Was wondering the same thing, Laura…
My situation is a lot like Zoe’s and I have heard (well I guess the proper way to say it in this case is seen) her discuss it before. I am sure she will comment too but for me my doctor feels like I know a whole lot more about diabetes that she does. As long as my control stays good she is willing to write the scripts for whatever I tell her and she helps me with all the other aspects of my care besides diabetes. Because I am the way I am she dosen’t really help me with those aspects either. I research what I want and usually come to my appointments with a firm idea of what should happen. It is not easy to find a Doc like this but mine seems to be ok with the arrangement.
Good question, Jan and Laura, and MossDog answered it for me as well. My doctor recognizes that I know what I’m doing and he writes the prescriptions I ask for, offering suggestions about lab tests, etc. I’m his only Type 1 patient. Recently I e-mailed that I’d like to come in and get a prescription for Symlin and he said he’d research it before I came in. After he wrote the prescription he said he’d be really interested in hearing how it worked for me to see if it was a good idea for his other Diabetic patients.
Actually when I lived in Guatemala I didn’t even need a doctor for prescriptions as you could just buy what you needed at the pharmacy! That’s actually how I got into doing things on my own. I was living in Guatemala when about 15 months after I’d been (mis) diagnosed as Type 2, the oral meds stopped working. My doctor knew I needed insulin but not why and suggested a dose that was more suited for a Type 2. I knew something didn’t make sense and started researching online and reading everything I could find and finally realized I was LADA/Type 1. I did finally see an endo in Guatemala City who confirmed me as Type 1, checking off a list of five things I believed showed my Type. (she’d never heard of LADA).
I’ve also had a good friend who is a very knowledgeable RN for the last 30 years, and when I was unsure of something I’d ask her and trusted her advice when she said “no, just watch for x” or “go to the doctor”. I developed the habit of going to the doctor already having a good idea of what I needed. Like “I think I have a UTI”. Even when I was originally diagnosed with D I recognized my symptoms and called my then doc and said “I think I have diabetes, could you write a slip for a blood test?” (When she said my fasting came back at 325 I didn’t even know what the number meant, and just said, So that means I have diabetes?)
My “do it myself” attitude works for me, but others work closely with their doctors, and I think whatever works for each of us is cool. At this point in my life I think I’d have the good sense to seek out help if I felt I couldn’t handle something with a combination of trial and error, reading, my Type 1 Women’s Group and TuD. In November I’m switching to Kaiser for financial reasons and only hope I can find a doctor who will support me the way I like.
You simply have an Endo who shares your opinion and allows you to make decisions.
Mind does the same, 99 percent of the time. I got the last guy to order a test for Graves after diagnosing it myself.
That isnt so unusual.
Jan was asking about pump training however, and I think new and even old pumpers can benefit from that.
I recently took some decent webinars from Animas, and learned about some features I didnt know existed, and/or wasnt using. I also asked this bunch about using Lantus, in the event I should ever have to be off my pump. But it matched what the Endo and I had already discussed.
Asolutely you have to tweak your own numbers when you are a regular pumper, but starting with some training isnt a bad idea.
Oh, I definitely agree, Laura, and I did have the two sessions of Animas training to learn how to use the pump which was a completely new technology to me. The part I didn’t bother with was the follow-up on tweaking basals.
I don’t know if I’m unusual or not, many people do seem surprised when I say I just use the doctor to write prescriptions (I don’t actually have an endo, just a PCP). But the bottom line is I don’t think one way or the other is right or wrong, just individual preference.
Good for you on figuring out the Graves! I was diagnosed with Graves years before diabetes, and that one I didn’t figure out myself, though it sure explained a lot of things once I knew! I hope you were able to get it stabilized. it took them a long time to get mine stable but now it’s been fine for years.
Thats commendable and good for you zoe I used to change my doses regardless of what dr said but with a pump its a big gamble and I feel its much safer to rely on some that studied the field for a long time they might not know alot but input is nice to hear
RE: Graves I was going to a terrible Endo. He thought it was anxiety and threw me on a Beta Blocker which made me sick. He also wrote notes on my lab report slips saying things like “I dont know what you think you are learning on the Internet but you are stupid and no one can learn anything there…” (I was researching what might be wrong with me).
Two famous diabetes authors did an Internet column based on this guy and my story.
They called it Dr. Dumb. We had a lot of people write in expressing similar situations.
Anyway, next Endo went with my idea and tested for Graves.
I did the Radioactive Iodine treatment, but it has not been easy every since.
I tend to either be shaky, hot, lose weight and hoarse, or Cold, Tired, and gain the weight back.
Up twelve pounds, down twelve all the time.
At least I know how to fix it myself, and what I do is skip one pill every week when I feel I dont need them.
Works really well for me, but catching the times when I need to do it is the tricky part.
Yikes! Sounds like you might win the award for most awful doctor! Sorry you had that experience.
It took me three radioactive treatments to fully kill my thyroid (they had tried supressing it with meds but that didn’t work at all and were considering surgery before the last treatment worked so it was months) but after that I was stable on a dose of Synthroid until I got diagnosed with diabetes which threw the dosage off (or maybe it was the weight loss that came with my dx).
I’m sorry you haven’t been stabilized, that would drive me crazy! Have you seen a thyroid expert who can maybe figure out why you go up and down? I’m guessing you’ve tried. But it does sound like you have found a system that works for you. What a pain!
MY animas pump and supplies came in this HUGE box back in December and it sat until the first of January when I met with the CDE and I already had done the 3 work books on line at animas and I knew more about the pump then the CDE… I look back now and I must say it has been an awesome six months… I love the pump, I can’t believe I waited this long!!!