Diabetics; Is it time to look for another Doctor

Hi,

In my humble opinion, we can classify diabetics into three categories:

1. Diabetics who do not care at all about their disease and totally forget that they have diabetes, they eat whatever they want, they do not go to Dr, they do not measure their BG regularly or even periodically.
2. Diabetics who blindly obey their Drs. even if their numbers stay on the 400s in moths>>>they just follow Drs. they do not learn, educate themselves, they just put the full respectability on their Drs shoulders and they often ask; why the hell I have these high numbers always? When I will have 6.5 or 6 A1C?
3. Educated and self-caring diabetics; who knew that the disease is a dis-ease for them and a just passing by case for their Dr. - those patients, read, look, ask, measure, inspect, count carbs, eat sensibly, inject insulin professionally, check, compare readings and try hard every possible way to normalize their blood sugar or the blood sugar of their loved ones and they really help their Drs to understand their case in a better way

I have been diabetic for almost 11 years and I am in insulin therapy for almost 6 years  and if I have to sum all these years up into one sentence , it will be:

The only one can really take care of your Diabetes is you.....not your Dr, spouse, daughter, son, etc...yes they can play an essential role in helping you but still; you are the one who always will  be requested to eat right, exercise, adopt good habits, take medication on time, calculate carbs, match insulin timing,  talk loudly to your Dr that medication that he prescribed you is not working.

Same goes to you if you are a parent of type 1 Diabetic child.

Now, Assuming that you know very well about Diabetics Alphabets -  I want you to count how many Drs. you go to to pursuit treatment journey of Diabetes with him, listened to him, depended on him and then when you read more you realized that you were put on a wrong treatment plan; not intentionally of course, but because of lack of Dr latest Diabetes knowledge (latest here in middle east could be 10 years ago) or maybe because you had been always rushed out of his clinic office fast before telling him what you want or what you feel >>>> or because a lot of  patients are accumulating out there waiting their turn to come in and see  Dr.

I will try to help you here to take the decision of changing your Dr. with another Dr. who really cares.

You see; if you want to be successful you need to leave the nurturing base of dependency , passing through independence until  reaching interdependence.

As Stephen Covey said it well in his famous book the seven habits of highly effective people;

Dependence is the paradigm of you >>>>you take care me , you help me, you know everything and I am ignorant, Diabetes is very tough and I can not cope with it ,so you will take care of me, I can not learn, I do not wanna lose time reading as long as you know >>>>>this you could be your spouse, your parent, your Dr, etc.....

Independence is the paradigm of I >>>I can do it alone, I am able to know everything, I will get through, I need the help and support of no one and yes I can get through this killing Diabetes alone !!!

Interdependence is the paradigm of we>>>where we (you, I and them) can do something better together  than you can do alone, you can read and educate yourself to teach your diabetic kid how to control his dis-ease and at the meantime you can assist hie/her Dr. to prescribe the right prescription for your kid in order to get better - you can cooperate with his/her school to get him on the right track at school controlling the disease.

you need to think of Diabetes interdependently, the more you you know, the more you need to apply this knowledge and the more you are requested to be deeply involved with your Dr. and more importantly, you need to reach out for diabetics who do not know what you really knew about controlling the disease.

Part of being interdependent; is to be smart and see behind things fast and thoroughly

One of these fast and behind scenes things that need to be captured and corrected fast is: Your Dr.

Are you following with the right Dr. or no.

Let me give you some guidelines to check out  whether your Dr. is leading you to the right destination of controlling Diabetes or taking you away.

If you see or notice that the following or part of it happen between you, as a diabetic, and your Dr, then it is time to say Good bye to him/her and look for someone who cares:

1. If your Dr. sits with you no more than 10 mins and always seems to be very tight in time and have no desire to listen to you and that you come in and come out equally information wise.
2. If you, as an adult, are in 250s or even 200s all the time for several months andyour Dr. always saying, it is OK these numbers are fine...try to forget about the 140s and 150s YOU ARE DIABETIC !!!
3. If your Dr. gives prescribed you mixed insulin and let you drown between highs and lows and never tried with you the MDI
4. If you feel that you are dying by having these high readings and asking him frequently, please put me on insulin thrapy but he/she keeps on saying: no no not now not now.....
5. If he/she never taught you how to carb count, how to eat, how to calculate your insulin dose.
6. If he/she never talked to you about insulin sensitivity factor or insulin to carb ratio or exercise factor.
7. If he just tells you  take specified number of insulin units (30 units for example) in the morning and 20 units at nigh and EAT ACCORDINGLY>>>>this one.>>you gotta say Good bye to him/her on the spot 
8. If you are type 2 and he prescribed you insulin secretion medication like Amaryl...!!!
9. If he refuses to give you his mobile no. or a very fast way of communication; in order for you to be able to call him in case of insulin emergency or so..
10. If he never advised you to log your readings, carb counts and exercise duration and timing
11. If he asked you to do all in # 10 as mentioned above; but he never asked to take a look at it to correct your medication.

If you can not find that kind of Dr. then, you need to educate yourself, learn hard and your current Dr; until you can find the right Dr. for you.

At the end; Diabetes is your own issue - either you are the diabetic or one of your young loved ones 

You are the one who suppose to educate himself, read, learn, measure, log, compare, see the effects of things on treatment plan, exercise regularly, discuss your deep interests with your Dr.

You need to think of Diabetes interdependently, so you can take care of yourself, your loved ones, your Dr. and to reach best control.