Type 1 diabetic since 1968

[Brian_H]

I've been Type 1 diabetic since 1968.
I had flu in January 1968, and from googling I think it was probably H2N2 virus (Hong Kong flu came the following year).
By about May of 1968, aged 12, I was diagnosed with Diabetes (no real ditinction between types back then).
That was the end of my dream of becoming an RAF pilot.
Par for the course was urine testing, a glass syringe, massive needles in foil, and bovine insulin.

Biggest change was when I got plastic syringes, and I didn't start finger-prick testing until about 1982. Insulin was changed to porcine by then too.

I was always very hypo aware, and indeed I could tell what my blood glucose was within 1 mmol whenever I compared with a finger-prick test, so I just injected twice per day and relied on my awareness (my HbA1 tests always vindicated this regime).

In 2006 my awareness of glucose level started to fade, and it was becoming difficult to get porcine insulin, so my regime had to change.

I am now on Lantus once per day, and NovoRapid whenever I need it. I test my blood glucose very often.

I have kept all the records of my HbA1 going back to the 1980's, and although I hardly ever did much testing back then, it was always better than 8% (tht was the goal in the 80s). More recently it's 6.5%.

I have been lucky I guess, because I have no side effects, apart from slow digestion (gastroparesis) which I reckon began in about 2006 and started to become more obvious to me when I switched to Lantus and NovoRapid. I had to do a lot of searching on the internet to find out about gastroparesis, and then to convince the medical profession that this is what it was (despite a gastroparesis test showing negative).


Anyway ...
I've finally decided to join a Diabetes forum, hopefully I might be able to contribute, BUT I know that there are things I want to get more deeper knowledge of.and I think I need help in other ways too.

 

[connie104]

Hi Brian and welcome . I am sure your experience with type 1 will be a great help to fellow diabetics and you may also find any problems you have answered as well .


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[Brian_H]

Thanks, I hope I can help, though after 45-ish years I'm not sure how much of what I know is corect, and how much is incorrect (e.g. I still don't get how fat is metabolised in a low-carb diet).
btw one thing I forgot to say is that the way I convinced the medical profession was to buy my own Dexcom continuous glucose measuring device, and to show them that my blood glucose rose very slowly over several hours even after eating mainly high carb foods.
I can say more about this another time, and also I have lost 2.5 stone in weight in a year (now about 12 stone at 6 foot 2) by eating less and walking more, which has actually helped speed up the digestion (I can now sometimes inject NovoRapid stratight after eating instead of waiting over an hour after eating, though the recommended half-hour-before is too soon for most things).

 

[noblehead]

I remember the plastic syringes well, a lot easier than using the glass syringe which was a pain in the butt. They were for single use only but I'd use them over and over again as they were rather expensive and funds were limited, thank goodness for the modern insulin pens I say!

btw, welcome to the forum Brian

 

[Omnipod]

Welcome Brian. Your posting was really encouraging to me seeing a) The development of diabetes care and b) that after having diabetes for 46 years, you do not have any complications. It just shows you how important it is to keep the HBA1C below 8%.
I have been a type 1 for 13 years. My HBA1C was always between 8 and 11%. i thought I was ok. I always went for my tests and was normal. Then suddenly a few complications arose out of the blue. I had my eyes done and had background retinopathy and M1 maculopathy in both eyes. This was the biggest kick up my backside and now I am 8% and dropping. My maculopathy and retinopathy has stabilised and hopefully (I hope) that with long term control, the damage may repair itself.

 

[pavlosn]

As they say, you've been there, done it, got the tee shirt and lived to tell the tale! Perhaps you'll let is in on some of your secrets.
Welcome to our forum.


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[Andy12345]

hi, welcome

 

[Brian_H]

I remember the plastic syringes well, a lot easier than using the glass syringe which was a pain in the butt. They were for single use only but I'd use them over and over again as they were rather expensive and funds were limited, thank goodness for the modern insulin pens I say!

btw, welcome to the forum Brian

that's right !!! yes I'd forgotten that I used those plastic syringes over and over again until they became blunt, even though I got them free on the NHS.
I also forgot to say that I use pens now as well, even so, I only bother to swap the needle once a day or once every two days, mainly out of habit LOL

 

[robert72]

Hi Brian and welcome

Similar story to yours, I had flu over xmas and was diagnosed by the end of February, except I was started on porcine insulin (U40). I remember not liking the all-metal needles and I used to get disposable needles from the chemist before moving on to disposable syringes.

