Why do hospitals do this

[Preparedforjobnottolast]

So I’m a diabetic in hospital just wishing I’d kept the nil by month sign. I’m so glad I got rid of the drip not sure what was in that. There was some sort of syringe (so I thought I can cope with that) then this big bag of saline? appeared.

Gosh they kept pricking my finger every couple of hours, last reading was 10.6 so it’s even higher then normal, the first meal has err arrived, the choice of chicken or tuna sandwich on whole meal bread (top choice, full marks for getting fibre in) but pudding just blows my mind some sort of cold custard crumble with squirty cream - really should a diabetic be served this.

I’m petrified what is to come next.

Oh boy how much can people put on in hospital?

Can’t hospitals donate uneat food to the homeless or something?

Sorry I’m just lonely with a want to go home (only other patient on my side ward is an elderly lady who is recovering from her hip op to the point I asked my parents to go so we can get the zzz’s in at 6pm ad we’ll both have no visitors now and I’m home sick for the comforts of my flat.

They just came along with it, after a jump in diabetic reading an hour prior.

The drip was just a precaution if surgery was needed but boy that felt worse at one point then the cafiter going in. I’m a horrible old fashioned bed that just seems to be giving me more gipp.

admit I was given the choice of sandwich filling, didn’t eat the pudding as it isn’t something I would eat at home anyhow in the theme of healthy eating. Just to see it put in a slop bucket genuinely feels quite a waste. I know a large hotel I once worked at took left over function food to the homeless shelter but yeah remembering the client did have to sign a disclosure.

I don’t know I feel like the youngest patient on the ward.

Even with tea/coffee - it’s like sure you don’t want sugar in that and a few biscuits.

I’ve had like half hours sleep in the past day, do know I’m not alone. Hope it will be over soon. I did after all the procedures come round to an email from my employer saying they expect me back next week which rocked me but again they don’t know how events have folded to land me up in here. Aaargghh Just not a good day. Time to take stock.

If your blood glucose levels are above target and you're eating minimal carbs I'd suggest you do in fact need medication. What's your HbA1c?

You would have had 2 hourly checks because your body is less able to regulate itself if you are injured or unwell. The medication, presumably Metformin, was offered to help you to help yourself, if you are unwell or injured then it is much much harder to control your blood glucose particularly through diet.

The diet offered, you ignore the carbohydrate option and choose from the protein and vegetable sections. Breakfast is difficult, but if you are accepting their help to help you regulate your BG then it is not so much of an issue. I’d imagine they were trying to explain this to you rather than patronise you but I wasn’t there and there are some absolute arses in the NHS.

When you’re a diabetic in hospital you have to accept that you cannot expect your normal routine to be suitable, your body is under more stress than normal. I have to go straight onto a balancing drip, whether I like it or not but it is what it is and when you have diabetes you have to accept that there are adjustments that other people do not have to make.

The HCAs doing the drinks rounds are not always aware that you are diabetic and are just trying to be nice to you.

Can you pop to the shop in reception area? There’s usually something. There’s an M&S at our local one. When I’ve been admitted (sadly a few times due to a pancreas disease) I’ve not been well enough to eat but when my daughter was admitted I went and got some food for us from M&S. My DD actually really liked the hospital food!

I'm not sure what the issue is - you can just decline puddings / sugar in drinks etc?
As for the testing, as pp have pointed out it's important to keep a close eye on your levels when you're unwell.

I hope you feel better soon.

All the best op, although this reads more as a mission debriefing,

Hope you feel better soon and are discharged. But come on, this is rubbish. You didn't need to eat the pudding. I'm a T1 and have been my whole life, nearly 50 years, and I know you have choices here.

No one likes doing BM's. So they must be doing them for a reason.

I'm sorry. Can you ask to see the hospital dietician? Is there anyone who can bring suitable food in for you?
Hope you feel better and are home recovering ASAP.

Hope you feel better soon OP. Have you been in hospital before? It can be a bit of a shock so don’t worry about feeling so out of sorts.

