Thats how it is where I live…there’s only one team of endos and you cannot switch to another one within the practice. They are also the only ones in my insurance network unless I want to drive an hour or two away.
I personally feel like I was one of the main people this discussion was pointing towards… but no one knows everyones full story so it’s easy to judge. There is only one group of endos in my entire town and you cannot switch to another endo within the practice (I am already seeing the “best” endo of the group, there are 2 more people on this site who go to the same endo as me and say he is great), this doctors office is the only one in my network and the other closest endo in network is an hour and half away which is not doable for me every 3 months. I also believe I was just caught at the early stages of LADA and my doctor may be right about hesitating to put me on insulin right off the bat. I only see him every 3 months and have only been diagnosed for one year now. My numbers were really good until about 3 months ago therefore I have only seen him once since my numbers began creeping up and he told me all the right answers “I’ll check your antibodies, recheck your c-peptide bc you are prob running out of insulin, etc.” So he seemed to know what he was doing, he also told me he would label me in the LADA category and that starting insulin sooner is better but he thinks that I am not quite there yet which I believe because even though I am working very hard and only eating about 50 carbs a day my fasting is pretty good for example this morning=99 rare yes it’s usually more like 115 but still this is better than some peoples fasting on insulin so I must be doing something right. I only struggle with big after meal spikes even with low carbing but I personally am used to exercising after meals now and would rather ride the bike for 10-15 minutes after eating than to take a medicine with side effects. I just want to go straight on insulin when it is my time, I am not avoiding it, my doctor will know when it is my time it may be next week it may be in 3 months but I am trusting him because he seems to know what he is doing. Everyone says “get a new doctor” but I tend to trust the one I am with and he comes highly recommended. I did not come onto this site for judgement but just for advice so I can educate myself, no one else is going to take care of me but ME.
Quite so. There are people on this site who I know are aware that they are not getting the best care, but don’t stick up for themselves in the doctor’s office for some reason, and I wonder about that too. There may be an element of “I don’t want to cause a conflict” in there. In some ways it may just be easier to not stick up for yourself.
I actually live in an area with plenty of endos…but despite hating the first endo didn’t switch until after the third visit. Primarily because I didn’t really think/know that you could fire your doctor in part because I thought you might be kind of blacklisted in the endo community and thereafter prejudged no matter where you go… but a small part too was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Another smaller issue was that I wanted to stay in the same practice (it’s associated with a teaching hospital so they have multiple endos and I would think would be somewhat up to date on information/research and it’s close to work) so I wasn’t sure how that would work out (switching from one endo to another in the same practice).
I live in the same area and I actually fear being blacklisted. I didn’t tell my last endo that he was “fired,” I didn’t tell him why he had terrible bedside manners, I didn’t tell him how he failed me and I didn’t chastise him for accepting $250,000 in payments from pharmaceutical companies. I just canceled my appointment. If he really gave a crap, he would have his office manager call me back and reschedule my missed appointment. And I do fear being blacklisted. If my former endo badmouths me as a “bad” patient, that is going to hurt my chances of finding another endo. I wouldn’t put it past him, he always struck me as a self-centered egotistical man. And I suspect his practice has taken a huge hit with the publicity around his being one of the top doctors in the country who sold out to pharmaceutical companies.
And if you are attempting to switch between doctors in the same practice, it is even more of a problem. Some practices actually have “rules” to avoid conflicts between doctors and “poaching” of patients, you may not be allowed to switch doctors. In order to switch, you may have to ask your current endo to transfer you.
And I don’t even want to talk about records. While technically, I own them, I don’t expect a former doctor to give them to me, they will only transfer them to a doctor if they are cooperative. That is why I keep my own records.
I live in a rural area with three endos & none are good. The waiting time for an appointment is 3-6 months. After being diagnosed, my appointment was in four months. I called the endo’s office several times a week hoping for a cancellation to get in earlier. I’ve now turned my diabetic care over to my PCP. His son was recently diagnosed T1, so I’m hoping he’s become more informed.
I only trust my meter about 90% but that is a higher number than anything else. I think the drug companies are buying off all of the health care people.
Hi LiL MaMa: Actually, your doctor sounds quite astute, so there wouldn’t be any reason to change. My only concern for you was that perhaps he did not know/was not aware of what you have had to do to achieve the great numbers that you have.
BSC, there is a federal law that a doctor’s office has to give you your records if you ask for them. They are allowed to charge you for copying them and those fees are set by the state you live in. In PA, it is $1.32 (or should I say was since I did not look up this year’s yet!) per page for the first 20 pages and then it drops down. Most doctors won’t charge you to send them to another doctor but they will if you want them for yourself. I prefer to pay the fee and get them. If you think you dislike that doctor now, you really should get copies of your records and that dislike will increase ten-fold! Make sure you look up the fees though because I already had one place try to overcharge me and I called them on it.
When I first got really sick because of gastroparesis, I went to my PCP. I suspected I had gastroparesis from other stomach tests that I had that showed food in my stomach even though I had been fasting. After that visit, I decided to find another doctor. I had only seen him for a few months and he did another test I wanted a copy of so requested my records. That day I went in, I sat on one side of the room & he sat on the other. No one checked BP or anything when I went in. He also did not check it or listen to my heart. He only talked to me. When I got the records, he had in there that he listened to my heart & it sounded normal. My BP & pulse was normal. He did not even touch me!
