Short answer: many health care providers don't attempt to control it.
Reading medical literature from the early 20th century, it looks like doctors of that era fought diabetes with everything they had: low carb diet, urine testing for diabetics, a hospital stay with a strict diet if there was sugar in their urine, and yearly testing of family members of diabetics. Insulin started being used in the early 1920s.
Now? Some health care providers call a low-carb (diabetic) diet "old dogma" and don't counsel patients on diet or blood glucose testing. This was the case with a friend of the family, who was recently diagnosed, and my parents. While my mother was in the hospital recently, she was allowed to order any breakfast from what was basically a dessert menu: cinnamon rolls, cereal, juice, bread, waffles, french toast, pancakes, fruit, etc. Hopefully, patients who want to control their blood sugar aren't allergic to eggs, the only LC option for breakfast.
Some doctors take a casual attitude towards medications as well. When my mother ordered waffles (we all make mistakes, especially under stress), her blood sugar went up, but the staff didn't have the proper insulin to give her because the doctor didn't order it. She normally takes two shots a day; she didn't get them at the hospital. When the doctor saw that her A1C was 5.0, he lowered her recommended dosage. A patient is maintaining normal blood sugar on a certain program, and the doctor wants to change the program in a way that may send it into the diabetic range?
Mom is back home and eager to get her blood sugar back under control under her DIY program.
Reading medical literature from the early 20th century, it looks like doctors of that era fought diabetes with everything they had: low carb diet, urine testing for diabetics, a hospital stay with a strict diet if there was sugar in their urine, and yearly testing of family members of diabetics. Insulin started being used in the early 1920s.
Now? Some health care providers call a low-carb (diabetic) diet "old dogma" and don't counsel patients on diet or blood glucose testing. This was the case with a friend of the family, who was recently diagnosed, and my parents. While my mother was in the hospital recently, she was allowed to order any breakfast from what was basically a dessert menu: cinnamon rolls, cereal, juice, bread, waffles, french toast, pancakes, fruit, etc. Hopefully, patients who want to control their blood sugar aren't allergic to eggs, the only LC option for breakfast.
Some doctors take a casual attitude towards medications as well. When my mother ordered waffles (we all make mistakes, especially under stress), her blood sugar went up, but the staff didn't have the proper insulin to give her because the doctor didn't order it. She normally takes two shots a day; she didn't get them at the hospital. When the doctor saw that her A1C was 5.0, he lowered her recommended dosage. A patient is maintaining normal blood sugar on a certain program, and the doctor wants to change the program in a way that may send it into the diabetic range?
Mom is back home and eager to get her blood sugar back under control under her DIY program.
Comments
That's criminal!
A while ago a neighbour of ours, who is a Type 2 diabetic and controls his blood sugar numbers very successfully through diet alone had to go in hospital. Yes you guessed it, the food he was offered was just not suitable for him and his blood sugar numbers rose drastically. Once home he stabilised.
I wonder will hospitals ever learn, or realise quite what they are doing? Others of course may have experienced better care, have they?
All the best Jan
This reminds me of a quote I once read: "You're seeing three doctors and you're still alive? Wonderful!"
Common Salt by C. Godfrey Gümpel, pp 5-6. 1898.