[KrisinNM]

Oh wow
I'll bet you are glad you are moving!

[Eri's mom]

LOL...Heck yeah...don't get me wrong, the hospital itself is good...it's the ER that I have had a bad experience in 99.9% of the time...even when Eri was brught in after a major seizure...what did they do(she was brought by ambulance)...gave her a sandwich and sent her home...we supplied the gatorade....they sent her home in less than 2 hours.
It was the same hospital ER that REFUSED to take me in at 24 yrs old when I had the chicken pox. My mom finally called and said, "If you don't take my daughter in now, you'll have 8 on your side called, I'll call my atty's, etc...her temp is 105.7 and you can't even recognize her face and she can barely breath...you've sent her home 4 times...take her NOW!"....they took me(that was actually the same day they found out Susan Smith was the one who killed her children).(Oh, my insides were infested w/ pox, I was unrecognizable, was in a coma for a few days, had the CDC there with me...one of the worst cases they saw...actually came home weighing 80lbs)...
I'll shut up...I could STILL go on about that place!

[Dewey]

I really only have one horror story, but the second one made me so mad (and could have created some severe complications had I not switched docs)!

1. Went to a phlebotomist/Dr. (in New York - can still remember his name, lol ) for the blood draw. He was the Worst phlebotomist EVER! I'll never forget going on that field trip just a few days later with one of the biggest (and worst) bruises on my little arm! Uggg!

2. I was seeing this endo (quack) for about a year and a half prior to starting pump therapy. Came to find out he & his cohort (nurse - who was actually a "friend" of my sister's <Some "Friend"> ) were in cahoots with the local hospital, and wanted me to spend a week there (at age 23 or so) to the tune of $10,000! Needless to say, my hubby's insurance (which was actually quite good) denied the claim (understandably so!). Meanwhile, the doc and his bud are telling me I'm Not being enthusiastic enough about pump therapy, and all the while my A1C's were climbing higher. Talk about losing those losers...lol! The story ended happily though (thankfully). I went to another local doc (who was being bad-mouthed by the quack and his nurse), and immediately hit it off with him. It took about 3 months (and my new insurance less than a week to review the claim), and I was on pump therapy right before my 24th birthday (in 1996)!

[Eri's mom]

Oh phlebotomists...lol.
I had to have my blood drawn for my pregnancy test w/ my son...I have HORRIBLE veins to begin with, but this girl was the worst!!! She jabbed both arms so many times...collapsed my veins...my whole left arm was a bruise from elbow to wrist, and the track marks look on my right arm was horrid...I actually ended up passing out...she was a trip.

Now they just always use the pediatric butterfly on me...and I usually have the head phelbotomist drawing my blood or starting my IV...lol.

[Clint]

2 weeks ago I ended up in the ER due to Irritable Bowel Syndrome... and I needed an IV... I have always been active so my viens are very noticable... the nurse that came in could not hit my vien... When she came in I showed her my arms and said, I have plenty of viens... just pick one... and she missed... I still have that bruise...

[zookeeper671]

I think the most awful doc I've had was the doc that confirmed the T1 diagnosis and attempted to treat me, alone, without the help of a CDE, nutritionist or endo. He wouldn't give me a referral to an endo, told me he could handle the diabetes management and that diabetes classes weren't essential. He just about killed me. Had he told me how important a good endo was to proper care, I would have made the switch (even without insurance at the time). I think that's why he wouldn't refer me.

This debacle of a doc had me on so much insulin (60+ units of 70/30 mix) that my average bsl was about 50mg/dl, with frequent lows into the 20's and 30's. It got to the point where I was feeling "normal" walking around with bsl's in the 30's. I honestly don't know how many times my bf had to inject glucagon into me because he'd find me unresponsive. He actually got into the habit of checking my pulse in the middle of the night to see if I was still alive. (Later found out I was also in the honeymoon stage, so my dosage requirements weren't very high.) I spent 2 months like this. My A1c after those 2 months was 3.2, down from 16.2. I was having severe hypos almost every day, sometimes several times a day. That's just insane.

After figuring out how to adjust my own dosages (mainly from this forum [thank God] and from the book "Diabetes for Dummies"), I managed to somewhat get a handle on things. Fourteen months later and I'm still making adjustments.

Thankfully, I'm in good hands now.

[archimeech]

That's great Zoo, that you were able to come out of it well. I'll tell you, though, lol...
20 years later and I'm STILL making all those adjustments, every day! Keep it up, honey.

[Mario]

Originally Posted by notme

Where do I start.

How about this guy. I went to my GP with shortness of breath, frequent urination, 30 lb. weight loss in a month (I weighted 120) and blurred vision. I was sick, very very sick. The doctor did a finger stick at his office. My blood sugar was HI on his meter. He gave me oral meds and told me to start them in the morning. He said I would feel better in a couple of days and I needed to make an appointment with a dietician. Two days later I was in the intesive care unit at our local hospital. Type one diabetes with a blood sugar of over 1200.

My story is like yours Nancy. I was sick about 3 weeks and lose 35 pounds. I drinked a lot, many urination, blurred vision, no energy. I saw two differents doctors. They both thought that it was a kidney problem so they gave me some tests to do at the hospital 3 weeks later !!! The result : I went to emergency 5 days later with a 40 mmol/l (which is about 720mg/l I think) blood glucose level. My ketones were very high et I was in acidoketosis. Very bad experience ! And the day I went to emergency for that was december 25th !!! Merry Christmas

[PeptideBong]

When I was first daignosed the student doctor told me I wasn't the sickest person in the hospital and was obviously trying to get me out as soon as possible and thinking of the easiest plan to get me out of there. I agree I wasn't the sickest person at the time but my BG were still in the 15 mmol range and I had only given myself a couple of needles and wasn't too confortable with it yet. I had told him that my brother was diabetic and that I live with him and his plan for me was to have my brother monitor my diabetes for me. My brother is great at managing his diabetes but he might have a problem doing that for someone who is newly diagnosed. After a few days I had come to the realization that I wasn't going to get under control until I was out of the hospital and doing things myself. Which is what happened.