We all know that when it comes to managing our diabetes, how essential it is to have a good doctor or consultant. During my time living with this condition, I can honestly say I’ve had less than a handful of good doctors. By “good” doctor I mean a doctor who will converse with you and not talk at you. A doctor who will give you advice whilst listening to your suggestions because after all you’re the one living with this condition on a daily basis. A doctor who takes your appointment just as seriously as you do and doesn’t make it a joke. A doctor who is just as dedicated as you are in helping you achieve something out of that 20, 30, 40 minute appointment. A doctor who actually cares about you and doesn’t scrutinise every low or high BG reading they see written down.

As a child I had great doctors, who explained everything to me and my parents and made me feel at ease. It wasn’t until I was moved to the adult diabetes clinic (which by the way was very daunting at 18), that I actually started to experience first-hand what dare I say a” bad” doctor was. Ever since I started at the adult diabetes clinic, I’ve had doctors who haven’t taken my appointment time or me very seriously. They were quick to point fingers, didn’t want to hear anything I had to say and personally I think they weren’t right for me or my diabetes.

I dreaded every appointment and would leave the appointment without any new ideas on how to work towards managing my diabetes even further. My time had been wasted and all I had to work with was negative and useless facts. On a positive note, I must say the nurses have always been a very strong support system in the clinic and in most cases they were better than the doctors I’d met.

I was also very fortunate to experience good doctors during my pregnancies, which is a completely different ball game. The doctors during my pregnancy set a very high standard, which made me fearful to return to the doctors I had previously. They were thorough, patient, caring, everything you’d expect from a good doctor. Nevertheless, before I was transferred back to the adult diabetes clinic, I decided to talk to the diabetes consultant. He helped me get through my pregnancies and knew all about my concerns when it came to finding the right doctor. He recommended a new doctor who was due to start at the diabetic clinic, so I went with it. When I finally got to meet this new doctor, I was extremely anxious because I had no idea who I’d get.

“Would it be the good doctor or the bad doctor?”

Well, I’m glad to say that this time I got a great doctor. He introduced himself and then instead of asking me a million and sixty question about my diabetes, I could tell that he had read my files. He’d looked at the notes beforehand and knew exactly where I was up to. Great! No silly questions like,

“When did you become diabetic?”

He did however ask me to present my sugars and my BG meters. He downloaded all the data and I waited for his reaction to some of my low lows and high high’s. I braced myself for a good telling off, but nothing came. He made notes and really studied my BG levels. Then would you believe we had a conversation about where and how we could tighten things up. He didn’t say, “Why was it so low here? “Why was it high there?” or “What did you eat here?” We all know that sometimes we can’t even remember what we ate the night before, let alone that Wednesday night six months ago.

So far so good. I gave him a thumbs up!

We went over everything from blood results, to trying out different setting on my pump, to exercise. We covered everything. What I really liked, is that he set out a goal for the following appointment. We discussed basal testing (this is the background insulin) at certain times where my sugars were a little crazy and to not freak out and over bolus (give myself too much insulin) when I see my BG going too high. I left my appointment feeling like I had achieved something out of the time. It wasn’t time wasted like it used to be. I felt determined. I was going to meet the goals he had set out for me. I was going to do it, not for him but for me!
To be continued…………

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I usually have a few questions I ask myself when I’m meeting a new doctor. Will this doctor help me on this difficult road I’m on? Or will he make my journey that much harder?

Here are a few of the things I ask myself:
– Is the doctor empathetic: Does this doctor try to understand what I am feeling and experiencing, physically and emotionally and can he/she communicate that understanding to me?

– Is the doctor forthright: Can this doctor tell me what I need to know so I am able to understand everything clearly?

– How respectful is this doctor: Does the doctor listen and take my comments seriously and works with me?

– Is this doctor caring and patient?

– Is this doctor thorough, conscientious and persistent?

– Does this doctor have substantial diabetes knowledge? For example, current events, CGM sensors, blood glucose meters and pumps etc? Because what’s the point in talking to a doctor who doesn’t even understand how the pump functions?

If you’ve not figured it out yet, having a good diabetes doctor is extremely important when it comes to managing your diabetes. I do believe sometimes you have to experience the bad before you are able to know what is right for you. I hope at least that my post will help you when it comes to finding the right doctor for you.

Thanks for stopping by
Amina xxx