I wish that I could change the minds of my medical team. Sounds silly really because they’re the ones who should know all the answers or at least have a better idea than I do.
Because I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes initially, even though most of the evidence looks like I’m type 1/LADA, they keep turning me down for a GAD-65 test and C-peptide tests. And they are still treating me with pills and insulin/nph also. I’ve gone from pills to using insulin in less than three years. I’m told this isn’t usual for a type 2… that it usually happens around five years, if it is LADA, it’s usually under five years.
I don’t have high cholesterol, I’m not overweight, I’m a bit on the skinny side in size. My triglicerides are good and my blood pressure is excellent. I just don’t now and never have fitted the profile of someone with type 2… So why refuse to look further and check to see if I’m right and test for LADA?
Even the Endo said that he doesn’t do a GAD-65 test often because they’re unreliable and he only does them if he believes that there is no pancreatic funtion making insulin at all! And my doctor didn’t even know what a GAD-65 test was. My diabetes counselor is a bit more open on some things, but I feel that I maybe should be off the pills now, since they seem to do nothing for me and onto lunch and dinner time injections. Dinner time especially as this is when my blood sugar goes the highest. But no, they keep increasing the dose of NPH and telling me to continue with the pills.
Am I the only one who thinks that they should be listening to me… I would like to find someone who will at least listen to what I’m saying to them in the medical field instead of just looking at my first virdict and not looking at the big picture… not taking this seriously… They all seem to be working on the fact that I’m type 2 and checking for nothing else. I feel that it will soon be time to change my whole team and go with someone that will at least investigate what I believe to be true.
They make you feel paranoid… but just won’t do anything about finding out the truth. It just makes me so mad! Lol… now I’ll have to go and de-stress!
I am ok…just coming out of a very low BS…hit hard and fast, hate those! YES, start fresh with a doctor that is going to do everything they should to help you. Good luck and goodnight.
I could scream & cry how many times I’ve heard people go through what you are. A whole bloody team & not one has a clue or listens. Staggering, infuriating & just plain nuts. Even worse for people who aren’t as informed as you who stumble along getting sick because they don’t question there’s a better way.
Guess I was fortunate in a weird way to get properly diagnosed because I was near death. Had I been less sick, I probably would have been classified T2 based on my age.
Here’s how clueless my doctor is Gerri. I got a letter today from her talking about tests that I had done, A1c and cholesterol tests. The time before last my cholesterol had been a little raised because I had had high stress levels. But this last test I had, showed that they were down again and well in the normal range.
She’s been trying to push me to take statins for months, and I’ve been refusing… why treat something that isn’t broken! Anyhow, today the letter was praising me on getting my levels down etc, then at the foot of the letter she said, “If you feel at anytime you need to start taking statins, please email me.”
Like I haven’t told her every time I go, I don’t want to take statins, don’t need to take statins… but she still has to try and get me on to them! Still won’t take NO for an answer. I think I might look for someone who doesn’t mind me looking into a natural therapy before pushing yet another pill in my direction.
It was a hard way for you to find out what you had Gerri… Hopefully now you’re on the best treatment though. I feel that if they don’t know what I have, how can they best treat me? I was referred to the endo through the doctor, so maybe they’re collaborating…lol
Just heading to bed now Gerri… Thank you for your replies… it’s good to know that I’m not alone in thinking they should check. x
I’ve had the same statin conversation with my endo & PCP. I hear ya! I refuse to take them. I think they’re getting trips to the Carribean based on how many statin prescriptions they write. Pro forma to put us all on dangerous drugs for “prevention.” Guess doctors don’t get perks for lab tests, just pills.
It’s also crazed for you to be NPH, the most unpredictable insulin.
My former endo told me not to worry every time I asked a question. I was outta there.
Makes no sense for people to be treated without a diagnosis based on appropriate tests. I think it’s malpractice.
The key reason to get the antibody test is to make an appropriate treatment decision and to presumably move quickly to insulin. I’ve struggled with a situation similar to yours and repeatedly been denied c-peptide and antibody tests. Even worse in my situation, I’ve been repeatedly denied insulin. I know that I can just march down to Walmart and get R and NPH, but the point is that doctors need to do the job. In your case (just like mine), they have let you down. I agree with others, NPH is bad, bad, bad. The only reason to use NPH in this era is that you can’t afford anything else or that it’s weird peaking action meets you needs. For the most part it is a bad choice. If you can, find a new doctor.
As to the statins, I’ve had my own adventures. In the end, I told them to write on the front of my chart “Allergic to Statins.” If anyone so much as opens their mouth about statins, I mention it could kill me, read the chart. That has been very effective.
Thanks guys for your comments and about the advice on the NPH. I did ask for Lantus or Novalog, but was told that they don’t use Lantus at my surgery! and my Novalog request was turned down by saying, we’ll try this first!
Not ever being on Insulin before, I had little of an idea of how they would react with me, and yes Alan P, you’re right, the lows do come out of nowhere, mine usually come on around 4 am in the morning and then I’m up eating all the stuff that I stopped eating when I was on pills alone, which I’m sure can’t be good for me in the long run.
I only take 10 units in the morning… the counselor wanted me to be on 12, but on 10 I get hypo arond 12 pm, so on 12 I’d probably get an even bigger hypo, then at night I take 5 units. I’ve adjusted the time I take my night time dose lately and have had less hypo’s through the night. The counselor has given me guidence but is alowing me to experiment a bit within her guidance so that I can get the timing to best suit me. She’s pretty flexible with that, but I’m not sure what she would say if I asked her to take me off the NPH.
I’ll have to see the next time I’m in contact with her… she’s about the best one out of the team that I have.
Levemir is an alternative to Lantus. Personally, I think Levemir is much better, more stable.
My two cents is that they’re being lazy (not to mention being woefully out of date) about putting you on NPH. Instead of educating you to use two insulins (basal & rapid acting), they prescribed one. Wrong.
No one can predict NPH action no matter how the doses & timing are tweaked.
Thanks Alan P. I was taking my last shot around 10.30 at night, and was getting the low as I said around 4 am, but for the last three days I’ve been taking it earlier, around 8.30 pm and the low comes around 12.30 am… but this has been better for me because I’m a bit of a night owl and I am often still awake at 12.30, also I may have had a snack after taking the shot and this seems to have so far been working. This morning I woke up and my blood sugar was 83, which was good.
When I’ve been taking the shot at 10.30, I’m high before going to sleep as the shot hasn’t kicked in and then I have a low which I have to eat with then I’m high in the morning… Also I take a thyroid tablet before I eat in the morning, and this puts up my blood sugar too! This is another thing I’ve told the doctor about, but they just brush it aside.
I think I’ve seen those bars in the supermarket… Thanks for the tip, I’ll get some today, and will check out that book… I think I can loan it from the education center at Kaiser. x
YES, start fresh with a doctor that is going to do everything they should to help you. Good luck and goodnight.