Diabetes or Not
I went to the doctor a few weeks ago for a simple checkup - I wanted to make sure I didn't have any STD's (since I'm in a new relationship), and I wanted to get a routine checkup (since it's been 9 years since I've been to the doctor). I was expecting to go in for an hour, get my blood drawn or take a urine test, and then get the results by mail or telephone. Instead, I had to wait 2 1/2 hours to be seen, go someplace else for my labs (both blood and urine), go back to the doctor to get my results, go back to have some labs redone, buy a blood sugar monitor, monitor my own blood sugar by regularly impaling myself in the finger (does this count as Self-Injurious Behavior?), and go back to the doctor a third time. Fun.
My doctor thinks I have latent diabetes based on my first labs. He said my blood sugar was high. He also doesn't speak much English. (He said I have "LAT-tint DI-uh-BEE-tees.") Only when I went back to get my labs redone, they told me that one of them had to be done after fasting for 10-12 hours, which no one told me before I did the labs the first time. My doctor (and the lab techs) conveniently forgot to mention that part. My blood sugar on the initial labs was 120, and when I visited my doctor to get the results and he stuck me in the finger, my blood sugar was 127. So I got online and did some checking. Apparently, the normal range for blood sugar for a fasting test is 70-99. So if I had fasted, my levels would have been high. But the normal range while not fasting is 70-150. I had to go get a prescription blood sugar monitor thingy, and I've been sticking myself in the finger to monitor my blood sugar. So far, my highest result is 130. So my blood sugar is a little on the high side but well within the normal range. My doctor is an idiot.
I still plan to have the second labs done and visit my doctor once more to confirm, and because on the labs my Creatinines were high (1.45), my Glom Filt Rate was low (57), and my ALT (SGPT) was high (68), which could indicate kidney problems (or may mean nothing since I wasn't fasting), so I want to rule that out. And I may just have to point out to my doctor that he's an idiot.
Do you know that during my initial exam, he asked me only three diagnostic questions? ("Why are you here?", "Do you have any symptoms?", and "Do you have any family history of medical problems?") He also took my blood pressure and listened to my heart and breathing. But apparently he's relying entirely on my self-report and on the lab results. I ask my patients hundreds of questions on a routine diagnostic interview before I make a diagnosis! I find it disturbing that 6 years of medical school didn't train my doctor any better. He won't be my doctor for long.
I hate it when I'm smarter than the people I go to for specialized services like that. What the hell am I paying them for, then?
My doctor thinks I have latent diabetes based on my first labs. He said my blood sugar was high. He also doesn't speak much English. (He said I have "LAT-tint DI-uh-BEE-tees.") Only when I went back to get my labs redone, they told me that one of them had to be done after fasting for 10-12 hours, which no one told me before I did the labs the first time. My doctor (and the lab techs) conveniently forgot to mention that part. My blood sugar on the initial labs was 120, and when I visited my doctor to get the results and he stuck me in the finger, my blood sugar was 127. So I got online and did some checking. Apparently, the normal range for blood sugar for a fasting test is 70-99. So if I had fasted, my levels would have been high. But the normal range while not fasting is 70-150. I had to go get a prescription blood sugar monitor thingy, and I've been sticking myself in the finger to monitor my blood sugar. So far, my highest result is 130. So my blood sugar is a little on the high side but well within the normal range. My doctor is an idiot.
I still plan to have the second labs done and visit my doctor once more to confirm, and because on the labs my Creatinines were high (1.45), my Glom Filt Rate was low (57), and my ALT (SGPT) was high (68), which could indicate kidney problems (or may mean nothing since I wasn't fasting), so I want to rule that out. And I may just have to point out to my doctor that he's an idiot.
Do you know that during my initial exam, he asked me only three diagnostic questions? ("Why are you here?", "Do you have any symptoms?", and "Do you have any family history of medical problems?") He also took my blood pressure and listened to my heart and breathing. But apparently he's relying entirely on my self-report and on the lab results. I ask my patients hundreds of questions on a routine diagnostic interview before I make a diagnosis! I find it disturbing that 6 years of medical school didn't train my doctor any better. He won't be my doctor for long.
I hate it when I'm smarter than the people I go to for specialized services like that. What the hell am I paying them for, then?