Can I insist on a diabetes test to see if i can get ozempic for free?

[Mommasgotabrandnewbag]

Bmi 43 morbidly obese.

I want to try Ozempic but the cost without the 'weight related condition' is prohibitive.

Will a doctor agree to test me do you think? I do have some symptoms but I've always put them down to a love of salt and a weak pelvic floor.

@caringcarer my hba1c showed I was pre-diabetic, just 1 below diabetic. My GP said no medication would be offered unless actually diabetic. My BMI was in the 40s and now is 35 with a normal hba1c through diet and exercise. The fact you were offered ozempic was exceptional due to your very high BMI.

You can order a hba1c test online if you would rather do that than see your GP for the test. My plan is to do a private test every six months to ensure I’m still on track.

There's been lots of suggestions of buying a test privately or doing a pharmacy test but I don't think it's the best thing to do. The OP is perfectly entitled to a hba1c test as she has diabetes symptoms even though she's downplayed that a bit. And anyway, as someone else pointed out they may well order other tests for a checkup at the same time. What would be the point in ordering and paying privately?

Secondly, AFAIK the pharmacy tests are inferior to hba1c which gives a picture of blood sugar over the preceding months so that's not really ideal.

OP, hope you come back to the thread and don't get discouraged. We've all been there, it's hard and even harder when people stick the boot in but getting checked is great thing for any of us who are overweight to do.

To be fair though, you don’t need to eat so much you gain weight and you don’t need to eat the wrong things, to make unhealthy choices.

Yes we need to eat, but what and how much is a choice. So in that it’s like smoking or drinking, potentially an addiction, potentially a poor choice, potentially a mental health issue, potentially poorly informed, maybe all of those. And unless a disability then we can also choose to not exercise, to be sedentary, long before we are so big it is no longer a choice.

and I say that as someone currently trying to reverse out those bad choices.

@Bambooflowers I'm not obese but you it's very difficult to not have food in the house - most people have family member there too. The food is there but you shouldn't eat it. Everyday you need to eat some food you can practice complete abstinence that is much much harder than giving something up and not buying it and not having it in the house.

That’s not what I said, I didn’t say abstain or don’t eat, or even hint at it. I said we had to eat but we are responsible for the choice of what we eat and how much. And I also listed all the reasons we may make those bad choices, or eat too much.

@Bambooflowers I must have phrased it badly.

It is much more difficult to make good choices when one still has to eat something. Food addiction (true addiction like other addictions) is the hardest to overcome because you cannot abstain.

Just because you don't have a food addiction doesn't mean that other obese don't just like some folk always feel hungry regardless of what or how much they eat.

The medics now know that obesity is for more complex than they previously thought.

I feel crap if I drink alcohol so I rarely buy it, feel crap if I eat dark chocolate late at night so rarely buy it. That is easy to do. Resisting an open bottle of wine or chocolate bar is much harder.

Even if you were t2 diabetic you would not necessarily be prescribed Ozempic. What symptoms do you have and have you had an HBA1C test?

You may do soon it went on the extreme shortage list this week!
All the GLP1 agonists are in shott supply worldwide.

I wonder why that might be?

My BMI is over 40. I have multiple heart problems including hypertension. I'm on beta blockers.
My GP refused ozempic and said he'd refer to a weight loss clinic and then hung up. I had a finger prick test this week and was 9.83 after I'd vomited and hadn't eaten.
If you can even get through to the GP then get a 1 minute phone call and that's it.

Link to the NHS Health Check site below. Free health check to those eligible aged 40 or over. The health check covers diabetes risk as well as heart health indicators, alcohol consumption and physical activity. You are invited every 5 years and the results used to formulate an individual action plan. Would be a good start point.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/

That’s good to know because over £10 billion a year, nearly a third of the entire NHS budget, is spent on Diabetes, a mostly preventable disease.

Is this true? Thats awful if it is.

Sorry, I meant ten percent. 30% is an estimate of what the diabetes share of the NHS budget will be in the mid 2030s.

Is it the Toriea fault you are morbidly obese?

I asked my GP if I could have glucose and lipid tests and they arranged it. I don't think there is anything wrong in asking for the tests if you think you may be at risk.
Alternatively if your surgery won't refer you you can get a test through Boots you will have to pay for it, but at least you would know.

I've just been diagnosed type 2 and asked for Ozempic but they said it's actually not available as the weight loss industry has taken all the supplies. There are alternatives but for now I'm on Insulin only and they haven't put me on a weight loss one as yet so it's not as simple as that I'm afraid

@Mommasgotabrandnewbag I'm afraid you've got a troll attacking you (probably all the same person), could it be down to an earlier dispute on the board? idk. Don't rise to it.

It's 10% of the NHS budget. I'd also suggest if you think it's all preventable you look at the issues around diabetes in the south Asian population. But that's not as fun as blaming the stupid fatties for getting diabetes is it?

Oh apperently them the rules on mumsnet if you defend yourself to people being rude the op is instantly accused of being snippy and that's probably where all their problems come from. Given there's so many people on here very concerned about feminism, it's interesting how badly they react to women giving what they get. Just something I've seen on here over several years.

There's also an NHS perk where anyone with diabetes gets ALL their prescriptions - even those that are not for their diabetes - free.

So not only is there huge cost to the general public from type 2 diabetics whose diabetes is self-inflicted by their lifestyle, the taxpayer subsidises every other illness they might contract until they die.

You can have my free prescriptions if you like. But you also have to take all my medical conditions. They include PCOS, depression, anxiety, cPTSD (enjoy the flashbacks), PMDD, diabetes and ADHD.
I'm particularly looking forward to no longer having intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideation and suffering with disassociation.

Re the "free prescriptions " comment, a medical exemption form would not be awarded for diabetes where the only "treatment" was a controlled diet. Anyway I don't think that seeking to demonise those with diabetes is in any way helpful.

Plenty of people have a lot of medical conditions but only a handful of conditions attract free medications for life.

The general public ought to know about this at a time when the NHS is under such pressure. It needs to stop.

I didn't say it was fair. But constantly blaming diabetics for being diabetic is bollocks.