Went to my CDE today. Really like her, but didn’t really feel she listened.
She started out focusing on some lows, which I had already made basal changes and fixed. Then it was carb counting. Then she turned to burn out. Got some basic problem solving advice, then it turned to me needing to see a psychiatrist to get drugs for depression.
Am I? Certainly. I know it, I fight it, and I’m not miserable. But even going out usually involves food, which causes more stress. Most of the problems that have caused my current BG roller coaster seem allergy based. They’ll even out as the pollen falls.
I’m just tired of being diabetic. It’s a daily struggle.
Sue - Your observations show just how much the challenges we face in the pysho-social realm of diabetes is so interconnected. Your life challenges are complicated and intertwined, something we all face.
If you had the CDE appointment to do over, how would you state your most important issue? Is it simply the need to be heard about the daily diabetes struggle and how it zaps your energy for life?
I am also discouraged about how much of the medical professional’s agenda gets appointment time and documentation at the expense of the patient’s concerns. It’s like you spend 95% of the time getting their boxes checked off, careful listening be damned.
Post appointment, the only thing I could offer is for you to decide what’s most important to you and set out a plan to address that. Act on that plan, see how you feel, adjust and repeat. I think it’s all about recognizing the complexity of the problem and just picking one facet of it to concentrate on. In other words, try to make it better, recognizing that perfect is out of reach, but better is OK.
Maybe you’d like better communication with your CDE. Next time, perhaps, you could tell her, “I understand your interest in hypoglycemia, but I already spent time troubleshooting that problem and putting in place a fix. I want to leave here feeling like I’ve been heard and for now, that’s not the case.”
Thanks, Terry. I think I am looking for shoulders right now.
My most important issue was all the ups and downs caused by allergies and my fears that as allergy season wanes, I have another slew of problems to face. I told her that. She’s a great lady, but she thinks I am uninformed. After 54 years, I do know a few things.
Great advice I did contact my PCP, who I’ve known for nearly 25 years, for advice about handling depression.
I needed to change endos due to the retirement of my doctor. Met with a new endo earlier this month. As part of his routine, I also had a 1-hour meeting with his CDE. I won’t dwell on the question of whether or not I’m happy with the new endo, but one thing I do like: The first thing the CDE did was ask me, “What are your major issues regarding your diabetes management?” Sure, she set off to ‘check off all the boxes’ - but at least there was an upfront discussion of my priorities.
I always love when anyone on my medical team asks those kind of questions. I was shocked to hear from one of my endow “give me two things that right now are driving you crazy with your diabetes & we’ll work from there”. So very cool to have someone ask you what is driving you nuts right now.
Side note here, I also send an email to whoever I am seeing that week with the items I want to cover. That way they have some time to research any of my questions and have some answers right than and here. Saves time and I love that I have answers instead of I will get back to you.