Do you want help emailing work back to get it over and done with so you can try and focus on getting better? I’d keep it brief and factual.
‘To update you: I’ve been admitted into hospital so will not be able to return to work next week. I’ll update you on Monday or Tuesday when I know more.’

Kindly, OP, the current guidelines are perfectly good and informed by the most up to date evidence; they’re not going to be thrown out because one patient wasn’t happy with them.

You do have a voice as you’re clearly demonstrating here, so use it. Just because you’re in hospital, it doesn’t mean that you can’t take responsibility for your own condition. You can request suitable meals, or ask family to bring in things that you feel are okay for you to eat.

I will say though that if you feel that the team looking after you are ‘pressuring’ you to consider diabetic medication then your glycaemic control isn’t as good as you think it is; we don’t just hand out medication for fun. Do you know what your latest HbA1C was, or your average sugars for this admission?

It’s well known that any sudden upset, ie accident, illness etc causes havoc with blood sugar readings. Your BM must have been really high to start a sliding scale/infusion. They may have just taken it all down and started diet and fluids to see if it corrects itself.

I’m sorry you’re having a horrible time OP. The bad day and not being home might be clouding your judgment a bit, I’m sure the staff are trying to help everyone the best they can under trying circumstances. You’re quite lucky to have a bed, but I’m sorry it’s uncomfortable.
Try to get some rest all the same so you can get out of there as quickly as possible.

It's normal to have your blood sugars checked multiple times throughout the day. Minimum was morning and night and before every meal. More often if you were having extreme readings.

When I last worked there, diabetic food in hospital meant "no added sugar" rather than low-carb, so dessert would have been something like sugar-free yogurt or jelly. But really, they just treated you like the adult you are and let you decide what you wanted to eat. If you wanted the curry and rice instead of the plated salad, then so be it.

Alot depends on what type of diabetes we are talking and what you have had done and what the whole drip thing and slider was. Overall they are shockingly poor at managing things for poorly diabetics. Infection will also cause raised sugar levels as will stress.

Whats the answer - pick carefully off the menus provided - ask for them for the next day as soon as you can and explain why (special dietry requirements - accept you may have to vary how you are eating and try and do it within parameters so maybe have some carbs with the main meal but skip puddings unless its sugar free or something like plain yoghurt or fruit that is not too high in sugar e.g. berries, apple etc rather than high sugar fruits such as melon or grapes or tinned fruit that is inevitably in syrup or they "don't know". Stick to porridge in the am, go for fish or chicken plenty of veg. But supplement this with foods that can be brought in by someone - send them a specific list and remember needs to be able to stay fresh by self ie not refrigerated.

Don't let them bully you about sugar levels - if you have no control over what you are eating then what do they want you to do - you need to eat to recover, they need to provide appropriate food.

The main issue I found with a sugar drip and the insulin syringe was that they didn't understand it was this OR food not both and if they wanted to see if you tolerated food then its a quick test not over several hours when the two swing your sugars so the insulin goes up and they start worrying about it without realising if food intake goes up then insulin has to especially if its carby like toast or sandwiches which often non diabetics thing is fine as its not sugary.

Given how prevalent T2 is particularly they are shockingly ill prepared for it - its a condition not a fad. Whilst lifestyle can cause it its not the only factor and it is a disease that is progressive long term so does need to be handled carefully

Things have changed massively in the last few years with regards to how diabetes is treated (T2 particularly) I am hoping we seem some real breakthroughs in the next few years

I have been in hospital a lot and every meal option has been a tick box on a form. I’ve never ticked a pudding as I don’t have a sweet tooth. I’ve never been given a pudding. If you don’t want it, send it back when they give it to you and they can give it to someone else.

Agree with you. You should not have been offered that pudding. Normally puddings for people with special dietary needs like diabetes have a special label to say that they are safe to eat in their case, in the same way that the kitchen caters for dietary allergies. This is a massive fail tbh.

They can’t afford to fund special diets for each patient’s requirement. It’ll also be served in the cardiac ward.

