Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by christy on December 17, 2012 at 7:53pm

Same here I've been diabetic close to 30 years and out of that time within the last year and half have I really cared to take the extra effort. Had NOTHING to do with lack of finances, lack of understanding. I'm an RN who graduated top of my class. I have seen and walked those miles. There ARE some people who just don't care. It's a sad reality but I see it day in and day out in MANY people with diseases. If a pill can't cure it, there not going to put forth the effort to do it themselves.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on December 17, 2012 at 8:01pm

I think it's important to look at why people appear not to "give a shit". To me, self-preservation is a natural instinct; even animals have it. So, imho there is some form of disconnect between the person and their response. They are either in denial, feel hopeless, etc. I think when you explore a bit further with a person you will find some complicated emotions behind their lack of care for their D, not a simple "I don't give a shit about my own life" which is rare, but even in and of itself, is evidence of a serious emotional disconnect. Perhaps those who have gone for years not taking care of their own D can share what was going on for them. But maybe that is a thread in itself.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on December 18, 2012 at 9:50am

I completely agree with you, Zoe. After 25 years of Type 1, I've gone through periods of time where an observer may have thought I didn't care but it was more from denial, burnout, putting my family's needs before my own with a small child at home, and maybe just plain ignorance on some issues. And menopause has given me a run that I'm ready to end - I've come close to feeling ready to give up but I'm just too stubborn to do that. It wears you down, this disease, and I don't think we should "assume" that others just don't care. Just my opinion, of course.

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Permalink Reply by Stemwinder on December 20, 2012 at 8:31pm

Was a major suffer of the 'Don't give a shit' attitude. Not giving a shit is not exactly the way it is. I believe it was more of a "I can't believe it" thing. I never believed that D was causing the havoc it was creating. It can also be a "I'm so flustrated" thing, I've tried hard and it's still not helping.

Then one day the truth slaps you in the face, Dam that hurt! and then you get it and get on with taking care of it.

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Permalink Reply by nel on December 17, 2012 at 9:20pm

Butting in here : a comment I got from my CDE Insulin Pump Nurse the other day , who has/had medical issues not diabetes related :" I fired my Doctor " ..this was powerful !

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Permalink Reply by meee on December 17, 2012 at 10:02pm

I think a 6.1 is good, it's certainly not uncontrolled imo. If you plan to test with them then don't eat fatty foods the day before because this can skew the results. I think that is ridiculous to threaten throwing you out of a practice, the whole thing sounds crazy to me, I would ask to speak with the doctor about that...maybe you would be better to look for someone else to manage all of this? Otherwise just tow the line with them until you find another practice.

I also don't want to take statins- my cholesterol is pretty good, the ldl / hdl ratio is excellent and 5 months of lowered bg, low carb and no flush niacin lowered my overall cholesterol. My endo still wants me to take a statin, but honestly if I hadn't asked him about my new extensive lipid panel results I don't think he would have even mentioned it.

I am very leary of statins unless you have very high uncontrolled lipid levels... I know of someone who had nerve damage due to 3 years of statins and now she has to constantly see a reumatologist and take prednisone. Statins are known to cause muscle and nerve damage, they affect every cell in your body. While they do help some people I think it is really a case of one set of drugs being pushed on everyone to make a profit... the lipid level was also artificially lowered so they can be recommended to more people. I asked my endo if he knew about articles that show statins actually prevent cvd in people with D, but he didn't mention any, he just told me to look online, which I have already done.

I don't know if I really need to lower my ch anymore or not but I have been thinking of trying Cholestoff instead if that is safe.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on December 18, 2012 at 10:04am

I think statins can and do help some people. I've been on low dose statins for probably 20 years now. I've never had really high cholesterol but my endo is one of those who sets the targets for diabetics slightly lower than the average normal person, and my cardiologist agrees with him.

I was on a very low dose of Lovastatin for years with no problems or issues until my cardiologist bumped up the dosage of the Lovastatin just a notch. I started right away with the worst hip pain I've ever experienced in my life - called the cardiologist, immediately stopped the Lovastatin and pain immediately went away.

2 weeks later started Pravastatin, which my cardiologist says is "milder" and typically used in children. Pain free and the most perfect lipid panel I've ever had. HDL went up, LDL went down.

I also work with a co-worker in her mid 60s who is very much into natural healing and she has always resisted medications of any kind (she is not diabetic). After trying everything else, she agreed to the statin -- lowered her total cholesterol by 100 points.

I think it's an individual decision, in conjunction with your doctor. I pretty much just ignore the nurses, but that's just me. I've seen nurses who assume this sense of power that they think they have because of the doctor they represent - I don't buy it and many times the doctor doesn't know that the nurse is behaving this way.

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Permalink Reply by Spock on December 18, 2012 at 5:21pm

The Washington Post ran an article (tried to find the link, but failed.) It looked at three retired women with health problems in the UK, France and the US. Guess who failed? (US) and won? (France) Basically our current healthcare system sucks. We need to figure this out. People like us are the perfect ones to reach out. Call, write, email and provide your opinions somewhere it might help, not here. Seek out our dysfunctional congress and ask for answers.

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Permalink Reply by Mayumi on December 18, 2012 at 7:29pm

I received another phone call from the GPs office nurse (different nurse this time) advising me the results of the fasting lipid panel I had done last week. She also reminded me that the doctor said NOT to cancel my next appointment in January because the doctor wants to speak to me about my cholesterol numbers. The stress of this "cholesterol" business is making me sick.

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Permalink Reply by palomino on December 18, 2012 at 8:56pm

Yes, let's stress out patients by having the nurse call them with their bloodwork results and then firmly reiterate that the doc needs to talk to them about it... resulting in an undesirable emotional state complete with high blood pressure and a desire to eat everything in sight (ok, maybe you're not that way when stressed, but I am?)

Seriously, how hard would it have been for that doc to call you himself and talk to you? Inconvenient, maybe, but docs don't get that if they'd just spend a little more personal time with their patients, a lot of this miscommunicated crap and stress could be -avoided-.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on December 19, 2012 at 12:14pm

I applaud this comment. Back in the day when many test results were sent by mail, I received one of those "unfavorable result... please contact your doctor" type of notices in the mail on a Friday evening after close of business when I got home from work. Freaked me out all weekend.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on December 18, 2012 at 9:05pm

I don't go to visit my doctor at his request for his purposes. He works for me.

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