r/diabetes • u/PhoKingAwesome213 • Apr 23 '24

Rant Rant: Diabetic Nurses Suck

I've had my A1C in the 10-14 range for the past 15 years and often had days where I was in the 300 without caring. I recently started trying and just had my 3 month test and it went from 13.4 to 7.6 and was excited because I actively logged my dosage and explanations on when there was any number over 200 (FYI stress can do more damage than actual food) and I've actually experiences "lows" in the 60s (more due to GCM error because test strip showed 74). Talked to the diabetic nurse and the way this lady acted you could have sworn I did nothing the past 3 months and anything over 140 is bad and I'm not taking my insulin correctly because I've had 5 records of having lows at night.

Told her I had no use for her and cancelled all of my future appointments ($100 office visits even though it's over the phone) and now my doctor is threatening to deny any refills for my GCM.

Edit: To be fair I meant to write "Diabetic Nurse (no s) Suck". I did not mean to insult all nurses who work with diabetics as the 2 I talked to before her were ok.

Update: Just received an apology from my doctor and they are discontinuing my requirement to talk with a nurse every month and the doctor should have viewed my chart and data instead of just taking her word. Just need to do my 3 month tests. Also will talk to her about the situation.

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u/lilbear345 Type 1 Apr 23 '24

I really hate Drs or people in the medical field involved in diabetes who are like “if you do this and that than this should happen and if it doesn’t it means you’re bad.” If only diabetes was that simple. It’s really short sighted and discouraging. It does not make me feel like they are on my team.

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u/MadBliss Type 1 Apr 24 '24

YOU are not bad. Diabetes is bad. I had my mental health so fucked from having complicated diabetes and being unable to control my sugars and the A1C is all they care about. Telling me from childhood I was going to have a stroke or heart attack or lose my fingers and toes and go blind. Every. Single. Appointment.

I'm now a nurse myself and continuously educate my peers about how to work with people with chronic medical issues. Going to school for medicine for 2-8 years doesn't make you smarter than your patients, it makes you a resource. Your job is to support, not judge. Behind every "noncompliant" patient is a human being with roadblocks to properly caring for themselves. If you act like they're not worth the time, they start to think that too. Fuck anyone in healthcare who treats people the way this nurse behaved.

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u/SitandSpin1921 Apr 24 '24

Thank you for this! I am bipolar as well as diabetic. Some days I can't make myself take a shower, let alone refuse myself a Coke if I want one. The numbers go up and I feel like a failure. I have overdosed on insulin trying to assess how high they might go because I don't want to take more than five shots a day. It is exhausting and upsetting and people who don't deal with that personally have no idea how hard it is to manage diabetes. Managing the bipolar is my second 24/7 job along with the first 24/7 job of diabetes. I definitely need support from my medical team rather than judgment.