21st March I was invited to my Dr surgery, well to be honest the Nurses office, to discuss recent blog tests.
Having moved to this area of Wales in August 2017 we registered with a local surgery and did all that we could to get info on what they provided. It transpires very little. I had blood tests and a BP check (they lost the initial BP check but I know it was good), no abnormalities and a reference of 38 HBA1C – like that was supposed to mean something to me?
I have regularly checked my fasting bloods and HBA1C with previous Dr as 2 brothers have diabetes.
I have had breathing problems for a while, asked the surgery if I could see Dr to discuss (Hurdle#1 coming), I could have a “telephone triage call….so I did. I have been sent a letter from hospital that I will be seen in around 26 weeks for ENT specialist.
Then asked to have blood tests (I asked the Dr at the time of the call) OK…..done and the result – “no action required by patient” Dr was a bit confused about liver test so requested another blood test 2 weeks later. Called surgery to be told “all OK, no patient action required” Great I’m OK……but no! Letter from Dr to ask me to see nurse about blood tests on 21 March. YIKES, liver problems???
Nope!
I walked in and was greeted with “your result is 54 and your previous result was 52, you have Type 2 Diabetes” I asked some questions of the nurse (turns out she is the diabetes “clinician” not nurse!) at this practice. I took out my notepad and asked for some of the previous results to get a picture for myself too. She almost was rubbing her hands in glee as she said that they have medications available to deal with this and take this booklet to get more information – it was basically about the drugs I would be using and stated quite categorically at the head of page 1
“Diabetes is a common life long problem”
We’ll see you in 2 weeks and we can take more bloods and check the pulse in your feet!!
WHY??
Zero explanation, a carefree attitude, instant reaction to head for medication (them not me), poor client/patient interaction, I was appalled. I came home and posted the news directly on my Facebook page and several, well a lot, of my friends responded most all were and are dealing with Type 2 with medication only!! One of the replies pointed me at Michael Moseleys books (YAY!) another to Professor Roy Taylors research and then the same afternoon I stood and listened to Michael on Radio4 Womens Hour and again in a longer version on the Sunday – SOLD
So I have been working my way through shakes etc as well as shivering cold and headaches and so far in just over a week and a half lost nearly 14lbs in weight.
I spoke to the Dr surgery and had a “telephone triage” with my Dr again to ask how I can get to see her to discuss the outcomes and future? We can’t as you’re now under the diabetes Nurse/Clinician and if she feels I need to see you she will let me know! Really encouraging.
I went in to see the practice manager – same result – I have a complaint with the way this diagnosis was transmitted. Was she rude to you – well no. So not really a complaint then?
Heck no and this mob have a terribly arrogant attitude.
So I am getting ready to meet Nurse Dracula de Sucre next Wednesday and have a chat. Then I have booked a separate complete blood analysis and an appointment with a registered nutritionist.
Wish me luck – I’m 65 and have travelled the world to some of the scariest places ever and yet I am totally out of my comfort zone with this all.
Can anyone, Michael Moseley please weigh in if you can, tell me if this is a “normal” way to be treated by your local GP, please?
I am now fully aware of what these numbers mean but would it not have been fabulous if that Nurse could have just sat and explained and then given a little info about the research by Prof. Taylor and the books by Michael Moseley.
My wife is a chef and coeliac and has all the cookery skills to kill or cure with food! and I am positive that she will be the saviour and not Metformin which looks ever more frightening by the minute.
Thanks for listening and I would certainly be grateful of any input.

Hi Phil452,
what a story – no wonder you are totally miffed! I live in South Wales near Abergavenny, and my doctor’s couldn’t be further away from yours in their attitude to patients and non-medication treatments. Damn that postcode lottery.
But, welcome to the BSD and well done on finding it so quickly.
Head over to the BSD Way of Life section of the forum to read some truly inspirational stories from committed BSDer’s who have been through it all – many of them will pop up soon I am sure to encourage and support you. Also, have a look at the current 4 week challenge called -No April Fool, Low Carbs are Cool – and join in – the 4 week challenges help to break down your goals into manageable chunks.
Basically, I would recommend reading most / all of the old forum posts which will give you a huge boost and show you that you are on the right track. I am not in the pre-diabetic or diabetic zone, so this is a weight loss way of eating for me, but I have found getting involved in the forums really motivating, and don’t be afraid to ask questions (no matter how silly you think they are) – someone will be happy to provide an answer and guiding hand. Good luck with it all.

