I Still Cant Get over the fact that I waited 6 years to see an Endo

I Came down with Type One D in 2005 and my A1'c was good for the first two years but I creep ed into the 7's, highest being 7.7 but nothing over that for like 3 to 4 years until i finally told me i cant stay like this and made an appointment with an endo to improve my numbers. The thing I'm mad at is my primary doctor didn't push to see an endo earlier to keep my numbers below 7. It makes my so angry I cant get over it.

When i started seeing the endo i finally was able to figure out with there help what i was doing wrong and fixed it. my first two al'c with the endo were 6.6 and 6.0. I asked my endo how much damage Ive done to my body over the last 4 years being in the 7's and he said some but prob only a little.

I wish i could have those 4 years BACK! and i wish i saw the light earlier

I did not see a diabetes specialist for 10 years,there are allot of people who just slip through the cracks in the health-care system. I had good insurance and enough money but was clueless and my doctor always said he had no problem taking care of my needs...after my first Endo visit I figured out my PCP was the one that was cluless.

Glad to hear you got some support to get back where you want to be, Bobby! You say you got help to "figure out what I was doing wrong and fixed it" Just out of curiosity can you summarize what that was?

Congratulations on getting to where you want to be! We can never tell how much damage to ourselves but you might want to search for Richard's posting of his A1Cs between 1981 and the present. He's had 60+ years with no significant complications and he had many years with A1Cs well above 7. It's a crap shoot but no need to worry endlessly over how you might have done a bit better.

I went 22 years before I saw my first endo. Didn't see anything real special from him so I haven't seen one since. I do everything through my PCP.

There are plenty of us who walked around with A1Cs near or in the double-digits for years (even decades) and we are fine. Yes, a high A1C does increase the risk of developing complications, but it is not an absolute. And there are folks who have great A1Cs who inevitably develop complications. Four years in the 7s is not bad at all (heck, an A1C of 7.7 is not too shabby).

Just curious, but why didn't you see an endo earlier? Was it an access issue? Referral issue? I don't understand why primary care docs even attempt to treat T1. It doesn't seem logical given the intense management this disease requires.

Ditto. The only time I saw an endo was after I had figured out myself that I'd been misdiagnosed, and was actually type 1. She looked at my list of five things that led me to this conclusion, nodded her head at each thing and said, "you are type 1." That confirmation was worth the price of the visit. Then she told me to take "1 to 3 units of insulin before each meal". I e-mailed to ask her about I:C ratios but she'd gone on vacation.

I just use my PCP to write scripts. I manage my own D 24/7.TuD has been excellent support when I need it. But I know we are all different in how we use professionals.

I don't think that there are nearly enough endos in practice to treat us all. Fortunately, many PCPs and internests are good, even as there are those who are not.

I was referred to an endo when I wanted to go on a pump, and I sure did learn a lot! I'm mostly on MDI now, but I use what I learned from my pump management to manage on MDI.