How to find a diabetes doctor #diabeteslinkup #t2doc
January 27, 2017
in a simple phrase: word of mouth
It’s very important to me to have a diabetes doctor who has some understanding of lifestyle challenges. My gynecologist is from West Africa but that doesn’t really matter, because I need someone who gets menopause and she does. Especially menopause in someone who has been on hormones all her life. I also think that having a common culture is important with my sleep doctor. Again, that’s lifestyle as much as anything.
Each time I’ve gone with a diabetes doctor, I’ve used word of mouth. I’ve found local people with diabetes and who have a common background and flat out asked them who their diabetes doctor was and what was there experience. The diabetes online community can help with that. For other doctors I’ve always taken another doctors advice first, and I did ask my previous doctor his opinion of my choice. While they are both Baylor Scott and White, apparently there are different branches, so my previous doctor didn’t recommend them. The current doctor has worked with the previous one, though my previous doctor didn’t mention that. I’m not sure he knew who was at the clinic I am going to. (hoping this isn’t too confusing but I’m not comfortable sharing names)
I had also seen Diabetes Center of America when I was out and about at health fairs and other diabetes related events. I was happy to see that they have CDE’s. My original diabetes doctor had a very good one that I saw on a regular basis when I first became a patient. Unfortunately that was one of the first things to go.
The new patient experience of seeing a nurse assistant for labs, the CDE and the doctor was great.
There are a couple of things I wish they did better – I always liked doing the labs in a separate visit and I’m going to approach them that next time. Of course, the pump tells us more but that’s a shorter window. The A1C gives a broader picture though we’re all getting better an interpreting the CGMS.
If I didn’t have a CGMS, I would think advance labs would be more important.