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Recommend A Diabetes Type 1 Specialist?

steveharrisisthelegend

By steveharrisisthelegend
in Chiang Mai

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steveharrisisthelegend Apprentice Member

steveharrisisthelegend

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I am Type 1 diabetic and need to attend a diabetes specialist for regular check-ups. I would prefer an english-speaking doctor.
 

Can anyone recommend a particular hospital or specialist clinic in Chiang Mai, and if so, could you please post the details here?

TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

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Dr Joy at Bangkok Hospital is good at Western Diabetes treatment.

 

With that said I have had diabetes type 2 for over 30 years and have not had a really good doctor yet.

 

It turns out that you really need long visits, where you go over your diet and exercise plan as well as sleep habits etc. very carefully.

 

Modern diabetes specialists rarely take the time to talk in detail about nutrition.

 

There is a professor in England Roy Taylor at NewCastle University that has shown that diet will tend to cure type 2 diabetes (if caught within around 5 years of getting sick) but doctors don't talk about this most of the time.

 

Cyrus Khambatta at masteringdiabetes.org has type 1 and gives good advice on how to keep it under control (not cure it).

 

Good luck!

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steveharrisisthelegend Apprentice Member

steveharrisisthelegend

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22 hours ago, TravelerEastWest said:

Dr Joy at Bangkok Hospital is good at Western Diabetes treatment.

 

With that said I have had diabetes type 2 for over 30 years and have not had a really good doctor yet.

 

It turns out that you really need long visits, where you go over your diet and exercise plan as well as sleep habits etc. very carefully.

 

Modern diabetes specialists rarely take the time to talk in detail about nutrition.

 

There is a professor in England Roy Taylor at NewCastle University that has shown that diet will tend to cure type 2 diabetes (if caught within around 5 years of getting sick) but doctors don't talk about this most of the time.

 

Cyrus Khambatta at masteringdiabetes.org has type 1 and gives good advice on how to keep it under control (not cure it).

 

Good luck!

Thank you for all of this, excellent info. I gree that diabetes doctors in Thailand are not very good in general. They know how to read charts and prescribe medicine if a value looks too low or high, and depending on the doctor perhaps provide emotional support in dealing with diabetes but that's pretty much it.  They have no real knowledge of insulin pumps, CGMs, low-carb diets or anything that modern diabetes type 1 treatment requires. In my opinion this is more of an issue of Thailand lagging horribly behind Western countries in diabetes type 1 treat than Thai doctors in general, as I have seen excellent doctors for other areas. Just diabetes knowledge lagging behind it seems like. 

Optimally I'd like to have a Western doctor practicing in Thailand who has knowledge of modern diabetes type 1 treatments but good luck finding that in Chiang Mai eh ????

Anyhow, I'll give doctor Joy a visit perhaps she can suprise me ???? and definitely checking out the type 1 website you linked. Good luck with your type 2!

 

seedy Ruby Member

seedy

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3 minutes ago, steveharrisisthelegend said:

 I gree that diabetes doctors in Thailand are not very good in general.

I agree that you have not found one. Have you seen all the Diabetic Specialists in Thailand, or even CNX ?

TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

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I think that the technical aspects of pumps etc are not something I know about as I am a type two and still have around 20% insulin production.

 

My comments on diabetes doctors were meant to include most doctors worldwide I was not picking on Thai doctors.

 

The very good thing about Thai doctors at a private hospital is that they can spend more time with you - which is great.

 

99% (just an estimate) of the endocrinologists specializing in diabetes are not up to date on exercise and nutrition. I can tell you that when I exercise a lot and eat a very healthy whole food plant based diet my diabetes becomes under control without medicine (not cured - but under control). But it is hard work and most of us would rather just take a pill or insulin...

 

I have not met a single doctor in Thailand that has spoken to me about nutrition and exercise other than as a side note... In America most doctors are the same.

 

The website that I mentioned is for both type 1 and 2 but was created by two men who have type 1 diabetes so they walk the talk... For type one the goal is good health and getting insulin resistance under control - curing type 1 is still down the road but lets keep our hopes up - smiling!

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chesterubi1 Explorer Member

chesterubi1

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I personally see Dr Promphan in The Internal Medicine Dept of Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Mai. I have been seeing her every three months for the past 5 years and is probably the best Dr that I have dealt with in the past 30 years. very knowledgable and speaks perfect English. I can highly recommend her.

TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

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44 minutes ago, chesterubi1 said:

I personally see Dr Promphan in The Internal Medicine Dept of Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Mai. I have been seeing her every three months for the past 5 years and is probably the best Dr that I have dealt with in the past 30 years. very knowledgable and speaks perfect English. I can highly recommend her.

She is good and her nickname is Dr Joy - I mentioned her above with her nickname - I should have added her real name...

 

Except she never mentioned nutrition to me and exercise only in passing - which is not good... She is a kind, well trained modern doctor but not what I need - and I have been her patient since Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai opened.

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steveharrisisthelegend Apprentice Member

steveharrisisthelegend

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On 7/11/2022 at 4:24 PM, TravelerEastWest said:

She is good and her nickname is Dr Joy - I mentioned her above with her nickname - I should have added her real name...

 

Except she never mentioned nutrition to me and exercise only in passing - which is not good... She is a kind, well trained modern doctor but not what I need - and I have been her patient since Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai opened.

