Long-time T1's - do you remember being poked and prodded?

Type 1 and LADA
1

I was diagnosed in the early 80’s in Iowa where evidently there was a deep tradition of internal medicine doctors and especially endos doing a lot of poking and prodding to feel internal organs.

I would guesstimate that back then, at each checkup with the endos they spent maybe 10-15 minutes poking me with their fingers I guess to try to feel all my internal organs. Most of the poking and prodding was in the abdomen but they felt around all the glands including armpits and neck.

Most of my visits where at the state university hospital where the lead doc would poke and prod at me and then the med school students would get to come up and poke and prod me too. I have no idea what they thought they were feeling in my belly but they all did it and looked at each other like it was an actual thing.

I remember when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when the doc felt all around my thyroid and felt it enlarged and THEN ran a blood test to confirm it.

I have been told there was an Iowa-specific or midwest-specific tradition of doing internal medicine this way dating back to the early 1900’s. But it must be so old-fashioned I can’t find a website that talks about this tradition.

It feels a little bit like I’m being shortchanged when I see an endo today and I don’t get all poked and prodded. We talk about my thyroid and the endo never even pokes my neck around the thyroid. But instead we just review the results of blood tests. At least they still do the tests of poking my feet with the fishing line.

2

Being required to see my doc every 90 days, as well as get labs is so much of a waste and PITA that I don’t care if I don’t get poked. All I want is the ability to get all of my Rx’s. If medicare didn’t have those rules for pumpers, I’d not go every 90 days, which rolls around way too often.

3

I am from the Midwest, too, but I didn’t get overly poked or prodded. I was diagnosed in 1966, so I lived through the 1980s with diabetes. My guess would be the neck prodding was to diagnose thyroid problems, and it is a good thing that they were able to diagnose your thyroid problems by doing so. The only abdomen prodding was to check for “hard” areas that would suggest scar tissue. I am glad that modern blood tests take away most of the hands-on prodding you used to have to endure.

4

I was diagnosed in '89. I definitely got poked and prodded by my first endo, who was ancient (in my 8 year old eyes) and retired shortly thereafter. My second endo was a specialist within a pediatric group, and seemed to understand that I didn’t want to be touched at ALL. I actually liked him for that. Aside from the usual stethoscope stuff and looking at the red spots on my legs (something he thought was related to my diabetes, but I don’t remember what it actually was, looked like rosacea and mostly went away), he would sit on the farthest side of the room. I still like that approach from doctors!