I decided to call the nurse to clarify whether it was in-fact a 50% risk or an increase of 50%. The receptionist took the message but called back saying "the nurse said it was my own fault for stopping the statins!". I then went to see my gp and while he was talking I looked at the blood test results on screen. The words FASTING BLOOD TEST stood out. It had not been a fasting test that I had been given! I pointed this out to the gp. He seemed rather concerned. This was the last straw. I told him a stream of complaints I had about the nurse;

To the nurse - “How will I cope with my Bi-Polar depression now I have diabetes?”
The Nurse - “Every one gets depressed – deal with it, shake yourself out of it.”

“The Metformin gives me stomach problems and wind.” … Nurse not interested.
“I feel my libido is unusually low”. Nurse not interested.

The Nurse even told me of her own problems with depression and that I should just learn to deal with it!

I dread to think of how her other patients are affected by this behaviour.

My gp seems to agree that the nurses behaviour is out of order and is taking up the issue with the manager at the health centre. He has also agreed to deal with my diabetes himself.

Since this incident I have had raised blood pressure and my depression has been worse than usual.

I have concluded the best way to deal with my diabetes is by my self with help from my GP.