The Importance Of Self Educating - T1

I think self eduction is extremely important but we also still need the professional input of our HCP's too, a harmonious marriage of the two is what's needed in my opinion.

Self-education is vital in my opinion.... and becoming increasingly so. I don't expect any of the GPs at my surgery to know more than I do about diabetes. But then I do have a very good diabetes specialist clinic in my area and they take care of all diabetics here.

To be honest everything i know i learned from other diabetics on forum here and from my own research. My gp is not very helpful and i prefer not to listen to him. he advised me to test once a week and at the very beggining prescribed me wrong insulin. Thank God i spot it otherwise not sure how it would have ended. I lost all my trust to him then. Diabetic clinic is ok but i still have impression i know more then them :?

I have learnt more from self education than from my appoints with hcps.
Nothing meant detrimentally to hcp's but since getting my pump my gp (one specialised in diabetes) admit that I have been the only person they know on a pump.. So they leave to my hospital teams.
My hospital teams have been great supplying me with a pump and cgm, but they dont live my life, they just see a short snaphot of it.
People on here especially do exercise with a pump, they know so much more from their experiences than hcp's, who to me base their knowledge on either their training, medical sales people, research on persons that have been involved in trials or their own research when they get time. However, too me it isnt anything like actually getting advice from people that live with D and can offer real life views on how they manage their D... Not necesssily just pump people of course...i still need input from my HCP's though.

Internet also allows you to find out more on drugs, guidelines, new innovations and things like carbohydrates. This is so important when people are diagnosed and arent educated about carbohydrates.

I think if Had to actually vote on how I have gained most help and education for my diabetes... Then my selection would be self education, not HCP education.

From what I have read it was ever thus. Dr R Lawrence, one of the first to use insulin and the founder of DUK said that people with diabetes should become their own doctor.
It's inevitable that many of us know more than our GPs about the condition, they have to know a little bit about hundreds of conditions.
I was lucky in that the specialists when I was diagnosed gave me a very good start in the educative process. (and part of that was that they had the time; I was 10 days in hospital which seems much longer than most people in the UK today)

It is important to educate yourself.
Lots of people has got trouble listening to what doctor says.
All most GPs can give you is guidance, i trust my diabetes specialist much more.
Sometimes you need to educate your doctor too..i think important is working Together with you doctor. :thumbup:

Yep, Phoenix.. You made me just think back to my diagnosis.. i went in on a Tues and came out fri the same week. I think this has something to do with our good education from the stat.. All be it for me nearing 3 decades.
Nowadays there isnt admittance on type 1 diagnosis and that may well be detrimental.. I think it is, as I had a nurse with me for my first two days worth of meals...
I was also allowed out .. Actually I was sent out to local shops so that I wasnt given inactive insulin dosages.. I actually walked to town to the shop which I used to manage and had a cup of coffee with them and returned for my tea.
That was in days of exchanges and syringes, but I do feel that the 24hr care from my HCP's then on admittance set me up well.. Thankyou for reminding me of this...

James12 said:

Is 'going to see the local GP' is becoming a some what romantic idea? That is to say, today; with the wealth of specalist infomation so readily avalibale to anyone who is able read, should we expect our local GP to be any more educated about diabetes type 1 management than we are? and if the answer is yes - should we be doing more to educate ourselves?

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After nearly 24 years as Type 1, I am still learning :thumbup:

All the best RRB

That is to say, today; with the wealth of specalist infomation so readily avalibale to anyone who is able read

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But it's not that simple - it takes skill to read journal articles and make an informed decision which, if journalists/the media is representative of the population at large, the general public may not have.
Thus, I think that GPs serve a vital purpose.

In todays world..... using insulin, eating carbohydrate, bg testing has gone off into being fairly complicated for people and although a lot of help is available from hospital dsns, they cant come and live with any of us to supervise what goes on for us all, so it is essential that people learn to be their own expert with the hope that we will all be well. Which is where internet diabetes forums have come into their own. If it wasnt for this forum, my diabetes care would be with my GP and I wouldnt be too much the wiser about carbohydrate ratios. So for internet forums and diabetics helping one another its a big

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Having been a T1 for 43 years I had assumed that I knew it all, and my GP freely admits that she is no diabetes expert and we both agree that it is down to my consultant to advise as required.

However, when I was switched to Lantus a few years ago, my consultant never mentioned anything about how to test to see if that level was correct. Also, until coming onto this excellent forum site, I'd never heard of basal/bolus or insulin-carb ratios and the fact that they can be different for each meal. So this really created a new area of knowledge for me, and following many of the links in the postings took me to the Diabetes UK ebook on Carb Counting and Insulin Adjustment, the Carb Counting book, and also the detailed book on Using Insulin which I bought from Amazon.

So 6 months down the line, I feel I now have a good understanding on how to get even better BG control, and have experienced no assisted hypos for 18 months, and rarely have to eat any snacks between meals. Last HbA1c and chloresterol were lowest ever over last 10 years since I've been keeping a record. So self education has proven it's worth and shows what a wonderful communication and knowledge base the internet is when used wisely!!

Jonty