I agree 100%. I have seen her as well and she is fine and kind and whatever yep, but she is also a normal Thai doctor who can do tests and describe medicines when values seem off. But there is barely anything useful about diet or exercise like you mentioned which is like 80%+ of managing diabetes. I need someone more specialized and knowleagble than this, I will keep looking, perhaps try contacting Dr Hawkins at CM Mediclinic - any western trained doctor at this point will make me excited to try. I will let you know if I find someone good in Chiang Mai and please do the same for me, perhaps we can help each other.

TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

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2 hours ago, steveharrisisthelegend said:

I agree 100%. I have seen her as well and she is fine and kind and whatever yep, but she is also a normal Thai doctor who can do tests and describe medicines when values seem off. But there is barely anything useful about diet or exercise like you mentioned which is like 80%+ of managing diabetes. I need someone more specialized and knowleagble than this, I will keep looking, perhaps try contacting Dr Hawkins at CM Mediclinic - any western trained doctor at this point will make me excited to try. I will let you know if I find someone good in Chiang Mai and please do the same for me, perhaps we can help each other.

Steve Harris is the Legend,

 

Standing by to hear what you find!

 

Even in America Doctors who talk extensively about nutrition and exercise are in the minority. So Dr Joy is a normal Thai/Western/modern doctor.

 

But slowly this is changing...

 

Have you read the Mastering Diabetes book? The best one that I have read so far...

 

I looked at Dr Hawkins website and she seems very nice but a normal doctor.

 

From her website:

Fasting blood sugar testing, Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) testing, physical examination. Concise consultations with precise medication and medical supplies for complete diabetes management

 

Another option is finding a good doctor in America who offers telemedicine and combine that with a  local doctor who can run tests etc.

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TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

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17 hours ago, cregwillis said:

Two months ago i was diagnosed with the type 2 diabetes and was slightly "shocked" to be honest.  My doctor was very polite and patient with me and all my thousand question (most of them where something "how to live with this information?") . After some time i calmed down, decided to buy victoza online and be ready to fight the high sugar blood level when he comes.

Did you carefully research the side effects and dangers?

 

Sounds like it is not yet serious  - diet and excessive may be all you need...

 

Best of luck to you!

nigelforbes Platinum Member

nigelforbes

Posted
Posted
On 7/9/2022 at 10:55 AM, TravelerEastWest said:

I think you are being funny as there are many Thai doctors who can't speak English - so I will let this go...

Passing the English proficiency course is a legal requirement before doctors in Thailand can qualify.

TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

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Posted
13 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

Passing the English proficiency course is a legal requirement before doctors in Thailand can qualify.

Passing tests in Thailand - can shall we politely say can be an interesting process...

 

Also, I am sure in the old days English was not practiced as often today so whatever skills were there, have dropped over time for country doctors without English speaking patients - I understand.

 

Now in the large private hospitals doctors do speak English - you may have to speak slowly but they do speak English.

  • 3 months later...
1FinickyOne Diamond Member

1FinickyOne

Posted
Posted
On 7/8/2022 at 12:49 PM, TravelerEastWest said:

Modern diabetes specialists rarely take the time to talk in detail about nutrition.

 

I am new to diabetes.. is there anything much beyond cutting sugar and carbs? And what I can find on YouTube about nutrition for diabetics?

 

ps - you are correct about all doctors not having a mastery of English...

 

I had a country doctor new to CM and I asked him if he was familiar w/the word 'anxiety' - - he told me 'yes, it was what he feels when he has to talk to me in English.' 

 

We mostly spoke Thai, very sweet man, but not the most knowledgable... and near no English.

TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I am new to diabetes.. is there anything much beyond cutting sugar and carbs? And what I can find on YouTube about nutrition for diabetics?

 

ps - you are correct about all doctors not having a mastery of English...

 

I had a country doctor new to CM and I asked him if he was familiar w/the word 'anxiety' - - he told me 'yes, it was what he feels when he has to talk to me in English.' 

 

We mostly spoke Thai, very sweet man, but not the most knowledgable... and near no English.

The best thing would be to find a really good doctor - I have found none in Chiang Mai that really understand how to treat diabetes there should be a few in Bangkok or you can combine local tests with telemedicine.

 

You need to cut refined carbs and sugar. Basically no junk food no smoking or drugs, daily exercise.

 

Professor Roy Taylor is very good:

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#publicinformation

 

Read his book and watch his videos to get started

 

Mastering diabetes: Dr Cyrus Khambatta Again read the book and watch the videos.

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CelticBhoy Gold Member

CelticBhoy

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I am new to diabetes.. is there anything much beyond cutting sugar and carbs? And what I can find on YouTube about nutrition for diabetics?

 

ps - you are correct about all doctors not having a mastery of English...

 

I had a country doctor new to CM and I asked him if he was familiar w/the word 'anxiety' - - he told me 'yes, it was what he feels when he has to talk to me in English.' 

 

We mostly spoke Thai, very sweet man, but not the most knowledgable... and near no English.

YouTube has been rather helpful to my family since my eldest son, who is 13, was hit with this awful Type 1 burden last year. Have a look at what we have found:

 

The Diabetes Solution by Dr. Richard Bernstein

 

Low Carb Diet for Type 1 Diabetes by Andrew Koutnik

 

If you find any others then do feel free to share with us.

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TravelerEastWest Gold Member

TravelerEastWest

Posted
Posted

Celtic Boy,

 

Dr Bernstein is an amazing person and doctor (I have his book)  - he has a method of dealing with type 1 diabetes that is very precise and can work although seems difficult to do.

 

Dr Cyrus Khambatta also has a system that works (he is a type 1) the difference is that his system is easier to do and healthier long term...

 

Read the book - Mastering diabetes and watch the videos.

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