The doctor I mentioned above that did not believe the pain in my heel only put that pain in my file when I put it in a letter to him. Yet almost every time I went in there according to him, I had severe toenail pain. It was supposedly severe enough that I could not wear shoes and had difficulty walking because of it. I have never had pain in my toenails, even when I had ingrown nails. I have trouble walking but that it because I have neuropathy. I had shoes on every time I went into his office so I am not sure where the difficulty wearing shoes came from. I put shoes on the minute I get up in the morning & other than when I am in the shower, they are on my feet until I go to bed at night.
I explained it to him at my last appt. I also keep daily blood sugar logs and write down how much exercise and carbs I’ve eaten that day and fax it to him about every 6 weeks.
Sounds like you are doing all the right things, and good for you for being so on top of things. It is a lot of work, but of course worthwhile.
Great Federal law. I think in Alberta not sure what the law is in the rest of Canada your records are the property of the Doctor. some are co-operative about giving you a copy.
Three words: health maintenance organization.
I am a member of an HMO in Seattle and I’ve gone through FOUR doctors, each one more clueless than the last about diabetes.
I remember thinking, when I signed up for my HMO, “I hope I’m not signing my own death sentence.” As a melanoma survivor, my fear at the time was cancer care.
Now – eleven years cancer free – my health stress is around the abysmal quality of their services for diabetics – no continuous monitoring, no Byetta or Levimir in their formulary, dieticians that are about as knowlegeable as your average middle-school drop out, no antibody testing, no c-peptide testing, etc. etc. etc. They keep trying to push metformin on me even though I’ve told them over and over that I tried it and it made me sick, sick, sick for two years – that I can’t simultaneously live in the bathroom and work to support myself. Sheesh.
It would have cost me $800/month for doctor freedom (non-HMO) rather than $420/month for my HMO premiums and I got what I paid for. Sigh. It’s not about quality medical care anymore – it’s about the “least bad” of bad options driven by astronomical costs. They have crappy (lazy, beaten-down or utterly incurious) doctors and a formulary that is so restrictive it’s scary, but at least I have SOME healthcare rather than none at all.
Thanks, yes it is a lot of work but I feel like I am more than doing my part and just hope he does have my best interest at hand.
I have good communications with my doctor. There are somethings like low carb diet he disagrees with but he loves the progress I have made and wishes all his patients were as determined. My doctor isn’t perfect. Most people are restrained by the type of insurance they have to use certain doctors within their plan to get the cheaper rate. Because we have high deductible insurance we have to pay the first $6000 up front if the doctor is in our limited plan, otherwise we have to pay ther first $30,000 if we pick a doc outside the Anthem plan. Some people are with HMO’s and very restricted. Plus when you switch doctors you don’t know if you are going to get any better treatment.
There is a such thing as a second opinion. So many always seem to forget this. Then again, It is only MY personal opinion that, when patients become too comfortable with a doctor, & obviously when your gutt tells you something isn’t right, then we’re part of the problem. Simply because one isn’t willing to follow their own gutt and step out the box. If you can’t follow your own gutt, and being aware of your surroundings, and ask quesstions, and more questions, and some more questions, you could be putting yourself in far worse trouble, than what you originally came to see the dr for.
Secondly, I’ve made the mistake of thinking an endo was a diabetes specialist… Their not… They specialize in hormones, which can include diabetes, but it’s not specific to diabetes. When looking for an endo, i always make sure that my resource bood specifically states, specialized in diabetes and metabolism.
BTW, please accept my appologies if I sound harsh. I know how it feels. I whent blind with full blown cataracts on both eyes, before a doctor finally told me I was diabetic (despite the fact i’ve told them I have it in my family, despite the fact i’ve told them I can’t get to work, because I can’t stop peeing my self to death.)
Surendering your trust to the doctor, does not mean surender your right to make decisions or even have a difference of opinoin. Even doctors don’t always agree amongst each other.
The other thing is read… Read, read, read… And of course, you have places like tudiabetes you can go to, and meet people from all over the world who can give you their personal experiences. What can be better than that! The knowledge that some of the members have here is phenomenal. Millions of dollars worth of information right here…
You know something Lizmari, my attitude is that… There are sooo many people that will drive towns, and sometimes even cities away from their homes, just to save a few dollars on a TV, appliances, etc., but they will not take that some energy and passion when it comes to their doctors. THAT’s what i’m talking about. The medical communities today have become like fast food joints.
Again, I don’t mean to sound harsh to anyone. It’s just my personal experience, and like so many others, i’ve had to learn the hard way, and to be assertive when I believe something isn’t adding up. I’ve gone temporarly blind because, because I trusted too much in the almighty doctor… Just my humble opinion…
Yogi
So well said, Yogi… I agree with you on that. We don’t mind driving, sometimes a few hours, to outlet malls and places to get the latest deals on things… but not to find a good doctor. So very true.
One problem with having an endo an hour or so away is if you’re hospitalized & that doc won’t have privileges at the local hospital. Having read horror stories of hospitals changing insulin regiments, that’s a big concern.
So much for the freedom of choice in america. If your private health care is so restrictive why not go for a universal health care system as in most western countries.