An interesting question.

I recently had surgery and was due to be admitted to hospital at 11am. At 7.30am I had a frantic phone call from a nurse , “Are you a diabetic patient?” , she asked. “You need to come in urgently, as soon as possible”.

That’s an interesting question I replied.

So, I told her that I had been diagnosed as having T2 in 2011 and that I was now diet controlled. I explained that my metformin had been reduced by half 4 months previously and I had been metformin free for three weeks. ‘Just one moment’ she replied. After several minutes she came back and told me not to worry, come in as soon as I could, but no panic.

I understand that as a diabetic patient I would need to have surgery early in the day so as not to be without food for too long. So I arrived and had a finger prick blood sugar test which was 5.8 and a few hours later a second was 5.5. I was not tested again during my nine day stay.

So back to my question …. Am I a diabetic? It would seem that the hospital didn’t consider me to be a ‘diabetic patient’ but am I? Am I in remission, am I cured or am I just a ‘diabetic’ controlled by diet alone???

Hi V, hope all went well and welcome back. That is an interesting question. I think I would be worried that if I was to declare myself as not diabetic (nowhere near that yet) I would lose my right to free treatments such as heart check ups, chiropodist, blood tests (includes cholesterol etc so not just HbA1c) and then in a few years as an older person the diabetes might re-occur and it would have to go down all the medical tests to prove my right to free treatment. Dont get me wrong, it is not the money aspect, it would be having to prove my status all over again and here in France that took months. So for me I would probably say I am still diabetic but with very good control and be happy for the medical teams to be still keeping an eye on me JUST IN CASE. Here (in France) we have to prove our medical status every 5 years to get our free treatment certificate and when mine ran out after 5 years the thing they wanted to see was proof that I was STILL diabetic (we used to laugh as we didn’t know then that it was possible to cure) so off I got for yet another HbA1c and it came back at 5.4. Result, you are not diabetic so you have to pay for all your diabetic treatments and drugs – oh if I am not diabetic why do I need diabetic drugs etc etc doh…. My doctor had to appeal the decision and say ‘yes my results were good, but that’s because I take diabetic drugs’. I was without medical cover for over 3 months and we have to pay for everything here, visits to the doctors costs €25, blood tests can cost up to €40 and so on, and then there are the medications, you dont just pay a set amount but the actual price for the drug and my insulin costs around €300 a month. In France the certificate only pays out on Diabetic treatments so if I had, say a chest infection, it would not pay for drugs for that unless it impacted on the diabetes. I understand in the UK an exemption certificate covers all treatments and I dont know where you get the certificate from or if it is for life, but you will know all the ramifications declaring yourself non diabetic would have. Mine is just a bit more complicated I think.

End of story, I think I would remain a diabetic with dietary control.

Ah, a very timely question. Here is a link to the latest thinking of Prof Roy Taylor, which appeared in the British Medical Journal this month. Prof Taylor wrote the foreword to Michael Mosely’s Blood Sugar Diet book, and is pioneering at Newcastle University trials to do with rapid weight loss and diabetes.
It seems to me that the term “remission” rather than “cure” is appropriate, as most medical professionals agree that this is a progressive disease, so no-one can predict how we will fare as the years pass by.
But I can appreciate your particular difficulties, Sunshine Girl.
It will probably be a good while before medical authorities agree on a consistent standard for “remission”.

Lucky there is no link can you repost it. We are all familiar with the work of Prof Taylor and await his results but dont expect them yet. Although it was an item on the news that 600 calories can cure diabetes – the media seems to be way behind us on this one.

Oops. Try this.
http://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j4030/rapid-responses

Thanks for your replies. I will read that article tomorrow when I have a clear hour or so.

Certainly food for thought. Maybe the best way to move forward would be for the medics to give those newly diagnosed with pre/diabetes the benefit of the most recent research. Give their patients three months to improve their blood glucose by following good dietary advice not the outdated stuff we are subjected to at the moment. Also, to stop viewing diabetes as a self inflicted, progressive disease from which there is no escape. We know ‘remission’ is possible and maybe one day we will also be able to say we are ‘cured’.

Thanks Luckylil I read through the article properly this morning and it’s fascinating. At least now I know I’m in partial remission with just 11 months to go to get me to full remission…. my new goal!!!!