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We found 10 result(s) that match your search "doctor's visits":

I know I shouldn't, but I do. I know it should be a time that's full of helpful information, but I don't think it is. I think the only thing I really get out of my endo appointments is knowing my A1C.

 

I always feel like I'm on the defensive. Sometimes I just want to scream HAVE YOU EVER LIVED A DAY IN YOUR LIFE WITH THIS WRETCHED DISEASE? HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED A LOW BLOOD SUGAR? NO? THEN SHUT YOUR FACE.

 

I was particularly feisty this morning for some reason. What do they really expect us to say when they ask "How are your blood sugars doing?" I always say "They vary." Because, really, what diabetics blood sugars *don't* vary? There was only one time period in my life when I could say my sugars were always -- yes always -- in range and that's when I was pregnant with No. 3. I was a model patient.

 

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When you go to the doctor, do you go prepared with a list of questions for the doctor?  That was one of the questions during last weeks DSMA session on Twitter. 

 

I would say that about 95% of the time, I do go prepared with both a list of questions and a list of the medications that I'm currently taking.  And I do so because I have way too many medications to remember them all, and usually have a number of questions that either April or I want answered.

 

I've been asked a few times, "Why do you take a list of medications? Doesn't your doctor already know which you're taking?"

 

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The theme for this week is "Manage Your Healthcare Team".  For me, and for many others with Type 2 diabetes, this is a laugh. Team? What team? I have a primary care physician who handles everything from soup to nuts, including my diabetes care. She'll refer me to specialists and labs as needed, but she doesn't have any direct correspondence with my ophthalmologist (for whose checkup I am long overdue), and I've never had a CDE or an endo.

 

 

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Since I changed my endocrinilogist last year, I've really been happy with my experiences with Dr. K. She's the kind of doctor that means business but doesn't come off as if she's judging you. She tells you what she thinks, but leaves it up to you what to do. So usually, I'm fairly excited (yes, I said excited) about going to see her. Even when I know I've been doing 85% of things wrong.

 

This appointment didn't feel that way though. I just really didn't want to have to go. I've been making some changes and my averages are down. I didn't want to hear that I'd been doing this and this wrong, even if she does leave off the judgement. I just wasn't willing to expose all those mistakes to the light.

 

And I feel torn between wishing I would have canceled and being excited about the outcome.

 

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At some time during our diabetic self-discovery, we are told that diabetes -- like most chronic illnesses -- is often accompanied by a second "D": depression. Considering the amount of time we need to put into consideration of our diets, exercise, drugs, and doctor visits -- and how much that takes out of what would otherwise be disposable income -- it's hardly surprising. Nor should it come to anyone's surprise that this level of attention to detail often smacks of another mental-health issue: obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. It is considered "normal" -- even encouraged -- for people with diabetes to arrange our lives around our blood glucose levels, logging every single reading, every single milligram of metformin or subunit of insulin, weighing and logging every single morsel of food or fluid that passes our lips, every step of exercise, every moment of every day of our lives. (READ MORE)

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I remember some pretty awful endo visits when Charlie was younger. While we liked Charlie’s previous doctor quite a bit, the visits were often very stressful and frustrating.

 

Looking back, I think we spent the first two or even three years after diagnosis, very frustrated. Not that we completely do now, but it took us a very long time to get a feel for this disease - to figure out how it ticks. The frustration was compounded by the fact that we lost faith in the doctors’ ability to help us.

 

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About a year ago, my PCP's office decided I needed to make separate appointments to have my blood work drawn, a week before my PCP appointments, extorting an extra co-pay so that my doctor and I can have some meaningful interaction (my insurance requires the lab work to be sent out, with about a five- to seven-day turnaround). There's nothing unusual about the blood work -- just the standard glucose panel (with HbA1c), metabolic (liver function) panel, lipid panel (cholesterol), blood count, and urinalysis.

 

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One thing I've learned both living with diabetes (and hypertension and everything else) and having family members with diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and other health issues is that no matter how far away you are, and whether that be in miles or in outlooks, the chronic illness of one is shared by the entire family. Here, many hands do not make "light work" -- that right goes to the bonds of love and familial obligation. While a large support network might ease the afflicted person's ability to live a full life, it means that a much larger number of people need to consider the needs of that person, that many more perceive an increase in their own risk for developing that malady, and that many more must learn to accommodate a family member's needs within their own lives.

 

To start with, it's hard to address diabetes without addressing diet. After all, they both start with the diphthong // dai //

 

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When I was asked to make my benefits selections for my current job, one of my options was whether or not to select an optical plan. After looking over what I would be paying on a weekly basis, and what I would be receiving, it was obvious that I would be a fool not to sign up, and that I would do much better to select the more expensive plan (it covers antireflective eyeglass coating). After some issues with finding an available slot in my schedule, I went to my local Lenscrafters for a much-overdue eye exam.

 

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Health insurance seems like a big mystery to me.  Not for nothing, but employer to employer the employee contribution, access to services, co-payments, and deductibles vary so widely it seems that changing jobs - and therefore health insurance - is like moving to another planet.

 

 

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