Thank you for giving a voice to many of my concerns and those of many other people with diabetes. I would like to find a doctor and he/she doesn’t even have to be an Endo, that would treat me as a human being and not someone who is going to help him/her keep the lights on in their office.

I am so tired of the doctor looking at me and pronouncing me as ‘non compliant’ or ‘challenging’ just because I have multiple medical problems. Scott, you have a gift of being able to express yourself very well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I love my endo. This just made me want to go hug her. She recently went through a serious diagnosis and had a doctor with a rough bedside manner – she said it made her realize what it’s like to be on the other side of the stethoscope. Maybe more of our endos need to know what it’s like to be a patient.

I wish the American Diabetes Association and the American Association for Diabetes Educators would use your post and that of Dr. Anne Peters as the basis for, at their respective conventions, a presention/dialogue on how to make diabetes health care visits work better for both the patients and the providers. The ADA accredits diabetes education programs. What about accrediting office visits or a system for sharing meaningful blood glucose records or an effective Q&A list to quickly get to the presenting problem and establish priorities for the visit?!

Every time I visit my endo and hand over my obligatory blood glucose records, whichever nurse–and it’s usually a different one each time– says something like, “You get a gold star! Most people don’t bring their records.” That is sad. But what’s even sadder is that we don’t know why, exactly.

Could it be, in part, the ongoing frustration providers and patients have with their difficult, complex, and too-often unbalanced relationship?

I know there are many needs when it comes to diabetes awareness. Too many people don’t have access to health care. Too many don’t even know they have diabetes. But let’s not forget the small space represented by the yearly visit to a GP or the quarterly visit to an endo. There’s room for improvement there. Perhaps patients and providers can figure out how to best help each other.

thank you, Amy, for choosing his voice for this one…

I document everything my physician says, and if he says something even mildly inaccurate, or something with which I disagree, I call him on it. I ask him to give me references if he talks about new research, so I can look up the articles myself. My doctor is not my “friend.” I go there for expertise, not for a buddy.

Thanks for this – very timely after hearing the endo’s POV. A couple (few?) points.

Under the “LISTEN” heading, I would hope to be asked two related questions. “Since you were last here, what is working well for you? More importantly, what isn’t working well?”

My “ideal” doctor would also be prepared to discuss any new management tools (CGMs?) and techniques (still waiting to hear about standard deviation) that would apply to “my diabetes”.

Under the “ACKNOWLEDGE” heading, I want my endo to celebrate the things I am doing well and to avoid talking down to me with regard to managing the beast better, and for goodness sakes let’s not make the NUMBERS BAD (since it also makes me bad)!

Thanks Again – you have given food for thought (NO BOLUS REQUIRED!)

Fair Winds,
Mike