"Disgusted with the dietitian's attitude"

Today I had a meeting with a dietitian having been referred to them by the diabetic nurse. I arrived with a comprehensive food log that I religiously kept for the last 2 months and the report from my Ki-Performance body monitor showing my calories burned.

They started asking me what I wanted answering and I simply stated that as per my records I am maintaining a calorie deficit of over 1000 calories a day but have lost only 4 lbs in 6 weeks and wondered why this would be. The dietitian then stated that the food log must be wrong that I must be eating to much and that I was deluding myself!

For the next 80 minutes, until I finally walked out in total disgust, they continued to say that I could not be eating what I stated I was and nor could I be exercising the way I am as its simple physics, energy in compared to energy out and that I had better get a grasp of physics before I see the doctor! When I stated that I was not deluded they quipped "interesting choice of word" as if it were some Freudian slip. I then had to remind them that it was their choice of words and I was simply refuting the assertion!

From the onset I felt that they believed vehemently that I was just anti the medical profession because I stated that the drugs I have been given had not worked. I asked if they had read my medical record and they openly stated they had not. They then inferred that my being there alone, ie without my wife, was due to my wishing to keep my condition hidden from her, my wife that is. I pointed out that 4 days ago my wife and I were with my secondary diabetes carer, I am my primary carer, but this merely got a smirk.

This person didn't ask how I arrived at the data they simply stated the data must be wrong because if it were right I would be losing more weight. I said I agree that under normal circumstances I should be losing weight and that is the big question, why am I not? I explained that my diabetes has never responded to treatment well including very large doses of insulin and they actually stated that it will never work as long as I believe it won’t!

I must be good if I can mentally stop 550 units of slow release insulin a day from lowering by fasting blood sugar! I must also be incredible as I evidently can stop any and all symptoms of diabetes also, except the high blood sugar. I get no other symptoms and as I stressed many times to them I feel absolutely fine! If it were not for the high glucose readings I frankly would say that there was nothing wrong with me. I finally stated that even if I was wrong on the calorie intake for my evening meal, the other meals are prepackaged and thus impossible to get wrong, that as I burn nearly 4000 calories a day and my log shows that I consume only 1600 it would be hard to accidentally eat an extra 2000 calories and even then I would still be 2800 calories in deficit per week and should thus lose over 2 lbs a month! Her response is that I cant be burning that many calories! I weigh 250 lbs I run 12 to 15 miles a week and do weight training 2 days a week also and to cap it all I wear a monitor that measures my calorie burn, monitors the exercise counts the number of steps etc! It says I burn this many calories and any one can do the basic maths and will come up with a figure similar to this. When I asked how they know that the figures were wrong they said they has been doing this for a long time and said "do you actually think you are different from every body else". Their attitude was utterly disgusting, they was dismissive of any thing I had to say or of any questions that I had.

I had told them on the phone I knew quite a bit about diabetes to avoid having to go over the basics and waste their time. I have been diabetic for over ten years and seen many doctors and endocrinologists and take my health very seriously which I thought they would appreciate but they simply stated that how could they help if I thought I knew it all! This was not what I said and frankly having just got back from the states where I lived for the last five years and having made an appointment for the doctor immediately and asked to be referred to a specialist I would have thought this was indication enough that I wanted help in managing my condition.

The last dietitian I saw started by reviewing my food log then my supplements and finished by stating that I was doing all she could ask of me and to keep up the effort and work with my doctor further, which I did. What a difference! Some one who actually understood that seeing doctors is not a fun day out and that seeing any medical person is an ostensive request for help!

I eventually simply walked out stating that I would not waste any more of my time or take up any more of theirs and that I will not be troubling them again. I will now refer to my doctor and will as of tomorrow look for the appropriate channels through which I will complain to the NHS Trust. I certainly did not leave their office inspired to continue the fight, but spent the rest of the night fighting an old urge to say to hell with it! Instead of reaching for the nearest bar of chocolate and bingeing I got out and ran than ate and filled in my food journal as usual because in the end I refuse to let such an unprofessional behavior towards me set me back in my fight against this condition!