[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

I am becoming frustrated with my good diabetes control. Too good control to get any type of sensor and nothing seriously wrong with me so I won't get appt in public hospital diabetes clinic for 18 months. Self fund ssensor from time to time when I have the cash, no longer go to private consultant. Only thing I get is retina screening which is a positive. After 46 years of good tight mgnt ot diabetes surley I, and others like me, deserve sensors and public appointments. I almost feel like I am being disadvantaged by looking after myself. Rant over.

I would be telling my consultant that I am losing hypo awareness but I don't even have a consultant, cannot grt into the public system for 18 months.

Had attended a fantastic consultant in the Mater Private until he suddenly retired. Didnt click with new specialist so my GP has managed me since then ie. reviewed regular blood tests and renews prescription. He referred me to Drogheda at my request in November 21, long term he advised me the service would be better. I got letter of acknowledgement from Drogheda and it stated there is an average wait of 180 days, waited that length before ringing and was told my case had been reviewed and would be a least another 6 months as I had no pressing issues. The secretary jokingly told me not to ring back in 6 months quoting her if I hadnt got an appointment. Was with GP last week and he rewriting letter.

Another issue that frustrated me recently was that my GP would only give me cert for a 3 year driving licence, told me that he was hamstrung by new RSA guidance. Don't know if anyone else has had the same experience.

anybody else waiting on a retina screening appointment? mine was due last august. They did contact me and tell me they were way behind and it will probably be the new year. not heard from them since,

That's for my clinic of course. Every clinic operates under their own guidelines I guess

Diabetes Ireland doing an experience survey at the link below. Worth taking a few minutes to fill in, especially if you're having issues with the service at the moment.

Hi hopefully this will be my first and last post in this forum (nothing personal) , had a abnormal urine test pre covid , was taken by my rheumatologist 3 years ago , queried my GP a few times but nothing was done , moving on , before Christmas had bloods and urine tested by the GP's nurse and blood was found in the urine ,

sent to MUH (Mercy) and had a CT scan and more bloods inc PSA , nothing serious found apart from cysts on one of my kidneys , bloods all good inc BG ,

eventually last week I contacted the GP nurse and asked about results , she checked and was told that my BG was very high , I think it was in the 70's , and she asked me to come in for a glucose tolerance test which was done last Thursday , I do have some diabetes symptoms , like sudden crashes in energy and lately having loss of feeling in my small toes , but I never expected this ,

I have other health issues , inc losing most of my colon to UC , which will probably complicate things even more , but if the tests are positive for Diabetes , I will need a good Endocrinologist and will go private as I could be waiting for a while with the HSE , I'm living in Cork and Maeve Durkan seems to be getting good recommendations , has anyone got any other doctors they would personally recommend , if allowed by mods ,

anyway thanks for reading , hopefully I won't be back annoying everyone with my rambling .

Anyway its confirmed , nurse rang me and told me that I have type 2 diabetes , can't be seen by gp as they are so busy but still need a letter of referral for a good Endocrinologist , if any one has a good diet plan I would appreciate it if they could pass it on , thanks again .

Short update, just got appointment in March.

Hey Folks, hope all here are keeping well and that the New Year is going well for ye all.

My GP runs a "cycle of care" programme for his patients with chronic/lifelong illness and I have to say, I'm liking how it's implemented.

The appointments are every 6 months. For a Diabetic, it's a fairly thorough review. Weight, waist measurement, feet check, BP and a chat with the nurse before being handed over to the GP for a medication review and a chat.

Prior to today my last review was in June. I'd then had my hospital Endo appt in December and it completely slipped my mind to make the GP appt.

The nurse is fairly on the ball. Rang me on Monday to come in today for the works. I know that a lot of people aren't able to avail of programmes like this. I do think though that the move to ensuring this care is provided at GPs and as part and parcel of the care pathway. Is a real benefit to the patient and the HSE. It really helps patients develop a sense of agency regarding their condition and it's management.

It goes a long way towards humanising the patient and is a far more rewarding interaction than my visits to my Endo and his registrar's box ticking exercise.

I've been at the same practice since birth. My registered doctor has changed over time but there are now 3 GPs left in the practice and whilst I usually see the same one every time? I also know the other 2 quite well. It does make a massive difference to the quality of care and to my level of trust in everyone in the practice.

It's a busy urban practice but it's one that really does patient care well.

Would love to say my GP experience has been like that but in reality, far more like the other posters. Rotating cast of GPs, a different person every time I attended, very little specialist knowledge of diabetes, etc. Far better care since I switched over to a nurse-led diabetes clinic, a good few years ago.(that said, still waiting for funding to be processed for my renewed cgm, almost two months later....)

I agree with the OP that GP-led, care in the community/at the most local level possible is the ideal way to go, but we're a long way off from that possibility with most GP practices in the country at the moment, as far as I can see

type 2 here , newly diagnosed with a HbA1c level of 59 , on metformin and doctor says I don't need any monitoring other that a HbA1c every 3 months , can I insist that at least for the first few months that I could be prescribed with strips and a BG meter ?

don't want to piss off my GP , but my only other option is to insist on a referral to an endocrinologist and hope they will prescribe them ,

my other problem is that I have no colon (UC ) and that makes eating in general problematic ,

thanks

Thanks Banie

I think I’ll just but the meter and strips if she refuses , at least for the first few months I’ll have a better idea of what’s good and bad ,

my other problem is getting enough exercise , bad arthritis on hips and ankles , so it looks like I’ll have to back into the sea early this year 🥶