Wow! that is great and thank you for a speedy reply, I am in Pontardawe and my brother is in Abergavenny (used to work at Neville Hall in pathology)…..I am so surprised here and I feel like the Dr surgery need a wake up – they say they have 6 Drs but need 11 and yet were greedy enough to sign us up without any welcome letter or info!
I’ll certainly be on here a lot and am going to get my food diary in here so I can see it easily.
I have total confidence it will work having read all the research notes.
I’m pretty sure I’ll have lots of silly questions ahead especially after Wednesday morning and finding my pulse in my foot! What is that about?
Onwards and upwards – Happy Easter – my wife bought me the BSD Recipe book as an Easter gift instead of chocolate :/ she is an exceedingly brave woman!

Hi phil452 – an appalling story of poor patient interaction. You should be aware you have the right to change your surgery, so may be look into that, if there is another in your catchment area. I’m not and haven’t been diabetic, but the foot pulse thing is because diabetes adversely affect the circulatory system and can cause problems with blood flow to the extremities. However, don’t panic, you are on the right track with the BSD and give that you have only just been diagnosed, I’d advise sticking to your guns on being allowed to try to manage the situation with diet rather than drugs – your body, your decision.

It is likely that your desire to manage with the BSD will be met with resistance, especially as the NHS line is still the old advice of low fat/high carbs. Given your results so far though, the likelihood is that your bloods are already showing a change in the right direction. Keep going and be sure to make good use of the forum, as there is a wealth of information, advice, support and encouragement to be had here. I’d recommend joining one of the challenges, as these are populated by people at all stages in the process and really help with keeping on track and gleaning info.

Anyway, best of luck to you and I hope your appointment on Wednesday goes better than you fear.

Hi Phil, glad yOu found this site. Your diabetic nurse sounds like a right twit – was going to call her something else BUT. Anyway, yo at here now and hopefully your wife will make you some fab meals. This diet seemed like a faddy thing a year ago but I am even seeing tv chefs with the pureed cauli etc. Give it a good go and you will see vast improvements.

Hi Phil,
I am also in South Wales, I am following this way of eating too loose weight as well so can only supply moral support rather than any specialist advice re diabetes, but I know there are others on the forums who will be able to give advice based on their own experience.
While the researchers used the diet shakes in the studies ( probably because its much easier to ensure consistency of amount eaten that way) you will find that the advice on these lists is to use a carb/cal counting app like fat secret or my fitness pro and just use it to eat low carb and count cals. The diet shakes have a lot of sugar in them.
I understand from others on the forum that there are some enlightened diabetic nurses within the NHS who whisper Dr MM’s name to patients, but the official NHS policy is still cal counting not carb counting. Perhaps you can both help yourself and help others in the future by documenting/providing case history evidence to the nurse and doctor by your own experiences?
The advice in Dr MM book is to change to the 5:2 diet after a short period on the bsd. You will find plenty of people on this list who have stayed on the bsd for months because they had a lot of weight to loose or health problems to reverse. Once you have spent a few months eating this way your taste buds will change and eating patterns so it gets easier, so much so that I think we have an advantage over those who loose as much weight as they want to loose after just a short period on the bsd.
All my life I have tried to control my weight through keeping an eye on cals without success. This way of eating works.

Hi phil452,

We can empathise with your experience. Why do GPs do ‘nothing’ until you move house and register anew? OH and I did just that last year, only for him to be hit with an hba1c of 49 and a ‘welcome to metformin, meet the diabetic nurse’ conversation. Unhappy doesn’t come close. OH made and cancelled the nurse appointment – he just wasn’t ready. But, the GP did give him the name of a low carb book … So we were soon on the trail of this site/diet.

We went low carb in early October, together. We have both lost more than 12 kg, and are now maintaining. But the good news is that in January we went back to the GP and got a second hba1c – and reversed his ‘diagnosis’ with 41. Technically, one high result doesn’t make a diagnosis, so according to his record he’s never been diabetic (so to speak). But we’re not resting on our laurels and are using this diet long term.

We are home testing hba1c, to keep an eye on things. OH has not long had shoulder surgery so exercise is a bit of a ‘no no’ for now, so the home hba1c test has crept up a little … But we know, and can manage it.

It is possible to brings things back under control. I’m no chef, but even just substituting carbs for veg in main meals and yoghurt instead of toast has done well for us. Snacks have been swapped for nuts, and wine for spirits. We trip up every so often, but simply dust ourselves down and start again.

We hadn’t realised how out of balance our diet had become. Family think we’re a little ‘extreme’ but we’re pretty relaxed, just alert to what our bodies were trying to tell us all along. (I spent the last 5 years losing a few pounds on low cal low fat, only to pile it, and more, back on). Good luck with your BSD journey.

Emu