 

[Brian_H]

Welcome Brian. Your posting was really encouraging to me seeing a) The development of diabetes care and b) that after having diabetes for 46 years, you do not have any complications. It just shows you how important it is to keep the HBA1C below 8%.
I have been a type 1 for 13 years. My HBA1C was always between 8 and 11%. i thought I was ok. I always went for my tests and was normal. Then suddenly a few complications arose out of the blue. I had my eyes done and had background retinopathy and M1 maculopathy in both eyes. This was the biggest kick up my backside and now I am 8% and dropping. My maculopathy and retinopathy has stabilised and hopefully (I hope) that with long term control, the damage may repair itself.

I hope you can stay on that course. I think the reason I have been successful is because 1. I don't eat traditional meals during the day (often only drink water in daylight) 2. if I do eat, I wait for the BG to rise, and then inject.
Sometimes I leave it too long and it's gone up to 20 mmol/l and even though I might have only eaten 50g CHO which caused the BG to climb to 20 mmol/l, I slam in 10 units to bring it down quickly, then check an hour or two later to see how far its come down, and if it has come down quickly I drink something to flatten out the trajectory. Some consultants have said that whilst they would never recommend this technique, it's probably the reason for my good HBA1c results. One consultant described it as "feeding the insulin" LOL

 

[Brian_H]

As they say, you've been there, done it, got the tee shirt and lived to tell the tale! Perhaps you'll let is in on some of your secrets.
Welcome to our forum.


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thanks, and from some of the other answers it looks like I'm not the only one, phew.

 

[Brian_H]

hi, welcome

hi Andy, ....crikey there's a lot of smilies to choose from in this forum LOL

 

[Brian_H]

Hi Brian and welcome

Similar story to yours, I had flu over xmas and was diagnosed by the end of February, except I was started on porcine insulin (U40). I remember not liking the all-metal needles and I used to get disposable needles from the chemist before moving on to disposable syringes.

Hi Robert, yes those glass syringes were the days (not). Took me a while to accept the pens a few years back, because I felt that the plastic syringes and 10ml bottles were easier to carry around. But one can inject with a pen in public without anyone noticing LOL and I wouldn't go back now.

 

[noblehead]

that's right !!! yes I'd forgotten that I used those plastic syringes over and over again until they became blunt, even though I got them free on the NHS.
I also forgot to say that I use pens now as well, even so, I only bother to swap the needle once a day or once every two days, mainly out of habit LOL

You got them free on the NHS

I was told at the time that they weren't available on prescription and I'd have to pay for them myself, if I remember right they were the BD Disposable plastic syringe and cost around £3 for a pack of ten.

I use to reuse the needle on my pen and change it once a day but no longer do this, a new needle every-time now and have noticed a big difference with my injection sites and insulin absorption.

 

[Brian_H]

You got them free on the NHS

I was told at the time that they weren't available on prescription and I'd have to pay for them myself, if I remember right they were the BD Disposable plastic syringe and cost around £3 for a pack of ten.

I use to reuse the needle on my pen and change it once a day but no longer do this, a new needle every-time now and have noticed a big difference with my injection sites and insulin absorption.

I was tempted to ask if you were in the UK LOL, but yes, I did get them free, I was living in Nottingham at the time, no idea if that's why.

I have heard that it's better to change the needles every time, but I don't have any site problems or absorption issues AFAIK (and IMO the absorption of food in the small instestine is more of a variable, totally overlooked by the medical profession)

 

[Picci]

Welcome Brian. I was diagnosed in March 1979, age 10. I remember boiling the glass syringe and the test tubes for testing my urine. How times have changed. I commented on another post that in those days we were taught to carb count and adjust insulin/carbs according to my bg levels.. It puzzles me that DAFNE claims to be a new way of controlling diabetes. It's old hat to me however, I did do a course and found some aspects of it useful. ( sick day rules etc). Take care, Christine


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[noblehead]

Welcome Brian. I was diagnosed in March 1979, age 10. I remember boiling the glass syringe and the test tubes for testing my urine. How times have changed. I commented on another post that in those days we were taught to carb count and adjust insulin/carbs according to my bg levels.. It puzzles me that DAFNE claims to be a new way of controlling diabetes. It's old hat to me however, I did do a course and found some aspects of it useful. ( sick day rules etc). Take care, Christine


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Although the DAFNE course is an excellent course your right that it's nothing new, it's there for the purpose for those using basal/bolus and goes into much more detail such as the effects of exercise and illness on bg levels and how to adjust for them, so it's not all about carb counting.

