I went to my primary Doctor 2 weeks ago to have the usual blood test drawn. I get a call last week saying that my A1C was too high. I started to review my BS logs for the past several months to determine if I was running high at points in the day. Well I go to my Endo this morning and he looks over the results and basically says they are fine. My A1C was 6.3! Sometimes I wish I could avoid the primary one and just deal with the Endo, but I have to deal with the primary to get my scripts refilled. Basically 2 different Doctors looking at the same lab results with 2 totally opposite conclusions. Got to love them!
I get scripts for more then the insulin. Plus my insurance only allows my primary to order blood work. I just find it funny how they both see different things in the same results. Luckily my primary stays mostly hands off with the diabetes. Mostly that is.
I’ve had nurses call from my GP’s office, worried that the lab tests show that I might have diabetes (usually a random bg). They try to break it to me gently. It’s funny in a way that a non-diabetic would never understand. I know for sure the nurse wasn’t in on the joke.
Yeah I had that one happen years ago. Even a lab tech reading my results told me I should be checked for diabetes. Thats when you just laugh and say “Thats what been wrong with me for the past 28 years. I wondered why I was sticking a needle in several times a day”. Just smile and wave at that point.
Hmmpf. I guess I should consider myself fortunate – I haven’t had a primary doctor in years, just an endo. (I probably should, but my insurance doesn’t require it). But the worst is doctors at the Emergency Room – whether the visit is diabetes-related or not. If I’ve been sick and unable to keep food down, ER docs have told me to TURN OFF or DISCONNECT my pump (yeah, getting DKO may sound good to you, but not me). I’ve snuck boluses in at the ER more than once. Then there are the doctors who automatically hook up an IV with a DEXTROSE, rather than saline solution. You’ve always got to stay on top of them! They may have the degree and education, but life experience is worth a lot more.
I agree there. I think it was on this site someone said 30 years living with it is better then 4 years studying it to know what to do. I have had 28 years with few issues and I would like to keep it that way. That is one reason why I always question my Doctor. If I did not need a script for the others things beside insulin I would probably never see a primary unless I was sick. As for the er Doc’s they are like that with everything. I broke my leg years ago and had to stay in for a week and all I got us them trying to say the D was somehow related to the broken leg. That one still cracks me up since it was a motorcycle and car that caused the injury.
Yeah, I’ve dealt with that too. My PC has no clue about pumps or anything else, but with the amount of stuff they have to know should we expect them to be as good as an endo? I don’t think so. For the general population or a person who has un-dx pre-T2 an A1C like that is way out of whack, but for a T1 that’s not bad. It’s all relative to how much time they spend dealing with each disease. Take it for what it is, be kind to your PC and inform them (nicely) of what the endo said as well. Helping to keep your PC up to date, improve the dialog between patient and care provider and hopefully help them with other patients.
My ENDO writes most of my scripts, insulin, needles, HP meds any thing that he considers critical to my health he wil write. I don’t trust my GP with my diabetes care. He originally diagnosed me but provided unsatisfactury support so I asked for an ENDO referral BEST THING I EVER DID!
Ugh I hate that!!! My insurance requires me to have a PCP (primary care physician). The last time I had blood drawn at my PCP’s office, I specifically told her that she should not be shocked when she saw the results of my fasting blood sugar because I had eaten fast food the night before, and had already tested that morning and it had been high. A few days later, her nurse called me and said in an alarmed voice, “I wanted to let you know that your blood tests look ok, except for your fasting blood sugar. Your blood sugar is DANGEROUSLY HIGH!” I asked her exactly how high and she said she didn’t know the exact number, but that I needed to follow up with my endo RIGHT AWAY. Whatev.
I have heard that one before. The best one with a primary is that you have to follow up with them and then they send you to the endo.
Drs huh? I got about 6 of them for different things and we’re always going back and forth. My Endo and I agree and that helps ALOT! I don’t agree with the rest of them so…
Yes, I love when my BG is flagged as “HIGH” by the lab when it’s something like 102…
I had the dextrose IV thing happen, and I didn’t notice. I FLIPPED OUT on the doctor when I discovered my BG had gone up to nearly 600 and found out why. I demanded a new doctor who could READ my intake chart and threatened to sue for malpractice if I went into DKA. I got a new doctor assigned to me fairly quickly, haha.
I went in for lab work in recently. I get a call from my doctors office your results are good looks like your pre-diabetic level. LOL that is funny after being a type 1 for 31 years. I had an A1c of 5.7 i guess that is pre-diabetic level. The nurse on the phone was confused when i told her i was a type 1 and not a type 2.
I think you have to be very specific about the ways the statins messed you up last time, and keep on repeating it until they hear you. For a lot of people statins work very well, and have no side-effects, but the problem with docs is that they consult studies, and you are not a study average, you are an individual, so the study may not apply to you. My A1c is that way – sure, the AACE says under 6.5 is excellent, but if I were really in as good control as the correlations say, my A1c would be in the low 5’s.
So stand your ground, and do what’s right for YOU.
Tarra, I would have jumped for joy and thank them for turning back the clock. It would have been a bit fun just to hear their reaction. I am like you I have had it for 28 years and I at times have had issues with primary doctors thinking they know all about it.
I had one 12 years ago demanded that I loose weight, lower my blood sugar and take a bunch more NPH at the time. I was crashing low daily. That was before I found a good endo and was told about Lantus and novalog.
Yeah my doctors nurse is not the brightest at times. I wonder if she even looked at my records. I wish i could turn back the clock too. NPH was a nightmare but then i had issues with Lantus. Being on the pump has been great. Less lows for me.
I have been with my wife at ER when she was taken byambulance after collapsing by herself from low blood sugar and 90 minutes after arriving no one even checked her sugar. I tested and treated and adjusted pump for her and for this we pay er staff hundreds or thousands of dollars? Many are incompetent!