I’ve been back to see my doctor again, with the SAME complaints. Highs and lows with my blood sugar, attacks of fatigue, blurred vision, stomach pain. I get nothing from him.
I said, "I am a walking time bomb, you have to do something."
He told me he thinks my symptoms are from something else. He said, “Oh, if I had a patient and she came in with all the symptoms you have, and her labs showed nothing, I’d think it was anxiety or depression.” (Yeah, I saw the pharm reps there earlier…)
I looked at him, and said, "But I DO have something. I have Type 2 Diabetes, and fatigue, stomach pain, etc., are all symptoms."
He did not want to see my log I kept of my blood sugars and said, “We aren’t going there.” And kept talking about antidepressants. I said, “This IS depressing. I have attacks at work. I feel sick and tired all of the time. I’d like to see how darn cheery YOU’D be if you had this.” I am so frustrated, so he thinks I am crazy. I think HE is crazy. It’s not me, Doc, it’s YOU.
Ticks me off. He tells me to be patient with the Metformin, but I have been on it awhile now, and twice, I asked him to up the dosage, and he did. He tells me to be patient and “give it time.” Oh, so I can wind up dead in a car accident? I told myself the next attack I had on the road, I’d go back to the doctor, and I did, and gee, what ever did I expect to have happen?
So he wants to medicate me so I am like a happy goof. I rarely ever cry, but when I got to my car, it was more than I could take. I feel so alone with this whole thing. I didn’t make my pancreas sick by how I ate, which WAS healthy, or by exercising or not exercising. Yet, I don’t know what to do. Nothing I have tried works. Driving home, I realized, I am on my own, like everyone on this site, and it really dawned on me why everyone comes here.
Years ago, when I lost a job, a doctor tried antidepressants on me, because I felt sad and stressed over it. They made me anxious and nervous. I thought, how is THIS better? The doctors aid they can make you nervous and jittery. So why treat everything as if its depression, when somethings in life just stink and that’s how it is, and no matter how you slice it, it will feel bad. Why doesn’t he try to fix my diabetes first?
I am not going back to him. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, so, I will do nothing. It is better than some doc making me feel like a hypochrondriac. It took me a whole year to finally yell at him.
get another dr he does not listen to you . He sounds very stuck on the depression thing and you know you best and if you think something is wrong then something is wrong .
I am going to find another doctor. There aren’t a lot on my plan, and the one person who works for the insurance even told me not to go to 3 of them. She must have had bad feedback. I have already changed doctors twice.
I don’t understand why he thinks I shouldn’t be having symptoms with diabetes. Does he think my blurred vision and neuropathy in my feet is just in my mind too?
I found it really condescending, like I am some nutty neurotic woman, rather than someone trying to find help. Going round in circles IS depressing.
Was he an Endo or a Family practIce guy ? Either way I would follow ur gut instinct and keep looking till you find one that listens. I am a nurse and work with some DRS and some are great and some are not. SoME just do this soley for the money. No offense to all you Docs out there. Some really are fabulous. But it only takes a couple bad apples to spoil the bunch. I see it as a calling and if he was good, he’d have looked over your BS log that you brought in. Thats just bad. GIVE HIM THE BOOT !!!
He is an internal medicine MD.
I thought his dismissal of my test log was bad too. When I first went to him, and he got my AIC of 6.3, he said it wasn’t bad. I said, but it’s an average of my highs and lows, and I do get lows.
I didn’t get the whole business of just blowing it all off because my blood sugar doesn’t go higher than 210 and I am not ready for amputation yet.
When I first went to him, I asked for a script for more test strips, and he said I didn’t really need to test my blood sugar. I was shocked. I told him for years, mine hovered around 125, and I had high insulin according to my doctor back east. Then when I had my gallbladder out last year, I saw the labs and my sugar was 189. That’s when I started testing again and saw the highs and lows.
I really got validated this time that he doesn’t want to deal with my diabetes at all.
