“When do you need to visit an internist for diabetes?”

I prefer to see patients who are either newly diagnosed or are pre-diabetic so I can teach them about ways to improve the disease. I am not saying an internist can not manage certain diabetes, but I also believe that they would appreciate you working with a specialist. When it comes to diabetes, it’s always a team approach.

It depends how uncontrolled you are as a diabetic. If you are all over the place with your sugar, then you need an endocrinologist. If you are on oral medications and are making lifestyle changes, you can go to an internist.

If you were just diagnosed, I will go to an internist, if your internist cannot manage your diabetes, then will ask for a second opinion or a referral. A nutritionist appointment may help also.

This is a very good question for which there is no easy answer. Ideally, you would want to be under the care of an endocrinologist who is well trained in diabetes (not all endos are). The problem is there are not enough endos. Endo is the lowest paid specialty in medicine so not many people want to go into it. So as the prevalence of diabetes goes up the available endos. goes down. So, your best alternative is a good internist who has kept up with the developments in diabetes therapy. These may also be hard to find but try. FP's are ok but many are so busy they don't have time to keep up on the latest research. Ironically some of the best "diabetologists" are nurses. Certified Diabetes Educators, especially those with advanced training as Advanced Nurse Practice nurses are quite good & most have more time than the DR. to keep up on the fast changing world of diabetes. I hope you find someone good & keep your diabetes in good control.