I will jump in and offer a little defense for the doctors.
I listened to the preaching for several years as he tweeked my meds and the numbers went down, I made no changes and the numbers slowly rose again, and on and on, until the only choice was test, calculate and take insulin before every meal.
In 6-9 months my numbers were back in line.
- for the first time in my life I paid attention to what I ate. I now average 100-130 grams of carbs and 1500-1700 calories a day, and 10-units of Lansa at night, which after another good A1c report I'm going to try dropping just to see what happens.
- I've dropped 40-pounds
- I walk about 30-minutes 5-6 days per week
After the second A1c in the mid-5.xx area my doctor patted me on the back and said there's good-news and bad-news here:
The good-news is I have proven that all of the things he nagged me to do for several years really do work.
the bad-news is he and I will have to deal with each other for significantly more years than he thought we would.
I believe the key is to realize this is a "team sport", and we -the patients- must be the team captain. Having information upon which to base decisions, and to measure performance makes the conversation a lot more focused on the goal rather than trying to say the same thing with a little variation in hopes it will have some impact.
And NEVER FORGET - You need to be "The BOSS"! And that is not always a easy job!
Hang in there, don't give up, and don't forget -- YOU ARE THE BOSS!
And if you need record-keeping help, go look at http://www.weloop.com/HATS.html
I wrote it, use it, and it's yours for the taking.