When I was diagnosed we worked in carbohydrate exchanges, just a pity we didn't have the web at the time and all the nutritional info printed on food packaging.

 

[charlieb]

I've been Type 1 diabetic since 1968.
I had flu in January 1968, and from googling I think it was probably H2N2 virus (Hong Kong flu came the following year).
By about May of 1968, aged 12, I was diagnosed with Diabetes (no real ditinction between types back then).
That was the end of my dream of becoming an RAF pilot.
Par for the course was urine testing, a glass syringe, massive needles in foil, and bovine insulin.

Biggest change was when I got plastic syringes, and I didn't start finger-prick testing until about 1982. Insulin was changed to porcine by then too.

I was always very hypo aware, and indeed I could tell what my blood glucose was within 1 mmol whenever I compared with a finger-prick test, so I just injected twice per day and relied on my awareness (my HbA1 tests always vindicated this regime).

In 2006 my awareness of glucose level started to fade, and it was becoming difficult to get porcine insulin, so my regime had to change.

I am now on Lantus once per day, and NovoRapid whenever I need it. I test my blood glucose very often.

I have kept all the records of my HbA1 going back to the 1980's, and although I hardly ever did much testing back then, it was always better than 8% (tht was the goal in the 80s). More recently it's 6.5%.

I have been lucky I guess, because I have no side effects, apart from slow digestion (gastroparesis) which I reckon began in about 2006 and started to become more obvious to me when I switched to Lantus and NovoRapid. I had to do a lot of searching on the internet to find out about gastroparesis, and then to convince the medical profession that this is what it was (despite a gastroparesis test showing negative).


Anyway ...
I've finally decided to join a Diabetes forum, hopefully I might be able to contribute, BUT I know that there are things I want to get more deeper knowledge of.and I think I need help in other ways too.

 

[Brian_H]

Welcome Brian. I was diagnosed in March 1979, age 10. I remember boiling the glass syringe and the test tubes for testing my urine. How times have changed. I commented on another post that in those days we were taught to carb count and adjust insulin/carbs according to my bg levels.. It puzzles me that DAFNE claims to be a new way of controlling diabetes. It's old hat to me however, I did do a course and found some aspects of it useful. ( sick day rules etc). Take care, Christine

That's very interesting. My memory of when I got the disposable syringes and a BG kit is a bit hazy now. If you had a glass syringe and test tubes in 1979, then I bet I was still using them in 1979 too. I know I switched to plastic syringes in about 1982, so I suspect I switched to BG kit at the same time. I've got a box in the loft with stuff in it, I'll have to take a look LOL
I don't remember being told to adjust carbs pre-1982, I do remember consultants doing their nut if I didn't stick to a written diet prescribed by their dietician. When I "discovered" a new consultant in 1982, he said that what I was doing (no diet, just winging it) was fine, it was like a breath of fresh air. I also know about the DAFNE stuff, like you nothing new, except sickness and exercise, oh and the variability of insulin ratio during the day.
But getting the Lantus dose right was the main problem, took a lot of experimenting, eventually I discovered that "less is more" because I suspect that if long-acting dose is too big, then night-time hypos cause an increase in insulin resistance, meaning an increase in NovoRapid ratios required, causing more instability, etc, etc.. I even went a few months without any Lantus to see how I managed, and found that I was using less NovoRapid than when on "big" doses of Lantus. It all seemed a lot easier when using disposable syringes and two injections of mixed porcine insulin. If I still had excellent hypo awareness, then I'd probably go back to that LOL

 

[charlieb]

I have been type 1 since 1959 and I too remember glass syringes, metal needles, urine testing by test tubes and clinitest tablets, I also remember an autoinjector which was just like a gun onto which you mounted your syringe. I think insulin pens are great but no one has ever mentioned I have a pump. I have had heart surgery but I still play tennis twice a week and go to the gym. I still stick to the carb counting I was taught originally in 1959. My Hba1c readings have been variable over the years but the last one was 51 in new terms.