Re: Choosing a doctor
- From: Alan S <loralgtweightandcarbs@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:42:12 +1000
On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 23:27:22 -0700, "Julie Bove"
<juliebove@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Peter is from my part of the world, Julie. Prescriptions are
"Peter Bowditch" <myfirstname@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:094m64dh4qgk3opqa9sadhmcdlbbumhpnf@xxxxxxxxxx
First the good news.
I ran out of metformin tablets at my place in a small country town
where I spend two or thee days a week, so I went to the doctor for a
prescription. (I had never been there before, so I took the empty box
with me to show that I had been taking the stuff.)
The doctor is a very old-fashioned country GP who doesn't have a
computer (or even a fax). The regular doc was away and the locum was
of a vintage which suggested that he might have been a contemporary of
Pasteur. Now we all know how family practice doctors don't know
anything about diabetes and testing, so this looked like a situation
where I might even have to explain what Type 2 diabetes is.
Not so. I was very impressed with his question about testing. He
didn't ask "Do you test yourself?", he asked "What was your BG this
morning?". I don't remember saying anything that might have
distinguished me from the haven't-a-clue majority who don't test.
Perhaps he assumed that anyone who took the trouble to go to a strange
doctor for some pills might also be the sort of person who would keep
track of how the pills were working.
Now the bad news.
I heard an interview on the radio with the head of the diabetes
department of a very prestigious hospital. On at least two occasions
she patronised the interviewer, who just happens to be a
fully-qualified medical practitioner as well as being the
most-respected medical journalist in the country. In one of the
putdowns she dismissed his comment about a relationship between
insulin resistance and T2 diabetes and seemed to be saying that both
T1 and T2 are the result of insulin deficiency, with the difference
being the mechanism of destruction of beta cells.
Her other alarming statement was that a reasonable target for HbA1C is
7. She then went on to say that this was quite difficult to achieve
without using insulin.
I'm rather glad that the endocrinologist that I found (who also heads
the diabetes department at a major hospital) seemed to think that my
tests showed no pancreas damage or shortage of insulin but my cells
were rather resistant to using it. He was also quite pleased that I
got my A1C down to 5.6 in three months (diet, exercise, 500mg
metformin BID).
Caveat diabetor.
Did you know that you can simply take your prescription in to any pharmacy
and they can refill it for you? If there are no refills left, they will
have to call the Dr. I used to do what you did until I found out I could do
otherwise.
issued as "once only" or with a specified number of repeats.
When those repeats are used up, a new prescription must be
written by a doctor if more are needed.
My diagnosis actually resulted indirectly from a visit to my
doctor for a repeat prescription for lipitor back in 2002.
He didn't just write the scrip, he did blood tests.
You are correct in one aspect. If Peter had a current
prescription with a repeat available, he could take it to
any Aussie pharmacist.
Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
--
d&e, metformin 1500mg, ezetrol 10mg
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_s/
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com (On Indian Roads)
.
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