It would be dreamy if there was huge investment into food served in hospitals, and there’s some trials happening in some trusts (see Pru Leith’s work) but it’s not there right now.

it’s a ‘massive fail’ that OP was offered dessert? as if offering it means it’s automatically tipped down the patient’s throat without a choice? ok then.

OP you’re annoyed they want you on diabetes medication but you say you didn’t eat the dessert, only the wholemeal sandwich yet your blood sugar was still high? What does that tell you? Perhaps that your control isn’t as good as you think it is. Re offering you biscuits and sugar with your tea, politely decline, it’s not hard

@CoorieInByTheFire

I know why they do 2hourly checks & I wasn't disagreeing with it, I was merely saying I also had 2 hourly checks.

I know it's harder after an operation to regulate yourself.

i already had a drip (can't remember what was in it now? )

& insulin injections.

I agreed to take the metformin while in hospital, but they kept up the pressure to stay on them permanently when I went home. Plus, I think, glycozide. I don't need them at home! I've been successfully diet controlled for years now.

FOOD. There was NO vegetarian low carb protein option & the vegetables were mostly high carb options carrot/corn & a carb rice/potato.

breakfast, difficult is one word, impossible is more accurate - weetbix, brioche, sugar laden yogurt etc A plain Greek yogurt shouldn't be a big ask in hospital.

I'm 53, diet controlled. What do you imagine I need explaining by a non diabetic ward staff member about choosing my menu?

my 'normal routine' is FAR better for me than hospital food. There are easy options they could & should offer patients who don't want a carb fest. It should not be impossible to get a salad on a non heated plate, & it should consist of more than limp lettuce & tomato. Or green vegetables. It's a hospital, the food should be nutritious.

it was during covid & the heatwave, so it wasn't possible to have food brought in & obviously no access to a fridge, so it would have meant asking friends to bring food in frequently & that's just not practical.

As I have said already, I didn't object to the balancing drip, it was the carb food then the fucking tutting that my blood sugars were high. Of course they were when there's nothing to eat that's not a carb.

mainly I object to being treat like I'm dim 5 year old, and being pressured to go on drugs, that I don't need, permanently.

once I got home & I was able to eat properly, my levels settled right down.

I'm well aware there are adjustments I have to make that others don't. But eating healthy food in hospital really shouldn't be one of them. Nor should being patronised & pressured into medication I don't need at home.

At a time where the NHS is struggling to keep up and where people are (rightly) more informed about how food impacts them and so are making increasingly personal choices about what they eat - I wonder if food is something we should be paying for directly in hospital. To allow better quality and choice.

Seems a bit mad to me that I'd have to buy my own food at home hut get fed for 'free' in hospital.

First of all let me say I work in my local hospital and rate it highly BUT I am type 2 diabetic and need to eat low carb to keep my blood sugar down. I was in hospital for a week recently and indeed it is very hard to keep low carb on hospital food. Breakfast is cereal or toast. I could rarely have a starter or pudding as they were usually carb heavy. The mains are small portions so I was constantly hungry. The food is designed for ill people who have lost their appetites and there are plenty of additional items they can have. Extra yoghurt or drinks for the people on my ward, the nurses would make toast in the middle of the night if you woke up hungry, but nothing for diabetics who were trying to control their sugars with diet. I strongly suggest bringing in extra food or getting a friend or relative to bring in extra food if you are diabetic. When my husband was in a while ago I was able to bring him in a cooked breakfast from the restaurant as I was in the hospital anyway, but that wasn't possible for me.

You are right that the hospital should provide an adequate diet.

You know there is a BUT coming don't you?

For the duration of your stay you know the hospital food is not suitable, you cannot change that so you have to look at other options.

a) get someone to bring you in food and snacks

b) temporarily go on the metformin. It will allow you to eat the hospital food and if you have had an operation you need as much nutrition as you can get.

I know it's not fair and that you should be able to order low carb meals but that isn't an option at the moment.

As soon as you leave you can go back to your low carb eating.