Hi everyone! Recently, I had to stop going to my pediatric endocrinologist with whom I had built a relationship since I was diagnosed. The office and her expertise felt very centered around Type 1 Diabetes. I have been to two different adult endocrinologists now, however the experiences have felt much less tailored to T1D and a lot less personal in general. I understand that in adults, T1D is much less common so endocrinologists have more experience with other illnesses, however I was wondering if anyone has any advice as to how to find a more fitting/knowledgable adult endocrinologist for T1D specifically? Thanks for the help!
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Hi Faith @fliao welcome to Breakthrough T1D. heck yea it can be harder. For almost 20 years I had a love/hate relationship with my endo (long story) then she quit the industry and I had to find a new one. I used a tool from my insurance to locate endocrinologists near me and found a practice where the endos had their resume posted so I could pick.
IMO - Exceptionally smart people tend to be antisocial to the point of sociopaths… but I hope your experience is better than mine.
There is another thread here regarding questions you might ask, the thread is here: Finding a new endo - #12 by wadawabbit
I think it’s possible to find another doctor you can feel comfortable with who shares your preferences for technology and your own style for managing Type 1 without burnout. Technically speaking, your endocrinologist is your employee, so if you are not completely happy you may have to fire yours and look for better help.
Glad you are here! -Joe
@fliao Hi Faith, and welcome to the Breakthrough T1D Community Forum!
Here are three possible paths you may wish to try:
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Ask other doctors you are seeing for their recommendations for diabetes specialists - it need not be an endocrinologist, what you need is a strong diabetologist.
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Use your insurance company tool for names and raitings.
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Attend a “diabetes function” in your area and ask people you meet there for names of doctors and reasons they like / dislike a particular physician. For me personally, I like a tough, honest physician who tells it like it is and doesn’t try to sugar-coat matters just to make a patient feel good,
You say there are more pediatric than adult diabetes patients - I sure hope you are not correct in that unless you feel that now that you are no longer pediatric that your diabetes disappears. That’s an old way of looking at diabetes and it didn’t work for me. When as a teen 70 years ago when I received my diagnosis, I was told that I may last for 5 to 10 years if I followed all the rules - I fooled them all; and I hope you too are still around in your 80s.
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Hi Faith! Glad you found the forum. Tell us more about what you were getting from your previous endo that you’re missing from the new ones. I can think of some things that changed when I went from a pediatrician to an adult doc. I get what you’re saying about “less tailored to T1D”, my last endo was seemed really burned out, couldn’t explain what my thyroid medication was doing and her staff were baffled by my not taking the same amount of insulin at the same time every day. New endo is long ways away from home, thank goodness for video appointments.
Couple of things that might help…
- Blue Circle Health - Now available in 20 states and Washington, D.C I talked to someone who tried it, there were super happy with the program, last I checked it was only meant as a bridge till you could get another provider.
- The Breakthrough T1D chapter finder has more pins this year than last year. If nothing shows up near you check back in a month or two. Local Type 1 Diabetes Support - Breakthrough T1D