I said this to him, “This is my life, and I see diabetics in the hospital all the time with renal failure, you name it, and you don’t think my diabetes is ‘that bad’!”
I will find a new doctor.
I told you awhile back to change Doctors, I’m glad you’re
finally doing just that. I had also mentioned to you that
you should go to or call your local hospital to see if they
have a diabetic Dept, most hospitals do have this dept.
They also have Dieticians on hand to help you with your
diet. While talking with the hospital get referrals for doctors
or an Endocronologist, that take your insurance. There are
some good ones out there, but you have to look hard to find
one that you like.
Maybe, while going through this tough time, an Antidepresent
wouldn’t hurt. I am presently taking Zoloft, and it does help, some
Good luck finding a good Health Team !.
Hi,
I can only do what my insurance allows. There are 2 endocrinologists on my plan. I went to see one over a year ago, and he just sat there and wrote a script for Metformin and left the room. (???) I called the other one, and it was a dead phone number.
I have been to 2 Diabetic educators/dietitians. They both gave me very high carb diets.
I tried to go to a diabetic clinic at a hospital here and was told it would not be covered. I have to to go a clinic downtown. So I am trying that. But I am waiting to find the magical thing that will let me "manage my diabetes."
I don’t eat cakes and lots of goodies. I am a celiac, so my diet is very limited. In most peoples’ eyes, I eat pretty healthy. I wonder if diet has anything to do with diabetes, since our pancreas malfunction, and no matter what I eat, the glucose isn’t getting into the cells for energy.
I tried an antidepressant when I lost a job years ago. I had a bad reaction to it, so they tried another, that one made me very nervous and jittery. I realized that when bad things happen, they do feel bad, and we just can’t go around being medicated because of the hills and valleys of life. By the way, SSRIs are implicated in sexual side effects, to me, that would be depressing.
Diet does have everything to do with Diabetes. The reason
your taking the Metformin is to get the glucose into your cells.
If you are type 2, you shouldn’t have the trouble that you are having
controling your glucose levels. I blame this all on the doctors you
have been seeing. My guess is that you should take 500 mg of Metformin
in the morning and 500 mg in the evening. You can and should lower your
carb amount, less than that other dietician told you. I would also advise
you to go for a walk everyday, for you physical health as well as your mental
well- being, while going through this rough time, to relieve the stress that
you have.
I will send you my Bill !
Ray,
The Metformin or something else gives me stomach pain. I get these attacks intermittently.
I agree about not eating a lot of carb. When I met with the last dietician, I was not even eating 45g of carbs per day.
As I complained to my doctor today, I am so fatigued I can’t exercise. I have to conserve my energy for work. I feel like sleeping all of the time. The last dietician said that is the diabetes making me tired.
So how do I get energy and not be tired?
Send me your bill! 
I have to pick up my wife now.
what does : ) mean ?
It’s a smile.
I know exactly how you feel. It took me a long time, lots of different T2 meds, and 2 bouts of illness that required hospitalization before I found a good doc that realized I needed insulin.
I could never take Metformin. I tried, for quite a while actually. It made me sick. And like you, it made my stomach hurt. And it swelled. That in turn caused pressure inside my rib cage that resulted in a lot of pain. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it didn’t bring down my blood sugars! I think my state of mind was pretty close to how you are feeling. Good luck and hope you find a good doc that gets this resolved soon. But I think you are right about taking care of your diabetes first.
Thank you, that was really great information.
My doctor said it couldn’t be the Metformin giving me stomach pain, because “90% of the people have diarrhea with it.” Well, I did, with the regular Metformin, but now, the ER version may be the culprit of the stomach pain.
I have been getting forceful, and what he thinks is anxiety is me being frustrated trying to get answers. It is insulting though for him to just brush me off as someone with anxiety. My diabetes is out of control, and he is barking up another tree. Of course I feel bad. I am in pain a lot of the time, and I can’t feel good.
Why can’t some of these guys just use common sense?
