What will happen at my 1st Diabetic App at Hospital

[ShelleyHarris1981]

Hi there,

I am due to go to Hospital on 15th April for my first diabetic appointment and dont know what to expect.

I was diagnosed type 1 whilst pregnant (at 20 weeks) so spent nearly every Friday at baby clinic at hospital being monitored etc.They were always happy with my readings and I remember at 32 weeks the diabetic consultant said my HbA1C was 5.6 (I admit at the time I didnt have a clue what this even was!) Since I gave birth 11 weeks ago I havent been in touch with anyone from diabetic team so am a little worried about what to expect from appointment.

My letter says my eyes will be testef and I can take someone with me? Does this hurt? Will anything be put in my eyes? What else will happen?

At 20weeks a Snr Nurse overdosed me on insulin when I was first diagnosed (100 units as opposed to 10) and ever since I have got myself worked up any time I have had to go to Hospital.

I just want to relax about upcoming app instead of thinking about it everyday! Especially as my daughter on School holidays and Im sure would prefer a more fun Mum instead of me worrying about an app two weeks away!

Thanks in advance

shelley

 

[blueeyed81]

Dont worry hun everything will be fine, for your eye test theyll use eye drops, as for the rest im presuming they'll go over everything diabetes related to make sure you know all there is to know. As for the silly person giving you too much insulin, I guess at least you was in the right place to deal with it.

Kelly

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[ShelleyHarris1981]

Thanks Kelly. Be good to get first app out the way I suppose and be more informed as its all very different from when I was pregnant.

Haha yes that was the only positive out of it all ~ that and the forcefed choc in HDU in between the vomitin g and mayhem

X

 

[blueeyed81]

Lol nothing wrong being firce fed choc lol
Kelly

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[ShelleyHarris1981]

Too right ~ only thing missing was a George Clooney lookalike doctor!

Shell x

 

[anna29]

Hello Shelley .

With the mistake of units of insulin being given .
100 units instead of the 10 ...

Medical staff are now trained to write it in 'letter form' alongside the numbers.
like 10 [TEN] units FOR example to PREVENT this from ever happening .

Look for this next time, you ever are in hospital needing insulin being given to you .

Hope this helps?

Anna.

 

[ShelleyHarris1981]

Hello Shelley .

With the mistake of units of insulin being given .
100 units instead of the 10 ...

Medical staff are now trained to write it in 'letter form' alongside the numbers.
like 10 [TEN] units FOR example to PREVENT this from ever happening .

Look for this next time, you ever are in hospital needing insulin being given to you .

Hope this helps?

Anna.

Hi Anna

I will definately look out for this. The Consultant had actually written it the correct way but the Senior Nurse who was called from the maternity triage ward to administer it admitted later she did not even know how to draw insulin or administer it. In the report I finally received 22 weeks after the incident it blamed the fact they were busy and understaffed as it was a saturday and the ward i was on (maternity) didnt know how to deal woth a newly diagnosed diabetic so were unsure how to teach me to inject.

Even after being in HDU the care was appalling on the maternity ward when I got back on it
my insulin had not arrived so I didnt eat from 12pm til 8pm when my insulin arrived. I was literally begging them for advice on what i should do as I was so hungry. It was a horrible experience.

X

 

[Snodger]

Your experience sounds awful, and terrifying.
Your standard diabetic appointment will be nothing like that - everyone involved will be used to diabetes and doing tasks they are familiar with, so it should be fine.

What usually happens is some or all of the following things:
- they'll weigh you (and may measure you if they don't already have your height, to get your BMI)
- they'll check your blood pressure
- they'll draw blood from your arm (sometimes your earlobe) to check your HbA1c and possibly for other blood tests to check things like cholesterol
- they'll ask for a urine sample, which they'll use to check kidney function
- they'll check the pulses in your bare feet and may poke your toes very gently with a little springy thing to check you haven't lost any sensation in your feet (neuropathy)
- they'll do the eye check. This involves an ordinary basic sight test (can you read the letters on the chart, can you see dots they flash on a grid thing etc) and may involve them checking the pressure in your eyes with a thing that puffs air at you (startling but not painful). They also should put atropine drops in your eyes to make the pupils big enough that they can see right to the back of the eye, and check your blood vessels are fine there. This doesn't hurt but can make it hard to see - things become blurry, bright lights are uncomfortable. That's why they say don't drive to the eye test, because you can't drive back. They only look at your eyes for a few minutes, but the effect of the drops lasts anything from an hour or so to several hours, depending on how much atropine they use, and how your body reacts to it.
They should tell you what the 'normal' levels for all these things are, and what you can do if they aren't normal, but if they don't explain it properly do ask them (or if you can't, then post again here and I'll look them out for you).

Those are the bodily checks they need to do, but I would hope they would also talk to you about how you are feeling, how you are coping, whether you are okay with the insulins you are on, whether you need support and help e.g. from a diabetes specialist nurse or a dietitian. If you are feeling upset or need emotional support, or just help on coping with insulin and so on, do not be afraid to ask for it. It's normal.

Another thing they are required to do is offer you diabetes education. They may not do that at your first appo but if they haven't done it by the next one, ask them specifically for it (if you want it that is!) Most Type 1s who go on structured diabetes education
get a huge amount out of it. Have a look at the threads on here about DAFNE, and also have a look at the DAFNE and DEN websites for info about courses in your area: http://www.dafne.uk.com/ and http://www.diabetes-education.net/.

come back and let us know how it went, and good luck

 

[ShelleyHarris1981]

Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply. Knowing exactly what will happen in detail as put my mind at rest.

Will definately let you know how it goes