With all the conflicts of interest that
CDEs have, it is surprising that anyone receives diabetes education.
The ACDE website still has its problems and has not seen fit to
correct their website. Apparently, they have many members that also
have the registered dietitian title as they are offering continuing
education in nutrition.
The more CDEs in both organizations
expand into the registered dietitian profession, the less we need to
consider them certified diabetes educators. Our support group has
had some very problematic sessions with dual titled CDEs/RDs and we
will not accept working with them because there is very little diabetes education and mostly faulty nutritional information. This
we ignore from them and we do this because most of us use the low carb, high fat meal plans of varying degrees and we will not eat the
whole grains and the number of carbohydrates they insist we consume.
In addition, the AADE is attempting to
become the only group that can do diabetes education. Many people
with diabetes do not like this and feel that our choices would be
limited to unacceptable levels. At least some of the doctors in our
area are not using them, especially if they have the dual titles.
Our support group has even thanked a few of the doctors.
Many CDEs find ways to excuse
themselves when depression is mentioned and this has most of us
wondering why. Only one of the CDEs we have met started an
assessment and then communicated with a doctor about this to have the
patient taken care of properly. When this happened, we could
appreciate her efforts and that fact that she did not excuse herself
and leave.
We have also discovered that most CDEs
want to ask about the meal plans we use. Then we are lectured about
the lack of whole grains and carbohydrates we consume and that we are
eating too much fat. Even though they don't go into nutrition and
that we need to eat a certain number of carbohydrates, they still
urge us to eat low fat and consume whole grains. And, it doesn't
matter that one of the group has celiac disease, they push a
one-size-fits-all way of living.
Even our honorary type 1 member has
been ordered to eat whole grains and more carbohydrates and
instructed to just cover them with insulin. She is the only one that
she is aware of that has not gained weight during her first semester
of college. All of this was stated by a CDE. Then the CDE reported
this to one of the college doctors that asked her to come in for an
appointment. Once at the appointment, the doctor ordered many tests
and after the results, the doctor asked if she knew why she had been
called for an appointment. The doctor did not wait for an answer,
but explained that from the test results, he could not agree with the
CDE that she would be malnourished. The doctor continued that even
though she was eating low carb, high fat, her tests all showed that
she was in the ranges for all of the tests and that she was not
deficient in any way.
The doctor then commented that she was
the first person with type 1 diabetes that he had seen that had not
gained weight in their first semester and as long as she continued on
her food plan, he wanted to see her on a twice a year basis to follow
her progress and he felt she was doing something that he wanted to
learn more about. She told the doctor she would, but felt the doctor
should talk to her nutritionist who was also helping her and supply
her with copies of the test result. The doctor agreed and thanked
her for being willing to participate.
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