Get rid of him! But, tell him just why you are leaving his care. Let him have it with both barrells!!!
Lois
I don’t know, I think he won’t care. I think that’s part of the whole problem. I work in medicine, and so much now is NOT about delivering good patient care. It is about doctor’s covering their butts from bad lawsuits and making sure they work within the parameters of insurance companies for reimbursements.
I will find someone else, but it seems when they know you have read up on Diabetes, they don’t like it.
You get energy without be tired by balancing your diet with the meds you take
and the exercise that you must do, to achieve a reasonable glucose level.
I’m sure you can go for a short walk each day. Maybe, like Chris, mentioned you
should have a C peptide test if you never had one. This will tell you how much insulin
your Pancreas is actually secreting. This is the place your new doctor should start with,
a" C Peptide Test", to let you know exactly what Type of Diabetic you are.
I’m guessing your pains are in the late morning and afternoon. That would be the reason
I said lower your Morning Metformin from 1000 mg to 500 mg. You have to adjust your carb
intake as well, lower than the last Dietician recommended. You have to do a balancing
act with your sugar. You have to read more on the subject, you should better educate yourself,
especially with the quality of heath care you’ve had up to now.
I think they don’t think things through. If they did they would realize we spend one to a few hours DAILY working on getting the numbers right and learning by trial and error with the disease. Then we see them once every 3 months (at least I do) for 15 minutes when things are good (more frequently if not). Of course we know more about ourselves as an individual than they do. And every day whether you want to or not you learn more about diabetes. You pretty much have to do that to remain healthy.
ARRRGH!
Good for you!
High BG makes you feel tired.
I’m on my third endo, if that’s any consolation, which it probably isn’t. The first one was such an arrogant ■■■ that I wanted to run out the door immediately. The second didn’t hear a word I said & wouldn’t answer my questions. Truly, he ignored me. From what I’ve read here, a lot of people have gone through many docs to find a good one.
Insulin may be your answer. Metformin doesn’t agree with many people. Insulin will preserve your beta cells, give you control & no side effects. More & more Type 2s turn are being prescribed insulin.
Regarding the antidepressants, you’ll appreciate this. A friend was suffering from extreme anxiety & losing weight. Doc wanted to give her meds for her “emotional problem.” Told her it was from menopause. She insisted it wasn’t & told him she felt like she was jumping out of her skin & that every nerve was raw. She went from a happy, balanced person to a screaming shrew. Felt physically horrible. Went to another doc & he gave her the same patronizing, sexist answer. They ignored her weight loss & told her to see a therapist. She’d call me in tears from frustration & exhaustion.
Finally, she found a great doctor. My friend had a tumor on her parathyroid that was causing extreme calcium loss. Without adequate blood levels of calcium, of course she felt anxious, nervous & that she was losing her mind. Calcium was being leached from her bones & it’s amazing her bones didn’t break. The good doc did a simple urine test that showed how much calcium she was excreting.
Like you, she didn’t take no for answer & kept going to doctors until she found the cause & solution.
I agree, most people know their own bodies.
I noticed several times when I was at that office, they would usher me into a room, and I would see the doctor meet with pharm reps. Funny that a patient has to wait for the pharm reps to come first.
But I know he is being cheap with me. He won’t push anything with the insurance company. I found out if they had pushed for an authorization, I could have gone to an diabetic clinic in a hospital nearby. Instead, I am going to one at a downtown hospital, but my thinking is, they probably see quite a bit.
He knows I work in medicine, and I found it really insulting that because I don’t feel good, and because I don’t like that, and because I am looking for answers, somehow, that makes me have anxiety. Yeah, it makes me anxious, but I don’t consider that a disorder.
My mom once knew a woman at her church who had a pacemaker, and it would go off on her and scare the dickens out of her. My mom said that it really upset the woman, so her doctor put her on antidepressants. Where is the logic in that? “Did he get her a new pacemaker?” …No…