Endocrinologist appointment tomorrow -- I'm admittedly nervous.

[libby74]

Alison, sweetie, I am so sorry you're going thru all this.

You said that you'll be seeing your PCP in early Oct? If you don't feel comfortable with the endo., now matter how 'reknowned' he might be, let your dr. know that you need someone different.
Thank heaven you check out every new med. before you take it! Shame on the endo. for not listening to your concerns.

Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers; I wish there was something I could do to just make this all go away. You have loads of people sending you all sorts of healing ; I hope they help.

Please take care of yourself, honey.

 

[darkmavis]

Well, first of all- good for you for researching the new drug before filling it and taking it! I'm terrible, I'll take a pill for anything, and THEN look it up online.

Luckily I've had no bad consequences as of yet. (knock on wood)

I see a specialist too, a rheumatologist, and I belong to another health forum where I read all sorts of stories from people whose doctors are just not interested in them. They look at lab results and write a bunch of Rx's or just dismiss them, and don't even pay attention to the PERSON, his/her symptoms, history, etc. I'm lucky that I found a great doctor, but he's so freakin busy it's kind of impossible to get a hold of him. However, he has said to me, more than once, that if I need to talk to him, it's best to call after hours, through the answering service, and he will call back right away. So I really like that he's said that, though I've never needed to call him yet. If I got an Rx like you did though, I would've been on that phone right away! I've had up and down test results, sometimes I think I'm making it all up cos my labs look great (so why do i feel so icky sometimes?), but he knows I'm not making it up and wants to continue seeing me and working to navigate that fine line between over-treating and under-treating to get me feeling well. Anyway, what I'm getting at is there are a lot of crappy doctors out there. You said this one has a good bedside manner, but it sure doesn't sound like it if he's being so dismissive, sending you off with a potentially dangerous drug and no follow-up for 4 months! I know it's hard to get in with a good specialist, simply because there just aren't a whole lot of them around. However, I would suggest you ask you primary doctor for another referral, or just look in the phone book if you have to, to try to find a new endo who will work with you. Like you said, you have to be your own health advocate.

Best of luck with this!!!!

 

[carolpetunia]

Here's a thought: maybe you should ask to be hospitalized for two or three days while they begin your new medication regimen (whatever that turns out to be). They'd be able to monitor you very closely, in case you got into trouble, and could probably determine in a few days what might otherwise take months to fine-tune.

If your insurance company is too short-sighted to cover that, maybe you could have someone help you at home by keeping meticulous records of your medications, your food and water intake, your glucose readings, your blood pressure and pulse (BP monitors are not very expensive these days), and how you feel. For a few days, you could test your glucose every single hour, to catch any highs or lows early, before they become life-threatening. And this person would be there day and night, of course, so if you did get into trouble, he or she could take you straight to the ER, or call an ambulance.

And then you'd be able to present both your GP and your endo with these records, to help them establish a program that would get things under proper control for you. I imagine that just the act of giving a doctor such detailed information would go a long way toward alerting him that he needs to PAY ATTENTION, DAMMIT!

I'm so glad you're committed to finding serious help with all this, and I'm so glad you recognize that you need, and have a right to, personalized care. Reading your story reminds me how lucky I am that my diabetes is not so severe as yours -- and that I need to work harder to make sure it never becomes so.

Many good vibes coming to you, for good health and good doctors...